Greensboro Day's Freddy Johnson gets his 1,100th win
Joe Sirera
Greensboro Day won its 1,100th boys basketball game Monday night with Freddy Johnson as coach. The 2016 N.C. Sports Hall of Fame inductee has lost just 305 games along the way, and the 76-47 victory over Caldwell Academy gave the Bengals (20-5) their 29th straight 20-win season.
“Every team, every year has a game I remember,” Johnson said afterward. “What I like so much about this team is if you watch the bench the starters pull just as hard for the reserves. They really, really believe in themselves and really enjoy playing together.”
Johnson, who received the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s Morgan Wootten Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2020, has spent his entire coaching career at Greensboro Day School where he took over as head coach in 1977. The 66-year-old Grimsley alumnus is the winningest coach in North Carolina high school basketball history and ranks eighth nationally on the all-time list.
Here are some of Johnson’s thoughts on the milestone and his career:
What’s the significance of this milestone?
“The biggest thing I take away is how lucky I’ve been to be at a school so long. I’ve had great players and very good assistant coaches who’ve helped me along the way. It’s their milestone, not mine, because they’re the ones who’ve won all the games.”
What do you still want to accomplish as a coach?
“My key thing as a coach now is that it’s important to reach out to young coaches and try to help them like (former Page coach) Mac Morris did for me when I came along. Mac spent a lot of time teaching me the ins and outs of basketball and even more about other issues off the court. … I’ve made an effort to reach out to younger coaches and try to help them and be someone they can bounce things off.”
How does this season’s team compare to some of your past squads?
“We have more new kids that have joined the team this year than ever. The tough thing, like the college programs talk about, is that we didn’t have any time with them during the summer and the fall was so hit-and-miss that getting them to jell early was a little bit difficult. But they are a great bunch of kids. We talk about as a coaching staff all the time how lucky we are to be going through what we’re going through this year with the virus to have such great kids to work with every day.”
What has it been like coaching during the COVID-19 pandemic?
“It’s emotionally draining. When you have a kid, one of your players, get the virus it really hurts you because you wonder what you could’ve done as a coach to keep him from getting it. I feel like I’m a parent of 15 boys. You always feel that way, but you really feel that way this year.”
How much longer do you want to coach?
“I don’t see the end in sight where I’m ready to step down. I enjoy it and I still want to help kids. That’s my goal.”
Greensboro Day coach Freddy Johnson: “Every team, every year has a game I remember. What I like so much about this team is if you watch the bench the starters pull just as hard for the reserves. They really, really believe in themselves and really enjoy playing together.”
Contact Joe Sirera at 336-373-7034, and follow @JoeSireraSports on Twitter.
ALL-TIME WINNINGEST COACHES
The top 10 boys high school basketball coaches all-time in victories:
1. Robert Hughes 1,333
2. Morgan Wootten 1,274
3. Steve Smith* 1,188
4. Bob Hurley 1,185
5. Gary McKnight* 1,161
6. Ralph Tasker 1,122
7. Richard Duease* 1,120
8. Freddy Johnson* 1,100
9. Bill Krueger 1,096
10. Charles Smith* 1,092
*-Active coaches
Joe Sirera
Greensboro Day won its 1,100th boys basketball game Monday night with Freddy Johnson as coach. The 2016 N.C. Sports Hall of Fame inductee has lost just 305 games along the way, and the 76-47 victory over Caldwell Academy gave the Bengals (20-5) their 29th straight 20-win season.
“Every team, every year has a game I remember,” Johnson said afterward. “What I like so much about this team is if you watch the bench the starters pull just as hard for the reserves. They really, really believe in themselves and really enjoy playing together.”
Johnson, who received the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s Morgan Wootten Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2020, has spent his entire coaching career at Greensboro Day School where he took over as head coach in 1977. The 66-year-old Grimsley alumnus is the winningest coach in North Carolina high school basketball history and ranks eighth nationally on the all-time list.
Here are some of Johnson’s thoughts on the milestone and his career:
What’s the significance of this milestone?
“The biggest thing I take away is how lucky I’ve been to be at a school so long. I’ve had great players and very good assistant coaches who’ve helped me along the way. It’s their milestone, not mine, because they’re the ones who’ve won all the games.”
What do you still want to accomplish as a coach?
“My key thing as a coach now is that it’s important to reach out to young coaches and try to help them like (former Page coach) Mac Morris did for me when I came along. Mac spent a lot of time teaching me the ins and outs of basketball and even more about other issues off the court. … I’ve made an effort to reach out to younger coaches and try to help them and be someone they can bounce things off.”
How does this season’s team compare to some of your past squads?
“We have more new kids that have joined the team this year than ever. The tough thing, like the college programs talk about, is that we didn’t have any time with them during the summer and the fall was so hit-and-miss that getting them to jell early was a little bit difficult. But they are a great bunch of kids. We talk about as a coaching staff all the time how lucky we are to be going through what we’re going through this year with the virus to have such great kids to work with every day.”
What has it been like coaching during the COVID-19 pandemic?
“It’s emotionally draining. When you have a kid, one of your players, get the virus it really hurts you because you wonder what you could’ve done as a coach to keep him from getting it. I feel like I’m a parent of 15 boys. You always feel that way, but you really feel that way this year.”
How much longer do you want to coach?
“I don’t see the end in sight where I’m ready to step down. I enjoy it and I still want to help kids. That’s my goal.”
Greensboro Day coach Freddy Johnson: “Every team, every year has a game I remember. What I like so much about this team is if you watch the bench the starters pull just as hard for the reserves. They really, really believe in themselves and really enjoy playing together.”
Contact Joe Sirera at 336-373-7034, and follow @JoeSireraSports on Twitter.
ALL-TIME WINNINGEST COACHES
The top 10 boys high school basketball coaches all-time in victories:
1. Robert Hughes 1,333
2. Morgan Wootten 1,274
3. Steve Smith* 1,188
4. Bob Hurley 1,185
5. Gary McKnight* 1,161
6. Ralph Tasker 1,122
7. Richard Duease* 1,120
8. Freddy Johnson* 1,100
9. Bill Krueger 1,096
10. Charles Smith* 1,092
*-Active coaches
