By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director
CEDAR BLUFF – Ross Johnson has learned a thing or two from a great pedigree of head coaches at Cedar Bluff throughout his playing career, even as a young assistant coach.
Now it’s his turn to instill what he’s learned to the next generation by leading his own program.
Johnson was recently chosen to succeed former Tiger baseball coach Colby Coursey. A 2019 graduate of Cedar Bluff, Johnson will also become the Tigers’ defensive coordinator in football next season.
“Cedar Bluff holds a special place in my heart. It’s a dream come true for me to come back and lead our young people,” Johnson said. “I look forward to a great future here at Cedar Bluff.”
Johnson’s playing career was certainly a decorated one at Cedar Bluff.
In baseball, he was an Alabama Sports Writers Association Class 2A Second Team All-State selection at Designated Hitter as a senior. He was a Class 1A Second Team Designated Hitter selection as a junior, and a Class 1A honorable mention at Catcher his freshman and sophomore years.
In football, Johnson earned a First-Team selection on the Class 2A Defensive Line as a senior. He was chosen Class 1A Second Team Linebacker as a freshman and sophomore. He was also a member of the Tigers’ 2015 Class 1A state runner-up team.
In his football career, Johnson posted a school record 458 total tackles.
“I’ve had a lot of great leaders in my life who were coaches, including my dad (Brian Johnson) being one. Everything that I know sports-wise I credit to him,” Johnson said. “Playing baseball for Coach (Taylor) Talbot, Coach (Andrew) Kinney, Coach (Jim) Nelson, playing football for Coach (Jonathan) McWhorter, and playing basketball for Coach (Joe) Carpenter, there have been a lot of good leaders and a lot of good coaches I’ve played for.”
Even after graduating from Jacksonville State, Johnson continued learning from one of the state’s best head football coaches in Steve Smith at Piedmont. The past two years he’s been an assistant on the baseball and football staffs back at Cedar Bluff.
Johnson aspires to be like his coaching mentors.
“All of the guys I mentioned are great examples of what great leaders and great men are,” he said. “I’ve kind of taken the things they’ve all exemplified. They all have great leadership qualities. I’m just trying to incorporate everything I’ve learned from them. I want to take a little bit from each of them and kind of mesh that into what I want to do here, but it all starts with doing things the right way and holding our players to a high standard.
“I take a lot of pride in Cedar Bluff, not just in baseball and football, but in all our sports and our school in general. There’s a lot of good history here, a lot of good tradition. I want to instill that same pride that I have in this school and these programs into our players going forward. I’m excited and I can’t wait to get to work.”
Johnson said he’s already spoken with the Tiger baseball team about becoming their new head coach. He said their meeting went well and they’re excited to play for him.
“We’ve got a good group coming back next year, and we’ve got a good young group coming up from the junior high,” he said. “I’m looking forward to having a good group of baseball teams coming up for a long time. It’s going to be a process. We’re looking forward to next year, but it all starts with doing things the right way and holding ourselves to a high standard.
“I’m going to demand the best out of the kids. I feel like I’d be failing them if I didn’t challenge them to be at their best each and every day. We obviously want to win. We’re trying build up and win a state championship. Anything short of that is going to be a disappointment for us, but what we’re really trying to instill is doing things the right way and competing at a very high level. That’s going to be our mindset going forward.”
