TIME TO WORK: Georgetown Officially Hires Assistant Coach Kenny Johnson

Ed Cooley adds Former URI, Louisville Assistant to staff

The Georgetown Hoyas have officially (and finally) filled the void in Ed Cooley’s coaching staff by hiring Kenny Johnson, a well regarded recruiter in the collegiate coaching circles, with DMV ties. Johnson, who is leaving 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 GUHoyas:

Cooley Adds Kenny Johnson to Coaching Staff

4/15/2024 7:30:00 PM

WASHINGTON – Georgetown University’s Head Men’s Basketball Coach Ed Cooley announced the addition of Kenny Johnson as an assistant coach to his staff ahead of the 2024-25 season.

ON THE RECORD

“I am excited to add Kenny Johnson to the coaching staff,” Cooley said. “He is an outstanding coach who has worked alongside some of the best coaches in our game at all levels – from high school to AAU and at the NCAA Division I level. We are thrilled to bring him back home and it’s truly an exciting time for Georgetown basketball and the DMV.”

KENNY JOHNSON – ROAD TO THE HILLTOP

• Kenny Johnson is entering his first season as part of the Georgetown University men’s basketball coaching staff for the 2024-25 season. Cooley added him to the staff as an assistant coach in April 2024.
• Johnson is considered one of the top assistant coaches in the country and arrives on the Hilltop following two seasons at Rhode Island on Archie Miller’s staff. Before joining the Rhody staff, he was the head coach and athletic director of the nationally-ranked National Christian Academy in Fort Washington, Maryland (2020-22), and an assistant coach at La Salle University (2018-20), the University of Louisville (2014-17), Indiana University (2012-14) and Towson University (2011-12).
• While at Louisville, Johnson was an assistant coach for two seasons before being promoted to an associate head coach prior to the 2016-17 season. He 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.

JOHNSON – TALENT EVALUATOR & DEVELOPER

• Johnson 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, ESPN Insider named Johnson as the nation’s 10th-best recruiting assistant coach in a 2016 listing.

JOHNSON’S DMV TIES

• Johnson began his coaching career in 2002 as the associate head coach at Eleanor Roosevelt High School while eventually becoming the associate head coach at St. Paul VI Catholic High School for four years (2007-11).
• While a high school coach, Johnson also served more than six 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 more than 53 Division I players and four future NBA players during that time.
• Johnson attended Oxon Hill High School in Oxon Hill, Maryland, 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 of Science in cell, molecular biology and genetics in 1999 at the University of Maryland in College Park, where he was a Benjamin Banneker Scholarship recipient. He worked as a protein chemist/molecular biologist at Human Genome Sciences in Rockville, Maryland after graduation.
• A native of Oxon Hill, Johnson is married to his wife, 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.

Welcome, Kenny!