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Oswego East hires Brian Johnson as next boys basketball coach · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Aswego East hires Brian Johnson as next boy's basketball coach.
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  Speaker 1: Written by Joshua Welge. This article is being read by
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  Speaker 1: an automated voice brought to you by Everlett. Brian Johnson
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  Speaker 1: always intended to be a head coach again from the
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  Speaker 1: minute he started as an assistant coach at Mitia Valley
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  Speaker 1: after being let go at West Aurora. But a job
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  Speaker 1: this good, this close by, Johnson admitted he would have
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  Speaker 1: thought it unlikely a perfect fit. It is Johnson, who
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  Speaker 1: coached for eight seasons at West Aurora and before that
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  Speaker 1: for six years at Caniland, has been hired as the
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  Speaker 1: next boys basketball coach at Oswego East. Johnson replaces Ryan Velasquez,
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  Speaker 1: who stepped down in March after nine seasons. When this
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  Speaker 1: job opened up, it was a no brainer, Johnson said,
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  Speaker 1: perfect timing in my life as well. I was ready
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  Speaker 1: for the next chapter in my coaching career. Johnson, who
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  Speaker 1: will continue to teach Driver's ed at West Aurora, compiled
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  Speaker 1: a one twenty nine one oh two record in eight
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  Speaker 1: seasons there from twenty fifteen twenty twenty three, with four
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  Speaker 1: regional titles and a sectional championship in twenty eighteen, he
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  Speaker 1: posted a ninety nine to sixty eight record with two
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  Speaker 1: regional titles at Canaland from twenty nine twenty fifteen. He
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  Speaker 1: valued his last three seasons as an assistant under Isaiah
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  Speaker 1: Davis at Mitia Valley and the opportunity for more family time.
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  Speaker 1: Johnson's son is a junior at West Aurora who plays volleyball,
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  Speaker 1: his daughter a seventh grader. Seeing how well Isaiah handled
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  Speaker 1: the program as a whole, the amount of autonomy he
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  Speaker 1: gave me as a coach, it gave me a different perspective,
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  Speaker 1: Johnson said, differences in what my coaching style might be
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  Speaker 1: philosophies and amazing ideas to run a program smoothly, really
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  Speaker 1: just developing my core values and lighting a fire again.
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  Speaker 1: My kids are older now there is more time for
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  Speaker 1: me to fully dive into being a head coach part
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  Speaker 1: of a program that is very good in the connections
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  Speaker 1: with what I know as a staff, I felt like
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  Speaker 1: it would be a seamless transition. Oswego East Athletic director
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  Speaker 1: ter Stephen Tracey said that fifty plus applications were received
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  Speaker 1: for the position, with thirteen individuals brought in for the
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  Speaker 1: first round of interviews and four for a second round.
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  Speaker 1: The Wolves have won at least twenty games in each
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  Speaker 1: of the last eight full seasons under Velasquez, not counting
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  Speaker 1: the COVID nineteen shortened season, with three regional titles and
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  Speaker 1: one sectional championship. Brian checked off all the boxes. Tracy said,
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  Speaker 1: We're a high level program. We're pretty turnkey ready. We
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  Speaker 1: have great community development across the board, a great feeder program.
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  Speaker 1: He has the experience of running the overall program. We
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  Speaker 1: felt Brian could come right in pick up where Ryan
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  Speaker 1: left and also help us move and take another step.
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  Speaker 1: He's coached some high level players, been in some high
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  Speaker 1: level basketball games, games we expect to be in in
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  Speaker 1: the future. Putting our program in his hands gave us
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  Speaker 1: the best opportunity to build on the success we've had. Johnson,
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  Speaker 1: who will be the fifth head coach in program history,
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  Speaker 1: has a roundabout connection to Oswego East. His former boss,
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  Speaker 1: West Aurora AD Jason Buckley, was the first boys basketball
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  Speaker 1: coach at Oswego East. At West Aurora, Johnson competed against
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  Speaker 1: Oswego East while the Blackhawks were members of the Southwest
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  Speaker 1: Prairie Conference. Johnson appreciates the opportunity to lead another successful
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  Speaker 1: program without having to uproot his family or make a
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  Speaker 1: long commute from school to school. His wife also teaches
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  Speaker 1: at West Aurora. With his kids in school at that district,
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  Speaker 1: I would have thought that the chances of that were
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  Speaker 1: very unlikely, especially a program like Oswego East, with how
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  Speaker 1: successful it has been done, Johnson said, I feel very
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  Speaker 1: fortunate and very lucky that a job like this would
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  Speaker 1: open up. Ryan and I were very friendly competing with
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  Speaker 1: each other. There is a lot of mutual respect. He
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  Speaker 1: has been helping me out. He cares about the program.
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  Speaker 1: He wants it to be in good hands. Johnson is
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  Speaker 1: no stranger to taking over a program with a high
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  Speaker 1: standard of success. He succeeded Kirkman after the legendary West
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  Speaker 1: Aurora coach retired after thirty nine seasons. I love the challenge,
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  Speaker 1: he said. Going in and taking over for coach Kirkman
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  Speaker 1: was a big deal. The success he had was unbelievable,
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  Speaker 1: and there is pressures with the job. But I like
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  Speaker 1: that me and the staff at West we prepared well
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  Speaker 1: and we had nice successes. Johnson's plan is to bring
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  Speaker 1: back the rest of Oswego East's coaching staff. He's been
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  Speaker 1: in contact with the athletic staff about scheduling games, shootouts
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  Speaker 1: and summer shootouts. We're focusing on the players and what
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  Speaker 1: we can do to be successful. Johnson said, if you
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  Speaker 1: develop a good philosophy and get the players to want
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  Speaker 1: to work hard, success will follow. I'm not looking to
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  Speaker 1: reinvent the wheel. I will just look to add my
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  Speaker 1: personal touch.