Former FDA coach heads to Lee-Scott Academy
Published 5:05 pm Friday, May 20, 2016
Former Fort Dale Academy basketball coach William Johnson has been named the new head basketball coach at Lee-Scott Academy.
And Lee-Scott Academy’s program is one that Johnson is intimately familiar with. As the former head coach of Tuscaloosa Academy, Johnson and the Knights squared off with Lee-Scott in the Class AAA AISA state championship this February.
Johnson, who served as head coach of both the varsity boys and girls basketball teams at Tuscaloosa Academy, was named the Warriors’ new boys coach in a press conference sent out Wednesday.
“My family and I are very excited about the opportunity,” Johnson said.
“We’ve been at Tuscaloosa Academy for the last five years and have had a lot of success. We’re looking to carry that success to Lee-Scott, which has been very successful in its own right, and carry on the tradition that Lee-Scott has built.”
“I know past coaches and had a relationship with several people here at Lee-Scott Academy. Being in AISA, we see a lot of each other. And I’ve always had the utmost respect for Lee-Scott and how they handle things and their whole program. And I love the family-like atmosphere. That’s something that’s always been appealing to me. As a young coach coming up and growing up in AISA, Lee-Scott’s one of the premier programs and an outstanding place, and this is a job that I was really interested in.”
Johnson will be replacing Scott Phillips, who led the Warriors to its first state title since the 2011-2012 season.
Johnson, a Greenville native and graduate of Fort Dale Academy and Troy University, earned a degree in sports fitness management before leading Tuscaloosa Academy to a Class AAA title and the girls basketball team to a Class AAA title in 2016.
Last year, Johnson led the boys team to an 18-7 record, including a loss to Lee-Scott in the state championship.
Johnson also coached both the Fort Dale Academy varsity Eagles and Lady Eagles for three years and was an assistant under current head coach Reggie Mantooth for four years prior to taking the head job at Fort Dale.
