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| GonzalesPhoto.com |
Trent johnson couldn’t
figure out why Mike Montgomery wasn’t at the collegiate
basketball coaches’ meeting in Chicago in May.
Then he walked past a television screen during a break,
and there was the ESPN news ticker: “Montgomery
to take Warriors job.”
Johnson paused as he recalled the moment. “I
thought, ‘Please.’”
His wish came true four days later, when he was named
Stanford’s 16th men’s basketball head coach.
In making the announcement on May 25, athletics director
Ted Leland said he had total confidence in Johnson.
“Just spend five minutes with this man and you
will see that we made the right decision,” said
Leland, PhD ’83. “This is a wonderful educator
and excellent basketball coach, and he will be a great
role model for our student-athletes.”
In five seasons as head coach at the University of
Nevada-Reno, Johnson, 47, posted a 79-74 record, improving
from 9-20 his first season to 25-9 this year. In March,
he led the Wolf Pack to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen for the
first time in school history. Nevada upset Michigan
State and Gonzaga before losing to eventual runner-up
Georgia Tech.
Johnson’s career also includes assistant-coaching
stints at Utah, Washington, Rice—and Stanford,
from 1996 to 1999. Johnson had nothing but praise for
Montgomery, although he put it drily. “It’s
pretty evident the gentleman I’m replacing didn’t
have a clue about what’s going on in college basketball,”
he said to laughter from journalists, coaches and players
gathered at Arrillaga Family Sports Center for the press
conference.
Johnson said his former boss, whom he has known since
he was 17, has been a “huge influence” on
him. But, he pointed out, he has his own style. “Coach
Montgomery won’t be replaced,” he said.
“I will try to be myself every step of the way.
My nature is to be aggressive from start to finish,
offensively and defensively.”
Johnson mentioned assistant coaches Eric Reveno, ’88,
MBA ’95, Tony Fuller and Russell Turner three
times at the press conference, and emphasized that he
would not be making any changes in the staff. He also
nodded to players in the room, including 24-year-old
redshirt senior Nick Robinson, whom, he joked, he “recruited
some 20 years ago.”
The announcement was an all-Cardinal event. Johnson’s
wife, Jackie, was welcomed with red roses, and Johnson
revealed that he already has a vehicle of the correct
hue. “I just want to get in my red pickup truck
and come back down here.” |
