Kenny Johnson | Inside the Hall | Indiana Hoosiers Basketball News, Recruiting and Analysis

Around the Hall: Legends Classic, Kenny Johnson, more

by Staff in Media | July 27th, 2012

Around the Hall is recommended reading from the Inside the Hall staff:

· Eamonn Brennan of ESPN.com breaks down five players to watch (hint: Cody Zeller) and predicts a champion for November’s Legends Classic at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

· In his review of preseason tournament brackets, Jeff Eisenberg of Yahoo! Sports writes that drawing Indiana was a worst-case scenario for Georgia.

· The Washington Post examines AAU coaches from the D.C. area making the jump into the college coaching ranks. New Hoosier assistant Kenny Johnson is prominently discussed.

· Bruce Feldman, a college football columnist for CBSSports.com, writes that he’ll remember Neil Reed as a person who made a lot of people smile.

· Rick Bozich of WDRB Sports writes that Reed should be remembered for more than one moment.

· Matt Roth talked to Dustin Dopirak of The Herald-Times about his future in Bloomington and college basketball.

· The Indianapolis Star continues its countdown of the top 50 Indiana players of all-time with Mike Woodson at No. 8.

Tags: 2012 Legends Classic, Kenny Johnson, Matt Roth, Neil Reed

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IU recognizes basketball staff with new job titles

by Staff in Media | July 11th, 2012

Indiana announced changes in job titles to four members of the men’s basketball staff on Monday. Here’s the complete release from IU media relations:

Bloomington, Indiana—Indiana University men’s basketball coach has named Tim Buckley and Steve McClain to the position of associate head coach, added the title of recruiting coordinator to assistant coach Kenny Johnson and named Calbert Cheaney director of internal and external player development in addition to his duties as director of basketball operations.

“The chemistry inside of your program starts with the chemistry of your staff from top to bottom,” said Crean. “Everyone in our program continues to work in a diligent and energized pace to keep IU on a continual rise.”

Buckley is the senior member of the staff entering his fifth year with the program. He was the head coach at Ball State from 2000-2006, returned to the Hoosier state in April 2008, as an assistant coach at Indiana after helping Marquette to a second round NCAA Tournament appearance in 2007-08. It was the second time that Buckley had been on Crean’s staff at Marquette and will be the third Big Ten school that he has worked at in his 20-plus year career, which has included stops at Iowa and Wisconsin.

“It’s a great honor,” said Buckley. “Our staff has been through a lot of things here over the past four years, so I think part of that comes from the success that we’ve had this past season and hopefully for the future, and it’s one that I’m very appreciative of.”

“Tim has been instrumental from day 1 at Indiana with dealing with every aspect of this program,” added Crean. “He administers, teaches, coaches and recruit at an extremely high level.

McClain, who boasts more than 29 years of coaching experience on the collegiate level, is in his third year as a member of the Hoosiers coaching staff. McClain came to IU after spending three seasons at Colorado, including the last two as associate head coach. He also served as interim coach for a portion of his last season and was the head coach at Wyoming from 1998-2007. He was an assistant at TCU prior to that and the head coach at Hutchinson Community College where he won a national JC title.

“I think, as we all talk about the staff, I don’t think anyone worries about what their titles are,” said McClain. “ I think the one thing that makes this staff so strong is the fact that everybody works the same every day for the same goals every day. It’s a great compliment, yet it’s a compliment of our whole staff.”

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Tags: Calbert Cheaney, Kenny Johnson, Steve McClain, Tim Buckley, Tom Crean

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Indiana names Kenny Johnson assistant coach

by Staff in Media | May 1st, 2012

Indiana has confirmed the hiring of Towson assistant coach Kenny Johnson as the replacement for Bennie Seltzer, who left last month for Samford.

Here’s the release from IU media relations:

Indiana University men’s basketball coach Tom Crean has announced the hiring of Kenny Johnson as an assistant coach for the Hoosiers. He replaces Bennie Seltzer who recently was named head coach at Samford University.

“We have been impressed by Kenny and have followed him for years,” said Crean. “He will bring a solid mix of personality, work ethic and toughness to our staff. I’ve always admired his ability to get the most out of the young men he has worked with. We are excited about his potential and look forward to him working with our entire staff.”

Johnson, a native of Oxon Hill, Maryland, comes to IU from Towson where he joined the staff last year after serving as associate head coach at Paul VI High School in Fairfax, Virginia for four years. Johnson’s background also includes being named the associate head coach at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in 2002 and in 2006 he became the associate head coach at Dr. Henry Wise High School. The following year he began his coaching run at Paul VI.

“I am extremely proud and honored to be part of the Hoosier family,” said Johnson. “Indiana University is a place with unbelievable tradition and I am looking forward to continuing to help young men reach their potential.”

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Tags: Kenny Johnson

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The Hoosier Scoop: Towson’s Skerry praises IU’s hire of Johnson

Exactly what procedural matter or human relations department formality that is keeping Indiana from officially announcing its hiring of Kenny Johnson as assistant coach is uncertain, but Towson coach Pat Skerry is now publicly resigned to the idea of trying to fill Johnson’s spot.

Skerry and Johnson have only been at Towson for one season after taking over for Pat Kennedy, and it was a rough one. The Tigers finished 1-31, losing 22 straight games to start the season. Still, Skerry said he believed there was progress made in program building, and that Johnson was a big part of that.

“Kenny’s done a very good job,” Skerry said. “I’ve known Kenny for a few years, and I was ecstatic to get him on board here. He did a really good job. We had inherited a challenging but exciting task, and he really helped lay some good ground work. Guys have gotten better. He’s an incredibly bright guy. You don’t have a lot of coaches with biology degrees, which is what he has. He’s a family guy, he’s a very good person, he’s a very well connected guy in this fertile recruiting area.”

Tags: Kenny Johnson

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Report: IU to interview Towson’s Kenny Johnson

by Alex Bozich in Media | April 23rd, 2012

With an assistant coaching job still open following Bennie Seltzer’s departure for Samford on April 4, Indiana coach Tom Crean will interview Towson’s Kenny Johnson for the vacancy, according to Jeff Goodman of CBS Sports.

Here’s the scoop, via Goodman’s Twitter account:

Told Indiana coach Tom Crean plans to interview Towson assistant Kenny Johnson this week. Johnson is former AAU coach with Team Takeover.

According to Johnson’s bio on the Towson site, he spent four years coaching at Paul VI High School in Fairfax, Va., as well as six years on the travel circuit with Nike Team Takeover.

Indiana has successfully recruited the Washington D.C. area in recent seasons with current guards Victor Oladipo in the 2010 class and Maurice Creek in 2009. Both Oladipo and Creek played for Team Takeover.

Current 2013 targets Stanford Robinson and BeeJay Anya both play for Team Takeover, which is a Washington D.C. based AAU program. Robinson plays high school basketball at Paul IV.

A move to interview Johnson could mean that Calbert Cheaney has decided not to pursue the opening left by Seltzer and will remain in his role as Director of Basketball Operations. Cheaney has been out recruiting and filling the assistant job on an interim basis in recent weeks.

The job opening is posted online here and states that it will continue to be listed until May 10 or until the position is filled.

Tags: Kenny Johnson

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