Rod Johnson: An impactful educator and pioneer volleyball coach

By Jeff Harrison

  Rod Johnson made an impact during his long career in education, but it’s as a volleyball coach where he’s best known not only locally but throughout the entire state.

  Johnson, who amassed an impressive coaching record that included more than 400 victories, passed away at the age of 78 on Tuesday, Oct. 28 at the Wexner Medical Center/The James Cancer Hospital from Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

  Among those who knew Johnson both on and off the court was another volleyball coaching legend – Jeff Beros – who succeeded Johnson at Buckeye Trail and collected more than victories from 1991-2017 and currently serves as an assistant to Kelly Zehnder at Meadowbrook.

  “I never intended to coach high school volleyball, but he asked me to coach when he needed an assistant,” Beros recalled. “I initially said no for a while before finally saying yes and we were state champs in ’89 and runner-up in ’90!

  “Rod built the premiere high school volleyball in eastern Ohio,” he continued. “Other programs in the area tried to build what he had, but few succeeded.”

  When he stepped down, Johnson urged Beros to take the reins at Trail.

  “When he left, he wanted me to take over and I was reluctant, but I did,” said Beros. “Once I was head coach, I often asked for his advice, and he was always very supportive. That was 36 years ago and I’m still in the gym with the sport all these years later. What I learned from Rod is still making an impact on volleyball today.”

  Beros related that Johnson was at Meadowbrook’s match with West Muskingum back in early September and that his daughters actually attended the Lady Colts’ regional semifinal match against River View in Zanesville on Thursday – two days after his passing.

  “I felt he was there with them,” said Beros. “Our lucky charms.”

   Also impacted by “Coach Johnson” were two players on that 1989 state championship squad – Wendy Booth McVicker and Christie Pulley McGee. Both continued the Johnson legacy by guiding quality volleyball programs, with McVicker in her eighth year as head coach at Buckeye Trail (30th year overall) and McGee in her 16th season as head coach at John Glenn.

   “The culture, passion, and values that guide me at Buckeye Trail trace back to my roots playing for Coach Rod Johnson,” said McVicker. “I was fortunate to play for him as a captain on his state championship team, and now to coach in the program he built from the ground up.

  “The pride, the tradition, and the standard of excellence here…he created it,” she continued. “Coach Johnson expected the best from us every single day. His belief in what Trail volleyball could become shaped us into champions and shaped me into the person and coach I am today. His expectations were high, not only for skill, but for effort, attitude and character.

 “I tell my players every season about Coach Johnson – the drills we ran, the standards he set, and the values he instilled,” McVicker related. “I tell every team I coach about him because his lessons and values still guide our program. I am honored to be only the third coach in program history, and every day I try to continue what he started. He laid the foundation for what is now one of the most successful volleyball programs in Ohio, with 961 wins and counting. His legacy lives on in every player who walks into our gym.”

“Coach Johnson really helped to grow the sport of volleyball in southeastern Ohio,” offered McGee, “and through the sport, he enriched the lives of the players by providing them with so many opportunities outside of the area.”

  Johnson graduated from Gahanna Lincoln High School in 1965 and The Ohio State University in 1969. His career in education began at Madison High School and then, following consolidation, at Buckeye Trail High School where he was a history and psychology teacher.

   During his 14 years as Trail’s volleyball coach (1977-1990), the team amassed an incredible 294-47 record, winning at least 22 games in each of the last 11 seasons. During his tenure, the Lady Warriors won four OVAC titles, eight district crowns and three regional championships. The 1985 squad advanced to the OHSAA Class AA state semifinals, finishing with a 26-2 overall record, and then four years later, in 1989, Johnson and the Lady Warriors reached the pinnacle by winning the Class AA state championship and posting a spotless 27-0 record. Trail nearly went back-to-back under Johnson’s guidance, finishing as the Division III state runner- up in 1990 with a 27-3 mark.  At one point (1985-87), Johnson-coached Trail teams put together the state’s fourth-longest regular season winning streak of 48 games.  He was named Ohio High School Volleyball Coaches Association Class AA “Coach of the Year” in 1989 and he won the OVAC “Coach of the Year” award in 1986.

  Johnson stepped back into the coaching ranks in 2005, this time at Cambridge. Starting from the ground up, the Lady Bobcats went 6-18 his first year but that was the only losing season under Johnson. During his seven years, CHS posted a 106-62 mark. The best season came in 2009 when the Lady ‘Cats were 22-4 and won OVAC, sectional and district championships before losing in the OHSAA Division II Regional semifinals. Cambridge put together an OVAC “threepeat” by also winning conference championships in 2010 and 2011, with overall records of 19-5 and 18-6, respectively. The Lady Cats were also East Central Ohio League runners-up four times under Johnson’s watch. He was tabbed OVAC and District 12 Division II “Coach of the Year” in 2009 and 2010.

  After several years away from coaching – including several years as a part-time sportswriter at The Daily Jeffersonian in Cambridge – he closed out his coaching career at New Lexington (2017) and West Muskingum (2018-19).

  Johnson – who was a big-time NASCAR fan – was inducted into the Gahanna Lincoln High School Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame, the Buckeye Trail/East Guernsey Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999 and was the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference’s first Hall of Fame selection in the Coaches category who piloted a girls’ sport in 2015.