johnson leaves sjsu

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

San Jose State Coach Phil Johnson
Hired By Chicago Bulls--(Aug. 27, 1999)

Now this is news: ESPN and the San Jose Mercury News are both reporting this morning that San Jose State Spartans' basketball coach Phil Johnson is headed to the Chicago Bulls where he will be reunited with head coach Tim Floyd. ESPN.com reported Thursday night that SJS Athletic Director Chuck Bell and President Robert Caret were trying to persuade Johnson not to accept the assistant coaching position with the Bulls, but this morning ESPN radio in Chicago reported that Johnson had tendered his resignation to San Jose and had accepted the Chicago job. Apparently, it's now a done deal, and Johnson will be leaving San Jose, and moving to Chicago immediately.

Johnson will most likely replace Jimmy Wooldridge. Johnson was an assistant under Floyd at New Orleans in 1991-93. Johnson has known Wooldridge since the sixth grade and considers him his best friend among coaches. San Jose AD Bell reportedly told ESPN.com that if Johnson were to leave, SJS would move very quickly to hire a successor. ESPN is speculating that Iowa State assistant Steve Barnes, who was an assistant coach at Utah State when Bell was the athletic director there, would be a leading candidate to replace Johnson. According to our sources up in San Jose, there was reportedly going to be a press conference at 1:30 p.m. this afternoon at which time Barnes' appointment as head coach would be announced. No word on whether Barnes, if he gets the job, will keep Johnson's valued assistants, Eddie Hill and Mike K.

Johnson, 40, came to SJS last season from Arizona, where he had been an assistant coach for five seasons. The Spartans were 12-16 under Johnson, a nine-win improvement from the previous season (3-23). Johnson replaced Stan Morrison who had been coach since 1989. Morrison is now the AD at UC Riverside, which is making the jump from D-II to D-I athletics. Johnson's contract was extended after the season to go through 2003-04 and the total value was increased to $700,000. The extension came after Johnson was contacted about the coaching job at Pittsburgh.

The Spartans recruited ten new players, a class that was ranked in the top 20 by a few scouting services (Clark Francis of HoopScoop ranked the class 17th in the nation). San Jose recruited Cory Powell (6'-5" So. SG/SF) from Independence College; Billy Landram (6'-7" Jr. SF/PF) from Olympic College; Brett Lilly (6'-5" Fr. SG/SF) from Riceville (Iowa) High School; Terry Shelton (6'-0" Fr. PG) from Crowley (Texas) High School; Les Norman (6'-0" Fr. PG/SG) from Lebanon (Ill.) High School; Lawrence Felder (6'-10" Jr. F/C) and Ronald Strange (6'-8" Jr. F) both from Fullerton College; Rashaad Hines (5'-10" Jr. PG) from North Idaho College; and Darnell Williams (6'-8" Jr. PF) and Kevin Blunt (6'-7" Jr. F) both from Long Beach City College.

Johnson's departure is second in the Western Athletic Conference in a week. Don Haskins retired Tuesday at UTEP.