New Ferrum men's basketball coach Johnson 'back home'
FERRUM — James Johnson played college basketball at Ferrum.
His first job as an assistant coach was at Ferrum, too.
Johnson has now returned to his alma mater — this time to be the Ferrum men's basketball team's head coach.
"I'm home," Johnson, 54, said Tuesday at his introductory press conference. "This is surreal. … This feels different than all the places I've been."
Johnson spent five seasons as an assistant to Seth Greenberg at Virginia Tech before serving as the Tech head coach from 2012-14. He has been an assistant coach at many schools, including Penn State and North Carolina State. As a George Mason assistant, he helped the Patriots reach the 2006 Final Four.
"Ferrum … has allowed me to coach on the highest level, on the highest stage," he said. "Coached in the Final Four. Been a head coach at Virginia Tech in the ACC. But nothing … feels like this moment here."
Johnson is the latest ex-Ferrum athlete to become the head coach of a major sport at the college in recent years, joining football coach and former Virginia Tech assistant Kevin Sherman and baseball coach and former major league player Eric Owens.
"This is more than a coaching announcement. This is a homecoming," Ferrum President Mirta Martin said in her introductory remarks Tuesday.
Ferrum is an NCAA Division II school. Johnson has not worked at the small-college level since the 1990s.
Why was he willing to become a Division II coach?
"It goes back to Ferrum. I'm not sure about taking a position like this at another (Division II) institution," he said. "It all boiled down to Ferrum and me coming back home."
Ferrum graduate and new Ferrum men's basketball coach James Johnson speaks at his introductory press conference Tuesday.
Johnson has not been a basketball coach since the 2021-22 season, which was his fifth season an N.C. State assistant under his former Ferrum teammate Kevin Keatts.
"This is the right time to come back and give back to the school that molded me," Johnson said. "I want to mold these young men like I was molded here.
"It wasn't a time to get back to basketball. It was a time to get back to Ferrum."
Johnson joined the Virginia Tech football staff in May 2023 as a director of high school relations for then-head coach Brent Pry. Johnson was retained by new head coach James Franklin.
"Learned a lot from Coach Pry and Coach Franklin," Johnson said.
But Johnson said he left Tech before spring football practice this year because he wanted to get back on a basketball sideline.
"I've missed coaching," Johnson said.
Johnson said he had opportunities this spring to become an assistant men's basketball coach at an ACC school and a Southeastern Conference school. But he opted for the head-coaching job at Ferrum.
"I've never taken a job for money," he said.
Johnson became emotional when discussing what Ferrum means to him.
New Ferrum men's basketball coach James Johnson, center, is shown with Ferrum football coach Kevin Sherman, left and Ferrum baseball coach Eric Owens, right, after Johnson's introductory press conference. All three are former Ferrum athletes.
"(It's) a place that took a chance on a young kid from Powhatan, Virginia. Gave him an opportunity to play college basketball. Got his degree. … Gave me my first college job. It means the world to me," he said.
This will be Johnson's second crack at a head-coaching job. Johnson was 22-41 in his two seasons at the helm of the Hokies.
"I don't think you can ever be prepared for your first head-coaching job, as much as you think you are," he said. "I learned a lot from the experiences that I went through there. It has helped me to be better prepared to be a head coach.
"I think I'm a better coach (now)."
Ferrum athletic director Cleive Adams was seeking a successor to Patrick Corrigan, who steered the Panthers the past four seasons. Corrigan stepped down last month to become the associate head coach at West Florida, which is in the process of moving up from Division II to Division I.
Johnson said Adams reached out to him about the vacancy.
"We started to strategize on … whether or not it was going to be a good fit for him. I knew it was going to be a good fit for Ferrum," said Adams, who is also a Ferrum graduate. "It's very similar to Coach Sherman, very similar to Coach Owens. We're getting to a point in our lives when we've done it all — especially those guys. … And this place is a special, magical place for a lot of us."
Corrigan's team made a successful jump from Division III and the ODAC to Division II and Conference Carolinas this year, going 16-11 overall and 14-6 in Conference Carolinas.
Johnson said he was attracted to the opening by "the trajectory of the college and the transition to Division II."
Johnson's father died of a heart attack last month. Johnson mentioned his late parents in his remarks Tuesday.
"Mom and Dad looking down on me right now — very proud of me," he said.
Johnson played for Ferrum from 1989-93, when Bill Pullen was the men's basketball coach. Pullen attended Tuesday's news conference.
"We talk probably about every week," Pullen said. "Ferrum couldn't find a better person suited for this job than James."
Former Ferrum men's basketball coach Bill Pullen speaks at James Johnson's introductory press conference Tuesday. Johnson played for Pullen and coached under him.
Several of Johnson's former Ferrum teammates also were on hand Tuesday, including Everett Foxx, who is now on the school's Board of Trustees.
Johnson averaged 5.7 points and 5.9 rebounds as a junior, helping the Panthers win their conference tournament and advance to the 1992 NCAA Division III tournament. Johnson averaged 7.5 points as a senior, when Ferrum won the conference regular-season title.
Johnson began his coaching career as an assistant to Pullen from 1993-95.
"I learned how to coach right here," Johnson said.
Recruiting will be different for Johnson in his new job than it was when he was in Division I.
"I want to look at the same type of players that I was looking at (in) Division I. They just might be a couple inches shorter … or not as strong or they may have gotten overlooked," he said.
Corrigan, the 2025-26 Conference Carolinas coach of the year, guided Ferrum to three straight winning seasons.
West Florida announced this week that guard Rodrigo Farias, who averaged 16.6 points as a sophomore this year, is following Corrigan from Ferrum to West Florida.
Another Ferrum starter, Amaris Hunt, entered the transfer portal last month after Corrigan exited.
Ferrum's other three starters this year were seniors.
Only three players are listed on Ferrum's 2026-27 roster.
"I don't think the whole team is in the portal, but there's a lot of guys in the portal and we've got some work to do to keep those guys here," Johnson said.
Mark Berman (540) 981-3125
