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Fred Johnson returns to the sidelines, as new Kelly boys basketball head coach
BENTON, Mo. — Returning to the sidelines, former Sikeston boys’ basketball head coach Fred Johnson will lead the Kelly boys’ program in 2019-2020
At the helm of the Bulldogs, Johnson finished with a 118-82 record. He won three district championships during that time, along with a pair of quarterfinal appearances and a fourth-place finish at the state tournament.
Johnson also headed the girls’ basketball team at Sikeston for one season, going 18-7.
Going into a new position, with coaching experience behind you, is something that Johnson said is important to have in your back pocket.
“With the coaching experience that I’ve had in the past, it’s always very vital that you have some coaching experience,” Johnson said. “What I plan to do with this group of young men like I said, is put them out there and let them go. Of course, it will be a controlled situation, I won’t just let them run wild, but just to give them a chance to feel confidence in themselves, know that we will be able to go out and I won’t have a kid that won’t be afraid to take a big shot.”
Kelly goes into the 2019-2020 season losing five seniors from a 9-16 team, but return sophomores Drew Dirnberger and Bryce Morgan and freshman Gavin Jansen, all of whom played valuable minutes.
The Hawks have not won 10 games in a season in the last three years, and with Johnson at the helm, he is looking to change the style of play.
“My plan this year for the team is to get the guys playing hard,” Johnson said. “It will be a different brand of basketball, and we’re going to try to win some ballgames. We plan to play some up-tempo as much as we possibly can. We plan to play a different brand of basketball that will bring the fans in to watch it; put some people in the bleachers.
“I’ve only seen them for one day, and it seems like they hustle really hard. With the hustle effort that I saw, and we got to implement the defense and get our offense going; hopefully, we’ll be able to compete with some people.”
Throwing different looks at opponents is also on the table for the Hawks under Johnson.
He added that it will not be a straight man-to-man look on defense, but will incorporate other types of schemes to make the program successful.
“We’re going to do everything that we need to do on defense,” Johnson said. “We’re going to press some, play some man, some zones, box and 1, whatever it takes to win a basketball game. For me to talk about, I got to get a look at the boy’s first to see what kind of talent we’re going to have so we can be able to do those things.
“On the offensive part of it, I just want the guys to be able to get out there and do the things that they do the best. If I got shooters, I want them to shoot; if I got guys that are penetrators, I want them to penetrate. We plan to play an open offense — a controlled offense. We want to pick the pace up a little bit and see if we can put some Ws on the board.”
Winning is second-nature to Johnson.
The former Oran Eagle was a part of one of the greatest teams in Southeast Missouri history — Johnson was a part of the 1969 Oran basketball team that advanced to the state championship game — and learned under one of the greatest coaches of all-time, in Gene Bess.