John Haneline joined the Georgia State football staff in January 2026 as the Panthers’ co-defensive coordinator.
Haneline brings extensive defensive experience to Atlanta after spending four seasons on the Youngstown State coaching staff, including three as an assistant coach under head coach Doug Phillips. He most recently served as the Penguins’ defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, a role he held full-time in 2024 after serving as co-defensive coordinator during the 2023 season.
In 2023, Haneline helped guide a Youngstown State defense that played a key role in the program’s return to the FCS Playoffs for the first time in seven seasons. The Penguins won eight games and featured one of the Missouri Valley Football Conference’s top linebacker tandems in Alex Howard and Greg Benton Jr. Howard, an honorable mention All-MVFC selection, led the team with 76 tackles and a team-high 9.5 tackles for loss, while Benton added 66 tackles and 7.5 tackles for loss. The duo combined for six sacks on the season.
YSU’s defense excelled against the run in 2023, holding nine opponents to 111 or fewer rushing yards and allowing just 102.2 rushing yards per game. That mark ranked 10th nationally in the FCS, represented the program’s lowest average since 2012 and was the second-lowest since 1998. The Penguins also limited four opponents to fewer than 155 passing yards and held seven teams to three or fewer third-down conversions, including a perfect 0-for-10 performance by Indiana State.
During the 2022 season, Haneline oversaw a deep and improving linebacker unit that included Griffin Hoak, Benton, Howard, Keon Freeman and Devin Johnson. Benton started all 11 games and recorded 36 tackles after transferring from Western Illinois, while Howard finished with 34 tackles and earned MVFC Defensive Player of the Week honors following a win over Illinois State. Hoak added 28 tackles, Johnson totaled 26 and Freeman contributed 21.
Prior to Youngstown State, Haneline spent four seasons (2018-21) at Western Illinois as the defensive line coach, with expanded responsibilities overseeing the defensive run game in his final three years. He coached an All-MVFC selection in each of his four seasons with the Leathernecks. In 2018, Haneline mentored Khalen Saunders to first-team All-MVFC and All-America honors. Saunders was later selected 84th overall by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2019 NFL Draft, becoming Western Illinois’ first NFL draft pick in a decade.
Additional All-MVFC honorees under Haneline at Western Illinois included Hunter Mason in 2021, Eryk Preston during the spring 2021 season and LaCale London in 2019.
Haneline joined the Western Illinois staff following two seasons (2016-17) at Mississippi State, where he served in a defensive quality control role assisting with the defensive line. He previously worked as a defensive graduate assistant at Mississippi State in 2014, coaching linebackers and serving as the interim linebackers coach leading into the 2015 Orange Bowl.
His coaching résumé also includes stops at Colorado School of Mines, where he coached linebackers in 2015, and Toledo, where he served as a graduate assistant in 2013.
A former standout at Bowling Green, Haneline was a four-year letterwinner and three-year starter from 2004-09. He was part of the Falcons’ 2004 GMAC Bowl championship team and the 2007 Mid-American Conference East co-championship squad.
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Haneline graduated from St. Ignatius High School and earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Bowling Green State University in 2009.
