REPORTS: Georgetown Looking at Former URI, Louisville Assistant

Ed Cooley expected to add Kenny Johnson to staff

The Georgetown Hoyas are expected to make a significant addition to Ed Cooley’s coaching staff by hiring Kenny Johnson, a well regarded recruiter in the collegiate coaching circles, with DMV ties. Johnson, who is set to leave his current role at Rhode Island, brings his of experience the Hoyas, including work at Indiana, La Salle, and Towson, as well as time under Rick Pitino at Louisville. Johnson also has ties to Paul IV Catholic High School and the Nike Team Takeover AAU organization.

From URI:

Kenny Johnson is entering his first season at Rhode Island in the 2022-23 season. He was named as an assistant coach by Archie Miller in April of 2022.

Johnson is considered one of the of the top assistant coaches in the country. He joins the staff at Rhode Island after spending the last two years as the head coach and athletic director of nationally ranked National Christian Academy High School in Maryland. Before that he was an assistant coach at LaSalle University (2018-2020), the University of Louisville (2014-2017), Indiana University (2012-2014) and Towson University (2011-2012). He has coached numerous NBA Players including but not limited to Terry Rozier, Montrezl Harrell, Damion Lee, Jordan Nwora, Donovan Mitchell, Victor Oladipo, Cody Zeller, Noah Vonleh, Josh Hart and Jerami Grant.

Johnson is known as a top recruiter on a national level and an elite talent developer. After surveying more than 60 collegiate coaches, an ESPN Insider named Johnson as the nation’s 10th best recruiting assistant coach in a 2016 listing.

While at the University of Louisville, Johnson was named Associate HC and helped the program accumulate a record of 75-26, including an Elite 8 run in 2015 and a second-round appearance in 2017. While at Indiana University the program had a combined record of 46-22, while winning the Big Ten Championship, earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and reaching the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2013. While at Indiana, Johnson also helped the Hoosiers produce two top 20 recruiting classes, including a top five class in 2013. While an assistant coach at Towson University Johnson helped 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 while eventually becoming the associate head coach at Paul IV Catholic High School for four years (2007-11).

While a high school coach, Johnson also served six plus years as a director and head of travel and logistics for the nationally recognized Nike Team Takeover AAU organization and was the head coach of its 16 and under age group during that stint. The program produced over 53 Division I players and 4 future NBA players during his stint there.

Johnson attended Oxon Hill (Md.) High School, where his playing career was cut short due to several knee injuries 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 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, is currently engaged to his fiancé Montoya and has three sons, Amare, Mekai and Kash and one daughter Akylah.

Louisville said:

Kenny Johnson, assistant men’s basketball coach and recruiting coordinator at Indiana University for two years prior to joining the Cardinals, is in his second season on the University of Louisville men’s basketball staff as an assistant coach under head coach Rick Pitino.

While at Indiana, Johnson helped the Hoosiers assemble top 20 recruiting classes each of the past two seasons, including a top five class in 2013. On the court, Indiana produced a combined 46-22 record in his two seasons there, winning the Big Ten Championship, earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and reaching the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2013.

ESPN.com’s Jeff Goodman, after surveying more than 200 collegiate coaches, named Johnson as the nation’s 11th most respected/feared assistant coach in a July 2013 listing after just two seasons as a collegiate assistant.

This is a developing story.