John Bear joined the Fire football staff in July of 2021 after four years at NCAA Division I FCS Georgetown. 

Bear begins his 18th season of college football in 2022 and has spent over half  at the NCAA Division I levels. 

At Georgetown, Bear worked with tight ends, running backs, and receivers, and assisted on special teams. During the 2019 season, Bear helped the Hoyas improve their total offense by nearly 100 yards per game and 10 points per game. He was also part of the staff that helped Georgetown to a second place finish in the Patriot League in 2018. 

Bear spent the prior four seasons in Chicago coaching at NCAA Division III members North Park and University of Chicago. In 2016, Bear was the Offensive Coordinator at the University of Chicago where they set an NCAA record with 123 plays in a game and broke 36 program records. At North Park as the Offensive Coordinator, Bear helped engineer the most successful turnaround in program history going from just four points per game to 23.4 points per game. 

Additionally, Bear was an offensive assistant at Liberty University, and spent time as the Run Game Coordinator and Offensive Line Coach at Emory & Henry, and was a graduate assistant at Akron. 

Bear was a three-year starter at NAIA member Trinity International helping the Trojans to the 2004 Mid-States Football Association Co-Championship and an appearance in the NAIA Football Championship Series.