Most Navy fans only know
Coach Paul Johnson through his press conference transcripts or from seeing him
on the sidelines of a game. But
what about when he is not delivering one-liners to an attentive reporter or an
absent-minded player…who is the real Paul Johnson? Who is the man behind the success of the
Navy football program?
The search for answers
begins back in 1977 when Susan Propst met Paul Johnson while both were attending
Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North
Carolina. So what was it that first attracted
Susan to Paul? Was it his Southern
charm? Perhaps a fancy one-liner he
delivered?
“I guess it was…he’s always
had a high opinion of himself. He’s
very self confident – very assured of what he was doing. I was attracted to that,” said Susan
Johnson. “He was also very handsome and smart.’
But what about that
Southern charm…
“Well, he’ll say I chased
him and he finally let me catch him.”
But surely, there must have
been a pretty impressive proposal?
“Actually we just had a
little spat, and then, he’s like, here [you go] and he handed me an engagement
ring. That’s the way he did
it.”
It may not sound like the
typical courtship, but 27 years later there is no denying the Johnsons are as
happy as ever. I mean what’s not to
be happy about? They live in a
gorgeous home. They have a
beautifully gifted daughter. And Paul Johnson has perhaps the most secure
coaching job in America.
In a profession that is
known much more for whose been fired than whose been hired, Susan Johnson is
thankful for not having to see her husband out of work since he began coaching
in 1979.
“We’ve never been in that
situation…it’s remarkable to be this long into his career and never have anyone
want to fire him.”
However, Johnson’s first
full-time job wasn’t coaching; it was in a classroom, but not your typical
classroom.
“His first year at Avery
County High School he was one of those in-school suspension people…where he just
got the bad kids, recalls Susan Johnson.
“There was this one time a
young man was suspended because Paul had asked him to do something and he said
he wasn’t going to do it. And in
order to come back to school, the student had to bring his guardian in and
apologize to Paul. So [the student] comes back in with his grandpa. His grandpa looked at Paul and asked his
grandson if [Paul] was the ‘boy’ he was going to
woop?”
“The student replied, ‘Yep,
that’s the one,’ which made his grandpa turn to him and say, ‘Son, you need to
go back home with me now, you’re too dumb for any schooling.’”
Susan Johnson says they
“would have been perfectly happy to retire at the high school” but budget cuts
soon forced the school to cut her husband’s position. He received an offer to
teach at an elementary school in the district; however, the job would have meant
Paul would likely have to give up coaching both football and basketball at the
high school, and that was something he just didn’t want to do.
“So he just went to the
junior college in the county and talked to the football coach one day,” said
Susan Johnson. “He made such a good
impression that the coach said he wanted to hire him. I remember moving into faculty housing
soon thereafter. I think [the
housing] was free. It was a pretty
small place. It maybe had one or
two rooms – including the bathroom.”
Johnson would stay at
Lees-McRae Junior College for two years and at a game during his second year, a
representative from Georgia Southern University approached him about meeting
with Erk Russell, the head coach in Statesboro at the
time.
Johnson was offered and
accepted the position to coach the defensive line for the Eagles in
1983.
Although Johnson started
coaching defense at Georgia Southern, it was the offense he installed there once
being promoted to offensive coordinator in 1985 that would bring his next suitor
according to Susan Johnson.
“Bob Wagner had just gotten
the head coaching job at Hawaii in 1986 and he was in Tacoma,
Washington the same time Paul was there with
Georgia Southern in the Division 1-AA championship game. He saw Paul’s offense and wanted to hire
him.”
Unfortunately, Wagner’s
initial call to the Johnson house wasn’t very well
received.
“Paul hung up on him,”
explained Susan Johnson. “Some of
the younger coaches had made prank calls in the past so he thought someone was
fooling him. Fortunately, Bob
Wagner called back.”
When it comes to changing
jobs and moving on to a new place, Mrs. Johnson enjoys the
opportunity.
“It’s very exciting,” she
said. “It’s very complimentary to
Paul to know that these other people want to hire him. I lived in the same home [growing up]
and my parents still live there, but I don’t know why but I’m usually ready to
move.”
There was a time, however,
when Susan Johnson said family played a role in blocking a potential career
move.
“When I was pregnant with
Kaitlyn [in 1993] and she was due any minute, Paul got a job offer from Baylor
to be their offensive coordinator. He decided not to take it and we stayed in
Hawaii.”
Family came first in that
decision but a close second was how content her husband was in his current
job.
“I think the thing with
Hawaii was Paul was in a position where he was in charge of
the offense because Coach Wagner was a defensive guy. So Paul knew he was calling the plays –
calling the shots on the offense.
That means a lot when you are an assistant coach and somebody isn’t
always second guessing,” said Susan Johnson.
However, two years after
Kaitlyn was born, the Johnson family was ready to move closer to their families
in North
Carolina. As Susan Johnson recalls, “We wanted to
get back in the South.”
But once again the phone
call from an admiring head coach didn’t take place without a
hitch.
“We were in
North
Carolina at my
parents’ house and [newly-named Navy head coach] Charlie [Weatherbie] had waited
up to call, thinking we were five hours away in
Hawaii. So at
three
o’clock in the morning, the
phone rings. This time,
fortunately, Paul didn’t hang up,” said Susan
Johnson.
And just like that the
Johnsons were off again – this time to Annapolis, Maryland, and the U.S. Naval
Academy.
Paul Johnson’s first trip
to Annapolis would be the shortest coaching stint of his collegiate
career, lasting only two seasons.
However, it was enough time for Susan to draw some conclusions about the
community.
“It’s a great place to be…a
great place to live. It’s
beautiful, and we were extremely happy to be back on the East
Coast.”
As for leaving Navy back in
1996 after only two years, Susan Johnson said the timing was
right.
“He needed to be a head
coach. He was ready. After being in
Hawaii for eight years, I knew he could be a successful head
coach if he got the chance.”
She continued, “When we
left Georgia Southern for Hawaii, we hoped that we would go back to
Georgia Southern one day.”
For the next five years,
Paul Johnson led the Eagles on arguably one of the greatest runs in college
football history, compiling a 62-10 record and winning two Division I-AA
titles.
“It was like we never
lost,” remembers Susan Johnson.
Well those days would soon
be in the rearview mirror as the Johnson family was about to make a decision
that would lead to one of the longest years of their
lives.
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Be sure to come back to GoMids.com tomorrow
because…
In Part II of my interview,
Susan Johnson remembers the 2002 season at Navy and answers some questions fans
are dying to know all about like: Will Paul Johnson ever coach at Army? Could they be happy retiring in
Annapolis? And what
impact has the brigade support had on the program? You’ll also hear from Paul Johnson’s
daughter Kaitlyn, who talked about watching football with her dad, his
superstitions (yes, he has some), and whether or not she would like to see his
triple option offense at a BCS school.
If you would like to share
your thoughts on this article, send David an email.