Kenny Johnson, a nationally-recognized assistant who has spent nearly two decades as a mentor to youth basketball players, has been hired as an assistant men’s basketball coach at La Salle University, it was announced on Thursday.
“I am thrilled to add Kenny Johnson to our coaching staff,” said head coach Ashley Howard. “Having the ability to hire a person and coach of Kenny Johnson’s caliber is a home run for La Salle basketball and our campus community.”
“Based on my personal relationship with Kenny,” Howard added, “I know him to be an individual of the highest integrity, character, intelligence and experience in developing young men as players and people.”
Johnson is known as a top recruiter on a national level. After surveying more than 60 collegiate coaches, ESPN Insider named Johnson as the nation’s 10th best recruiting assistant coach in a 2016 listing.
He has been the lead recruiter with 22 signed prospects in six years as a collegiate coach, including five All-American selection: Utah Jazz rookie Donovan Mitchell, New York Knicks forward Troy Williams, Chicago Bulls forward Noah Vonleh, Louisville sophomore V.J. King and former Indiana standout James Blackmon, Jr.
Johnson spent three seasons at Louisville, where he was elevated to associate head coach position following the 2015-16 season. Over that three-year period, the Cardinals won 75 games and advanced to the Elite Eight in 2015.
Prior to his time in Kentucky, Johnson was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Indiana University for two years. While at Indiana, Johnson helped the Hoosiers produce two top 20 recruiting classes, including a top five class in 2013. On the court, Indiana had a combined record of 46-22, winning the Big Ten Championship, earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and reaching the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2013.
Johnson was an assistant coach at Towson for one season in 2011-12, helping to assemble a top five mid-major recruiting class. He began his coaching career in 2002 as the associate head coach at Eleanor Roosevelt High School before moving to Dr. Henry Wise High School in 2006 for one year (2006-07). He was associate head coach at Paul IV High School for four years (2007-11) before advancing to the collegiate ranks.
Johnson served six years as assistant director and head of travel and logistics for the Team Takeover AAU program and was the head coach of its 16 and under age group during that stint. The program produced a total of 53 Division I scholarship players during his stint there. His travel team tournament championships include the prestigious King James Classic (2009, 2010) and the Orlando National Super Showcase (2009).
In addition to his years as a camp coach at Eastern Invitational and Reebok Headliner Camp, Johnson was a guest clinician at the New England Basketball Coaching Clinic at Reebok Headquarters. He has also served as a camp and tournament director, beginning with the first Annual National High School Hoop Festival in 2007 and the first Annual DMV Basketball Coaching Clinic in 2008.
Johnson attended Oxon Hill (Md.) High School, where his playing career was cut short due to an injury in his second year of varsity basketball. As a senior at Oxon Hill in 1994, he was named Science and Technology Student of the Year.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in cell, molecular biology and genetics in 1999 at the University of Maryland, where he was a Benjamin Banneker Scholarship recipient. He worked as a protein chemist/molecular biologist at Human Genome Sciences in Rockville, Md. after graduation.
A native of Oxon Hill, Md., Johnson and his wife, Doreen, have two sons, Amare (15) and Mekai (12).
http://www.goexplorers.com/news/2018/5/9/mens-basketball-assistant-coach-release.aspx
