Providence Day hires basketball coach, former state champion at multiple schools
Ron Johnson is the new boys basketball coach at Providence Day.
Johnson has won multiple state championships in high school and has coached in college at Georgia and Marist.
In 23 years as a head high school coach, Johnson is 537-151.
“There were great coaches interested in this position and our school,” Providence Day athletic director Nancy Beatty said. “The most difficult task was narrowing down the best from the pool of candidates. The more I talked with Ron, the more I became convinced that he was our next leader for the boys basketball program.”
At Providence Day, Johnson replace Brian Field, who coached the Chargers for 15 years and developed a national program. The Chargers won the 2016 N.C. Independent Schools state championship and qualified for the DICKS’ national championship in New York.
But Providence Day has had back-to-back losing seasons after being nationally ranked for five straight years. Johnson, however, has a history of fast turnarounds.
“To say that I’m excited to join the Providence Day School community would be an understatement,” Johnson said. “Whether it is academics, arts or athletics, Providence Day is synonymous with excellence. I’m excited to have the opportunity to continue building on the foundation that coach Field and his staff laid for over a decade. I’m confident that with committed, focused student-athletes and a great deal of hard work, (Providence Day) will find its share of success.”
A 1989 graduate of Barry University in Miami, where his jersey is retired, Johnson started his coaching career right after college.
He won two state titles at the Benjamin School (Fla.) and at Cannon School. In 2008, after four years at Cannon, Johnson joined the staff at the University of Georgia, serving as an assistant coach and program director.
In 2009, Johnson returned to the Charlotte-area, taking a job at Davidson Day. He took over a team that was 5-12 the year before he arrived, and in his first year, Davidson Day finished 22-7 and made an Elite 8 trip. In three years, Johnson’s teams were 75-21 and he had 13 players play Division I in college.
He left Davidson Day in 2012 to take an assistant’s job at Marist College (NY), and later returned to N.C. high school basketball, coaching five seasons at The Burlington School.
In Burlington, Johnson’s teams were 141-11 and he led the Spartans to the N.C. Independent Schools 1A state championships in the 2014-15 and 2016-17 seasons. The 2016-17 team finished 31-0.
Johnson left Burlington School in May 2018 to return to Davidson Day.
Since his return, Davidson Day is 71-9. The 2019-20 team finished the season on a 20-game win streak and won the N.C. 2A Independent Schools state title.
Now, at Providence Day, he’ll jump up into one of the state’s toughest divisions, public or private -- the NCISAA 4A -- as well as one of state’s toughest conferences.
“In terms of scholastic athletics, the Charlotte Independent School Athletic Association is arguably among the most competitive conferences in the country in a variety of sports,” Johnson said. “Regarding basketball, the coaches, players and teams in the CISAA are high-level. It will be a tremendous challenge, but one that we look forward to.”
This story was originally published May 12, 2021 at 4:52 PM.
