Coaching basketball 'something special' for Johnson

At first hesitant to make the switch from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa to ASU in the Valley of the Sun, Stan Johnson has since assisted in securing two heavy hitters for the Sun Devils men's basketball team: 2014 four-star point guard Tra Holder of Los Angeles and junior-college All-American Sai Tummala, whose three years of eligibility starts this season.

Before Drake, Johnson had coached at Bemidji State, Southwest Baptist, Cal State-Northridge and Utah. Having moved to Salt Lake City from Liberia to escape the country’s civil war when he was 10, Johnson knew nothing about basketball. But that didn’t stop his classmates from picking him for teams, assuming he could play.

He kept at the sport, though, and in high school, Johnson’s teammates began to call him “Coach” because of how he approached and analyzed the game. Later, during college, coaches would ask him to host recruits. It was then that Johnson says he realized: “Man, there’s nothing better than putting your hand in a huddle, being with a group of guys, doing something special.”

“(Phelps) told me, ‘This is who you have to hire,’” said head coach Herb Sendek.

And the rest, as they say, is history.