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.”
