PU coach exits alma mater for Fairfield
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Denton Koons heard it from his mom, who got a phone call from his dad.
Bobby Garbade saw the announcement first-hand as it scrolled across the bottom of the TV screen.
Both the Princeton University commitments were shocked to learn that Sydney Johnson, who in his fourth season as coach took the men’s basketball team to an Ivy League championship and the NCAA tournament, was being named the new Fairfield University coach Wednesday.
”It kind of came out of nowhere,” said Koon.
Koon, a 6-foot-7 forward from Liberty High School in the Kansas City area, was the first to verbally commit to Princeton’s Class of 2015 last August. He was looking forward to playing for Johnson, and upon hearing of the move raised many of the same questions all Princeton fans have.
”To hear how much he turned the team around and had been so successful the past four or five years, if he was going to leave I thought it would be a high mid-major or big conference,” Koon said. “I haven’t talked to Coach Johnson yet. It’s tough as far as all the reasons why. It’s so unexpected.”
Garbade is a 6-foot-10 center from Binghamton, N.Y., who starred for Seton Catholic Central. He was watching ESPN when he saw the news at the bottom of the screen.
”I was surprised, and saddened,” Garbade said. “He’s a great guy. It’s too bad he has to leave.”
Garbade had followed the Tigers’ season from afar while envisioning helping them next year.
”Especially after the run they had, it added to the excitement I have for getting the chance to play for a great program,” Garbade said. “Everything they did this year added on to my overall excitement.”
Now both will have to see who their new coach will be, something that the Tigers hope won’t take long.
”I’m in the process of trying to put together the structure for our search and trying to find candidates,” said Princeton Athletic Director Gary Walters. “Not only are we trying to identify them, but they’re coming to us. We’re conducting a national search and hopefully in two or three weeks, we’ll have a coach.”
The new coach will have to touch base with incoming freshmen like Garbade and Koon, as well as the returning Tigers players. Patrick Saunders, a captain this season as a junior, said Thursday that players have been asked not to comment on Johnson’s departure. The current players have each other to lean on, but incoming freshmen are largely in limbo.
”I definitely liked Coach Johnson,” Koon said. “He was a factor in my decision to come here. It’s tough, but as of right now, I’m committed to the school. I want to see who gets the job and talk to him and see how it is.
”I’m going to wait it out and see who ends up getting the job. Coach (Brian) Earl called me the night that Coach Johnson left. He was checking in. He let me know and I’ll be in touch with him about things.”
Johnson takes over a Fairfield program that won a school-record 25 games this year under Ed Cooley, who left Fairfield to coach Providence. Fairfield plays in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, and won the regular-season title. Four starters are expected to return for the Stags. Johnson did not return phone calls or text messages seeking a comment.
”I have come to guide these young men,” Johnson said at his introductory press conference Wednesday at Fairfield. “We are playing for championships. We want to be on national TV and win basketball games on television. We want to place in the NCAA Tournament and win games in the NCAA Tournament. We’re not going to run and hide from that. We are going to state that boldly. That is our goal and we’re going to put every ounce of what we have into doing that.”
It took the right place to pull Johnson, a 1997 Princeton graduate away from his alma mater that he helped rebuild. Fairfield, he told those gathered at his press conference, had enough going for it to make leaving Princeton bearable.
”When you buy into something and you can see a tie to it deeply, it makes it easier,” Johnson said. “So it’s not that I’m not gonna miss my (Princeton) guys immensely, especially those 16 from this past year. But I really bought in very, very early in the process as it relates to Fairfield, and that helps me deal with those emotions.”
Johnson returned Princeton to the top of the Ivy League, where it tied Harvard for the Ivy title before knocking off the Crimson in a one-game playoff to reach the NCAA tournament this year. He compiled an overall record of 66-53 in four seasons. It was a steady climb, from his first season when the Tigers went 6-23 to his fourth year when they were Ivy champions.
”I was hoping we could get there in four or five years,” said Walters, who hired Johnson after he had served as an assistant to John Thompson III at Georgetown University. “We were able to get there in four years, and that was terrific. Hopefully we can move ahead and sustain the momentum and recognize we’re in a competitive world. Everyone else wants to win the Ivy championship. We have to go out and hire the person that we think can maintain our tradition.”
Then Princeton will try to keep that person. The new coach will be the fifth in the last 15 years after Pete Carril coached the Tigers for 29 seasons. Bill Carmody followed Carril, but then left for Northwestern. Thompson III took over for Carmody before moving on to Georgetown. Joe Scott came back to Princeton, but left for Denver five years ago. Johnson was a young hire without a long coaching record when he came back to Princeton, and now he his moving on to Fairfield.
”In the higher profile world of basketball in particular, it’s sort of become a trend where change appears to be inevitable,” Walters said. “Hopefully we can hire a coach who’s successful and wants to stay around the future.”