Mountaineers hire Johnson to head girls basketball team

IRON MOUNTAIN — On Monday night, the Iron Mountain Schools Board of Education approved to hire 22–year–old Katelynn Johnson as their new girls basketball head coach.

She is the daughter of boys head coach Bucky Johnson and the granddaughter of long time Mountaineers coach Rick Olds. She says she’s excited about the opportunity to use what she has learned from her two coaching role models.

“I saw him put 110% of his effort so I know what it’s like to be fully invested and that’s exactly what I want to be. I want to be there for my players, on and off the court, not only in basketball but in life in general, too. And I think seeing my dad over the years has helped form the type of coach that I want to be,” Johnson said.

Johnson has no formal coaching experience outside of a few local youth basketball camps she has taken part in. But that won’t deter her from trying out new things to galvanize the Mountaineers girls basketball program.

“My expectations for the girls are to work hard, put everything you’ve got into it. I’m here for you. We’re going to be there for each other. We’re going to do the best that we possibly can. We’re not going to get down on ourselves if things don’t go our way, because the next day it could. So always having a positive attitude and being there for each other is what I really expect out of my team this year,” Johnson said.

Johnson played basketball all four years at Iron Mountain, including three at the varsity level, and is currently studying to be a teacher at Northern Michigan University