Although he may be popular among the people who hired him, students around campus are not familiar with new LSU men’s basketball coach Trent Johnson.
LSU announced Thursday that Johnson would take over as the Tigers’ new coach. LSU fired former men’s basketball coach John Brady on Feb. 8 after going 8-13 this past season. Brady’s assistant Butch Pierre replaced Brady and went 5-5 to finish the year.
Johnson spent the past four seasons at Stanford. He posted an 80-48 record, went to three NCAA tournaments and was named the 2007-2008 Pac-10 Coach of the Year.
Despite these accolades, some students are not familiar with the coach.
“I follow basketball,” said business sophomore Tyler Sembera. “I’ve just never heard of that coach.”
Sembera said he plans to attend more games this upcoming season so he can see how Johnson compares to other coaches.
“I didn’t even know he was a potential candidate until we hired him,” said biology senior Michael Miller. “I thought Anthony Grant and Travis Ford were in the mix, and then that Tony Bennett guy, but I don’t know enough about those guys to justify those guys being hired over Johnson.”
Miller said he listened to Johnson’s first press conference at LSU and said the University made a good decision hiring Johnson.
“He attended the Sweet 16 at Nevada,” Miller said. “At Stanford. he was the Pac-10 Coach of the Year last year. He has a proven track record so it was a good hire.”
Many people have expressed hope that Johnson will return LSU back to its 2006 form. The Tigers went to the Final Four that season for the first time in 20 seasons. LSU missed out on postseason play the past two seasons.
“If he can take Stanford to the Sweet 16, I guess he can probably do the same at LSU,” said accounting freshman Kevin Naccarie.
Johnson said his plan for success is focused on keeping local talent in-state. Johnson is known as an above-average recruiter, bringing in twins Brook and Robin Lopez at Stanford and former standout Nick Fazekas at Nevada.
The Lopez twins are projected to be first-round picks in this summer’s NBA draft. Fazekas is a member of the Los Angeles Clippers and was a two time Wooden Award finalist while at Nevada.
“He recruits pretty good,” said construction management junior Lee Armstrong. “He got the two twins over at Stanford, so hopefully he can get big names here. I wanted a bigger name for recruiting purposes, but I think he’ll do a good job.”
Johnson is the first black permanent coach of a major men’s sport at LSU. He joins women’s tennis coach Tony Minnis as the only other black coach currently at the school.
“I’m very excited [about having a black coach],” said English and African-American studies senior John Collins. “I think it’s unfortunate it took 140-some odd years to finally hire a black coach, but we’re getting there. I’m happy about that.”
—-Contact Johanathan Brooks at [email protected]