Road to Success

After shifting career course from the kitchen to the gridiron, Iowa head coach Tommy Johns has put together a run of success, guiding a Yellow Jacket program that reached new heights this season with the first trip to the semifinal round of the playoffs in school history.

The win makes history, with the Johns family becoming the first father-and-son duo to each win the American Press Southwest Louisiana Coach of the Year award. Mike Johns won the honor in 1994 at LaGrange.

Tommy did not always intend to follow his father into the coaching profession.

“After graduating from high school, I intended to go to culinary school,” he said. “I loved cooking and worked at a few restaurants and a catering company. They were good places to work at and I learned a lot, but I decided that wasn’t what I wanted to do.”

Mike advised Tommy to begin his coaching career by taking a job as equipment manager as McNeese.

While admittedly not a great manager, Johns said the experience was crucial to his career.

“I didn’t see why I needed to be an equipment manager to go into coaching, but Dad told me to trust him and that was what I needed to do so I said OK,” Johns said.

“I was assigned to Gerald Broussard, the offensive line coach at the time. A lot of the managers wanted to become coaches and the McNeese coaches knew that. We were allowed to go to meetings and learned the offense and defense in and out. I was around some great guys. Tommy Tate was head coach, Matt Viator was the offensive coordinator and Lance Guidry was the defensive coordinator. Chuck Gorman was the defensive line coach.

“It was a valuable learning experience being around that program for four years. To me, it is still the best way to start. Coaches took the time out if you had questions.”

After graduating, Johns had trouble finding work.

“My dad was at St. Louis and didn’t want to hire me, he wanted me to start in the public system because of the retirement plan and all that,” Johns said.

“I graduated in the summer and no one had anything open. It got down to the end of July and Darnell Lee left St. Louis for another job. I got hired at St. Louis and was able to work not only for my dad, but for some great mentors. James Kirkendoll was there and to this day is one of my biggest mentors. He and Wayne Cespiva helped me as a young coach.

“The first thing I had to learn was patience, which is something I still work on. They taught me that I would have to learn how to teach. They were great teachers and so patient to help me out and keep me out of harm’s way as a young coach.”

Unexpectedly becoming head girls track coach provided Johns with valuable lessons.

“We weren’t very good and didn’t have a lot of girls out,” he said. “We won state in the mile relay. We had something to build on, so I thought if we could just get some more girls out, we could have a shot to win the whole thing. Other coaches laughed at me and told me to calm down. We got a lot more girls out and were state runner-up the next year, then won state back-to-back.

“I still refer to the track days now. You’re still doing the same things — managing people, fund raising, organizing practice, finding transportation. I didn’t come in blind when I became a football head coach.”

After joining the Iowa staff in 2014, Johns spent a year as secondary coach and two as defensive coordinator before becoming head coach in 2017. He won his first 10 games as head coach before a second round loss to Crowley.

“The biggest thing I learned that year was to be yourself — don’t try to overdo it, do what you believe in and don’t try to do something that someone else expects you to do,” he said. “Or, because someone else is doing it, you need to be doing it. You have to go with what you believe in.

“You have to sell your staff on that and they have to go sell it to the players.”

Following a playoff loss in 2020, Johns installed a new philosophy for the program.

“I walked in and told everyone ‘either you’re in or you’re out,” he said. “‘There’s not going to be any more of this I’m in today but may not be tomorrow.’ That entire weekend I ripped all of the slogans and everything off the walls. It was going to be simple – either you are all-in or you’re out. I just had to define what “all-in” meant. The biggest thing was accountability, then loyalty, leadership and being invested in your program. You do that all day, every day.

“We did a vote with the kids, asking them who they thought was all-in and who was out. We posted the results in the weight room. Kids saw what their teammates thought of them. That whole offseason things changed and we have kind of been on a roll ever since.”

The Jackets went 10-2 with an experienced team in 2021, but had plenty of questions and unknowns coming into this season.

“We lost 21 seniors and 17-18 were starters,” Johns said. “The offseason was great. We had 5:30 a.m. summer workouts and had everybody there that first day and averaged 95 percent attendance. I knew then we’d probably win some games we were not supposed to.”

The Jackets won two games to start the season, lost to Leesville then reeled off seven straight wins to finish the regular season at 9-1 with the District 3-3A title and top seed in the Division II playoffs in hand. The Jackets beat Abbeville and Leesville before losing to North DeSoto.

Johns said the season was a memorable one.

“Winning district was a cool moment, it had been since 2017,” he said. “Last year we were close, but lost to LCC Prep by a point. This year we beat them by a point. The way we won it was special. We had to grind out those wins. It wasn’t just a district championship game. They were all close and we had to find ways to win. The look on the kids’ faces after the quarterfinal win is something I will never forget. We had to pinch ourselves and ask if this was really happening.”

A highlight of semifinal week for Johns was having former players return to catch up.

“To me, that is the most special and rewarding thing,” he said. “We have former players at every home game. We had five or six from the 2017 team here for a walk-through. I hadn’t seen some of them in three or four years. You realize how fast the time goes by. Seeing them doing well makes my day.”

Johns said his primary motivation is helping players off the field.

“For me it is more than wins and losses,” he said. “It is helping these kids create value for themselves when they leave here, whether it is going to college or going to work. It is teaching those kids to be more prepared for life. They need structure, they need discipline. We are hard on them, but the real world is not going to be nice to them. We’re trying to prepare them for whatever life throws at them.”

Johns said being surrounded by great coaches throughout his life has been a big boost to him.

“(Current Iowa assistants) Chuck Gorman and Phil Reynolds have both been head coaches and having them to rely on has helped me tremendously,” Johns said.

“We’re a close-knit group. I couldn’t be more blessed to have the guys that I have here. Growing up in a coaching family I was privy to more things than most. I was around Charles Vicknair, Jimmy Shaver, Parry Lalande and Rusty Phelps. That’s how I learned the ins and outs of the business.”

A 2013 clinic speech by former McNeese defensive coordinator Jim Gush produced another lasting friendship.

“He joined our staff during the 2020 season while being in between jobs,” Johns said. “He’s one of the most humble individuals I’ve ever met and he fit right in with our staff. He’s been coaching for almost 40 years and we learned a lot of football from him during his time with us. We still talk once a week and have become very close. We go visit during spring training every year and talk ball with him and the entire defensive staff over at the University of North Texas where he is the linebackers coach.”