Career assistant Johnson lands head post at H.W. Byers
Jun. 20—Lonnie Johnson's coaching journey has taken him up and down the Delta region, and now it's led him to H.W. Byers.
Johnson landed in the Mount Pleasant community in early May when he was named as the Lions' head football coach. He replaced Chris Daniels, who left after 10 years to be head coach at Potts Camp.
This is the 47-year-old Johnson's first head coaching gig.
"This is one of my career goals, to be a head coach at the varsity level," he said.
Johnson began his career at Greenville, his alma mater, in 2001. It was his first of three stints there. He's also coached at Gentry, Byhalia and most recently Rosa Fort, where he coached running backs.
He takes over a Byers program that went 4-6 last season and finished last in Region 1-1A. The Lions haven't made the playoffs since 2014, but Johnson sees potential in the program.
"I've been in this district before, and I know a little bit about the athletes there at Byers," he said. "They were always good in basketball. For my mindset, I knew that if you can play basketball, there's definitely some athletes there that can play football."
Indeed, several basketball players made up last year's football roster. Among this fall's returnees are receiver/cornerback Jabari Wright and running back/linebacker Chris Isom Jr.
Preseason practices begin July 31, and Johnson is using his time until then to familiarize himself with the players, and vice versa.
"I just want to get them acclimated to my system and the way I call plays," he said. "First of all, the mindset and what I expect of a team. I expect for them to compete like champions. You can't cry about what happened last year, because there's nothing you can do about it. But from this point on, just get the mindset of overcoming any obstacle that comes in your way."
Byers opens the season Aug. 25 at home versus Byhalia.
