Jovan Dewitt

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Jovan Dewitt (born October 21, 1975) is an American football coach and former player. He is the defensive coordinator at FIU.

Playing career
Dewitt played defensive back at Northern Michigan from 1993 to 1996, earning All-American honors and being named the 1996 Conference Defensive Player of the Year. He spent three seasons in arena football: the Iowa Barnstormers (1997), the Orlando Predators (1998), and the Fargo Freeze (1999).

Coaching career
Dewitt began as a student assistant at Northern Michigan in 1997 and later was a graduate assistant there from 2000 to 2001. He coached special teams and running backs at Fort Scott Community College in 2002 and at Fairmont State in 2003. He returned to Northern Michigan as defensive coordinator from 2004 to 2005, then served as defensive coordinator at St. Norbert College from 2006 to 2008. In 2009 he joined Northern Iowa as linebackers coach, becoming defensive coordinator in 2011. He coached at Florida Atlantic ( linebackers) in 2012–2013, and at Army as special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach in 2014–2015. Dewitt then moved to UCF (associate head coach, special teams coordinator, and linebackers coach) from 2016 to 2017. He spent 2018–2019 at Nebraska as special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach, and 2020–2021 at North Carolina in the same roles. In 2022 he became the defensive coordinator at FIU.

Highlights and impact
While at UCF, Dewitt helped the team achieve a perfect season and win the American Athletic Conference title, mentoring Shaquem Griffin, who was unanimously named first-team all-AAC and later drafted by the Seattle Seahawks. At Nebraska, his linebackers posted strong production, including Luke Gifford’s 5.5 sacks—the most by a Nebraska linebacker in 13 years—and the team’s punt coverage ranking well nationally. Dewitt also faced and overcame serious health challenges in 2019, when he battled throat cancer, missing spring practice but returning to coaching after extensive treatment.

Personal life and other work
Dewitt created his own recruiting app to help with prospect information, data, notes, and film clips. He is married to Lisa, and they have three children: Maya, Kira, and Jovan Jr. He earned a dual degree in mathematics and physics at Northern Michigan and turned down a NASA job to pursue coaching.