Georgetown Hires Kenny Johnson as Assistant Coach, Capping Extended Search Process

After intense lobbying from several local DMV grassroots figures, Georgetown has their replacement for Ivan Thomas.

Georgetown has officially announced the hire of University of Rhode Island assistant coach Kenny Johnson to the same position on Ed Cooley’s bench. Johnson has spent the last two seasons at URI as an assistant under Archie Miller. Prior to that, he was the head coach and athletic director at National Christian Academy High School in Maryland.

Johnson has also spent time at LaSalle University (2018-2020), the University of Louisville (2014-2017), Indiana University (2012-2014), and Towson University (2011-2012)

Known as one of the elite recruiters in the DMV, Johnson is closely connected to Team Takeover, where he served 6+ years as vice president/assistant director of basketball operations.

Team Takeover founder Keith Stevens was instrumental in pushing Ed Cooley to consider Johnson for this position.

Johnson’s hire gives Georgetown another strong recruiter on its bench with DMV ties who can help continue to rebuild and strengthen new and existing relationships with the necessary power players in the DMV.

Ivan Thomas, who recently accepted the head coaching job at Hampton University, was well-liked in the area, and aside from being known as Cooley’s right-hand man, was also the go-to DMV recruiter on staff.

The open spot on the Georgetown bench led to a significant amount of lobbying from AAU power brokers, especially from Takeover founder Keith Stevens and Team Durant founder & 17U head coach Wayne Pratt, the father of Kevin Durant.

Such lobbying is not uncommon in college basketball when there are open assistant spots on high major college basketball teams, but the tug-of-war between Takeover and Team Durant specifically here was notable.

Both teams compete on the Nike EYBL circuit, with Takeover being the more-established group with a longer history (founded in 2009) of producing top talent in the college ranks from its AAU teams.

Durant, founded in 2016, has made inroads in recent years bringing in some top talent in the area, including from Takeover (Judah Mintz being one example).

While other names like Alabama assistant Preston Murphy, Virginia Tech assistant Christian Webster, and George Mason assistant Louis Hinnant were of interest, Johnson emerged as the preferred candidate several weeks ago.

As news of Johnson having the inside track for the Georgetown assistant position began to make the rounds in DMV circles, Team Durant caught wind and tried hard to get Cooley to change his mind.

Multiple sources said that Wayne Pratt called Cooley more than two weeks ago to pitch Cooley on hiring someone besides Johnson.

One source claimed that Boston College assistant Corey McCrae was being pushed by Pratt for the Georgetown assistant opening, while another source claimed that Pratt’s main goal was simply to prevent a Takeover coach from occupying a seat on the bench and thus establishing a stronger pipeline between Georgetown and Takeover.

Over the last couple of weeks however, Georgetown zeroed in on Johnson, and got things done.

Johnson is well-known for his time as associate head coach under Rick Pitino at Louisville. Johnson was given a two-year limited show-cause penalty following a five-year investigation into allegations of recruiting violations against Louisville and several other programs.

Louisville received one Level I and three Level II allegations originating from the recruitment of Brian Bowen and the Adidas pay-for-play scheme during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons. In one of the Level II allegations, Johnson was said to allegedly have “violated the NCAA principles of ethical conduct when he knowingly provided an extra benefit in the form of $1,300,” to Bowen’s father.

While Johnson was punished, Pitino and former Louisville head coach Chris Mack were not. The school was fined $5,000, received a reduction in recruiting days, and was put under two years of probation. A postseason ban was not included as part of the punishment.

The hiring of Johnson at Georgetown may provide some extra spice to future Georgetown-St. John’s matchups. Rick Pitino has been critical of Johnson to the media in the past.

Pitino told NCAA investigators that Johnson had “ruined my life”, caused his family “humiliation”, and cost him $38 million in future salary earnings through Johnson’s alleged duplicity during the recruitment of Bowen.

While Pitino did back Johnson when he was hired by La Salle in 2018, saying publicly, “He’s innocent”, and describing Johnson as a “good person”, Pitino also said, “I don’t think Kenny Johnson gives a shit what he did to me and my family.”

With Johnson in the fold, Georgetown can return to its transfer portal mining activities as it looks to upgrade its roster for 2024-25. Word of Johnson coming to Georgetown has also been mixed with rumors about several DMV-based players, both high school and college players, coming with him.

Currently, Rhode Island’s Class of 2024 consists of two high school players who have already signed their National Letter of Intent: 5-foot-11 point guard Ben Hammond (Paul VI/Team Takeover) and 6-foot-6 wing Tyonne Farrell (Mount St. Joseph/Team Melo).

Johnson’s addition gives Georgetown another heavy hitter in the DMV as it revamps its local recruiting operation under Ed Cooley.