SILER CITY — Earlier this summer, Ryan Johnson had no plans to be a head coach by summer’s end, much less for his alma mater in Siler City.
Yet, a lot can change in a short amount of time.
With a little over a week to go before the start of the 2021-22 fall football season, Johnson’s now preparing to participate in the Jets’ Friday night festivities for the first time in 21 years.
On Monday, Jordan-Matthews announced that Johnson, former head coach at East Chapel Hill and member of J-M’s Class of 2000, would take over head coaching duties for the varsity football program just 11 days before the team’s first regular-season game.
Johnson takes over for Sam Spencer, the Jets’ head coach for the past two seasons, who left in what school officials said was a mutually-agreed upon parting of ways just a few weeks ago.
“My previous school was Cummings and (the Jets) actually attended one of our seven-on-seven functions, then it was maybe that same week that the job came open,” Johnson told the News + Record on Sunday. “(Siler City) is my home town, so I guess people heard the news that things were open and they kind of encouraged me. … They were like, ‘Man, you need to look into this.’
“It was one of those things where I had already committed to one school, but it was my home, so I kind of wanted to at least sit down and talk and see what the situation was,” Johnson added. “Then, they went through the process and I was their first pick.”
Johnson spent the last three seasons as the defensive coordinator and associate head coach for Cummings High School in Burlington, but just as he was set to start his fourth season in the role, Jordan-Matthews Athletic Director Josh Harris offered him the head coaching gig, which he promptly accepted.
In total, Johnson has spent 17 years coaching for a variety of schools, including Graham (defensive line coach), Eastern Guilford (defensive coordinator), Southwest Guilford (defensive coordinator, associate coach), Southern Alamance (defensive coordinator), North Moore (defensive coordinator, associate head coach), East Chapel Hill (head coach) and Cummings (defensive coordinator).
He said his wealth of knowledge — especially on the defensive side of the football — will help him lead the Jets this season.
“People talk about a melting pot, I’m kind of a stew guy,” Johnson said. “I take certain things from each place (I’ve coached) and put my own spin on it. Coaching with some coaches that have won state championships, have championship pedigrees, and then others who were just starting out, you look at the positive and negatives and take out the positive stuff, like leadership, organization … approaching difficult situations, how to deal with conflict, how to communicate … and just how to manage a team.”
This is Johnson’s second stint as a high school head coach. At East Chapel Hill, his Wildcats posted a 2-20 record in two varsity seasons (2015, 2016) with Johnson at the helm.
However, his time at East Chapel Hill was marred by a lack of player participation, especially in regards to upperclassmen, inspiring the decision for Johnson and the school’s administration to drop down to junior varsity for the 2017-18 season, citing player safety — freshman/sophomores going against opposing team’s juniors/seniors — as the primary concern.
“In a place like Chapel Hill, kids are interested in other things besides football, so it was kind of challenging to try and get those kids to think about football since it hadn’t really been important at all there,” Johnson said. “We had football events, we made sure that we attended other functions, both sports events but also a lot of the kids in that area are involved in things like chorus or drama, so we made sure we were in attendance in those types of areas to try and get interest.”
The Jets are no stranger to smaller rosters.
Last season, J-M had just 27 players on its roster by season’s end, many of whom had sustained injuries by the team’s final game out of the necessity to play increased snaps on both sides of the ball.
Academic ineligibility — fueled in part by remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic — wiped out over half of its projected roster, leaving the Jets with major holes when it came time for games to start.
Johnson and his coaching staff are already working on increasing participation.
So far, so good.
“We counted on Saturday and we have 35 (players) right now and then a bunch of kids that haven’t been coming, but I’ve talked to some parents,” Johnson said. “We can probably get about 10 or 15 more that are interested to show up this week. The magic number is 40. If we can get to 40, our plan will be to implement two programs, varsity and J.V.”
One of the biggest challenges for Johnson, though, hasn’t been the lack of interest, but rather a lack of time.
He arrived at J-M last Thursday, a scant 15 days before the Jets’ first contest on Aug. 20. That’s not a lot of time to get acquainted with a team, establish a culture and get settled in before the season starts.
“It kind of worries me a little bit,” Johnson said with a laugh. “You want to get everything done, but there’s only so many hours in the day and your brain keeps turning and turning to make sure you get everything done because you want to do right by these kids in the program.”
Johnson said he’s been “blessed” to have a communicative coaching staff that’s chosen to stay on with him that have led workouts, made sure the players stayed in shape and prepared them for the season throughout this offseason. He said he’s been in meeting after meeting since he took the job, just trying to get himself up to speed.
His return to Siler City, though sudden and unexpected, acts as a great opportunity not only for Johnson to bounce back from his stint at East Chapel Hill, but also bring the Jets back from their struggles in a brand new conference, the Mid-Carolina 1A/2A.
Those struggles have run deep.
In two years under Spencer, the Jets posted a 2-16 record, including an 0-7 season this past spring.
Taking it back further, the Jets haven’t had a winning season since 2011, when a 7-6 campaign saw a first-round upset win over Randleman in the postseason before a lopsided second-round exit.
“Our motto this year is ‘Heart, Pride, Discipline,’ so we’ve talked a lot about heart this past week,” Johnson said. “I’m old school, so I think practice should be harder than the game. So really putting them in situations where they have to lean on each other, they have to fight. It’s all about that heart piece, their commitment. We’re putting you through tough situations now in practice, so when Friday night comes, it’s easier. And they’ve stepped up to the challenge.”
It was 21 years ago when Johnson last laced up a pair of cleats for the Jets.
During his time at J-M, Johnson was a three-time all-conference offensive and defensive lineman and was even nominated to play in the N.C.-S.C. Shrine Bowl his senior year.
He’d go on to play football at Elon University, a Division I FCS program, for four years before graduating and playing a year of professional arena football for the Greensboro Revolution of the now-defunct National Indoor Football League.
“My coaches pushed me and I’m always thankful for them, because without them I wouldn’t be where I am today,” Johnson said. “(Those that play) in college are a small percentage, so I was lucky enough and blessed enough to do that, but I don’t think I could’ve done it without my coaches.”
Now, he’ll be on the sideline in a different role, but his passion remains the same.
“This is not a stepping stone job for me, this is my heart,” Johnson said. “Blood, sweat and tears. You talk about pride, those guys that played before them for the Jets, I was one of those guys.”
Even though it’s been two decades, the memories of his career at J-M keep flooding back. And his coaching staff acts as one of his biggest reminders.
“Coach (Trazon) Mason (linebackers coach), who I retained on my staff, actually coached me, so one of the coaches that coached me is on my staff, so that’s crazy,” Johnson said, chuckling. “I walk into the locker room and onto the field and practice field and a lot of things have changed, but a lot of things have stayed the same.
“In 17 years, I’ve given back to other communities, but there’s something special about giving back to your own community, where you grew up,” Johnson added. “You can go to McDonald’s and Burger King and the stores are still open 21 years later, where you used to hang out, and on the streets you used to ride down bumping loud music, kids are still doing the same thing today. They’re just great memories.”
Reporter Victor Hensley can be reached at vhensley@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @Frezeal33.