Bill and Kenny Johnson follow different paths to athletic director careers

There's an old trope when it comes to sibling relations.

If an older brother does something, his younger brother has to do everything he does, only try to do it better.

Without trying to, Tallmadge athletic director Bill Johnson has done just that to his brother over the last few decades.

Play basketball at Cuyahoga Falls High School? Check.

Become a junior varsity and then varsity basketball coach? Yep.

Move from a head coaching spot to athletic director? Been there, done that.

Not that Cuyahoga Falls athletic director Kenny "KJ" Johnson is too bothered by his younger brother's parallel career path.

"We’re best friends," Kenny said. "We’re really close to each other."

Bill noted he wanted his brother's input before he even considered taking the Tallmadge job last summer.

"To be honest, the first thing I did was have dinner him and our wives, Annie and Gina," Bill said. "I wanted to meet with them to make sure they still had time for their family. I don't want to do anything I do poorly and they showed you can still be a family man and be a good athletic director."

Suitably assuaged, Bill Johnson applied for and got the Tallmadge position.

It was no surprise he had his brother on speed dial during his first weeks on the job.

"I think that I called him every single day," Bill said.

Unlike his brother, Bill also stayed on as Tallmadge's basketball coach this past winter. Kenny resigned and hired Todd Taylor as Falls' new coach when he was promoted.

Now Bill's time on the bench is over, as he resigned as coach just before the birth of his second child last month.

Bill and Gina welcomed Cooper William Johnson on March 29.

Family and community seem to be two guideposts for the Johnson brothers, who now lead one-fourth of athletic programs in the Suburban League American Conference.

Not bad at all for a couple kids from Nutwood Street in the Falls.

KJ: Bleeding black and gold for decades

Perhaps no one has better Cuyahoga Falls credentials than Kenny Johnson.

A basketball star who graduated CFHS in 1996, Johnson became Falls' junior varsity basketball coach even before he graduated from University of Akron in 2003.

"When I got the JV job the second year out of high school, it probably took me two years to realized that I wasn't going to look for a head coaching job anywhere else," he said. "It’s the community I remember. Me and my dad there all the time in the upper stands in the gym, watching games in a packed house."

His JV coaching tenure included coaching his little brother, who is seven years younger.

"I was definitely harder on him, but I knew that he could handle it," he said. "Billy wasn’t the most skilled basketball player, but no one had his work ethic. He’s one of the hardest-working people I’ve seen.

"He’s super organized. He’s a people person. It’s like the perfect qualities for an athletic director."

KJ continued his work with Falls basketball until he took over the program in 2015, right around the time he received his master’s degree from American Public University.

Four years later, KJ got the chance to lead his alma mater as athletic director.

At the time of Johnson's hiring in 2019, Falls superintendent Dr. Todd Nicholls was effusive with his praise.

“Kenny bleeds black and gold,” Nichols said. “He’s been with us in some capacity for 21 years. He’s been with us as a coach, a group director and a teacher. Of course, he’s a Falls grad. He is uniquely positioned to be a strong public relations ambassador for our athletic programs.”

A big part of that ambassador role over the next few years will be helping CFHS update its athletic facilities. This will happen in concert with the new high school building, which is in the planning stages.

"It’s hard. I know we've probably lost some athletes because of our facilities," he said. "The community has changed a little bit. Our socio-economic makeup has changed. Athletics in the Falls, I’m used to what it was in the 1990s. I don’t have any doubt that we can continue to improve."

While realizing that process could take years, KJ said he isn't going anywhere.

"I don’t see me doing anything other than this," he said. "I really really want to make sure I'm giving these kids the kind of experience I had in high school. It’s an awesome place."

Bill: Plotting his own way, coming back home

Growing up as the brother of a Cuyahoga Falls legend had positives and negative for Bill Johnson.

"When I was in grade school, even up to high school, all I did was look to him," Bill said. "I always looked up to those guys. I had told myself, 'I don’t want to do what he does.'"

"I care a lot about Cuyahoga Falls. I have a lot of great memories from there. My whole family goes there still. I needed to do my own thing. I’ve always been open to new challenges."

That new challenge turned out something KJ never did: Coach girls basketball.

Bill's first contact with Tallmadge was as its girls basketball coach, taking over a program in 2010 that barely had a pulse.

By 2014, Bill led Tallmadge to its first district title in 15 years — but then had to step down to concentrate on getting his teaching degrees.

Bill then joined KJ's staff as JV coach at Falls before spending two years as the girls coach at Uniontown Lake.

Once he received his special education degree in 2018 from Western Governors University, fate led Johnson back to Tallmadge — this time as an intervention specialist and boys basketball coach.

“I felt like it was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. I felt like it was a school district I would like to stay at,” Johnson said in 2018. “Things happen for a reason. I’m super excited to be back.”

He also worked to get his master's degree from Mount Union. When Tim Mosher stepped down after the 2020-21 school year, Johnson was ready.

"When I applied for the position, I thought that I was going to stay on for at least one year [as basketball coach]," he said. "I had come to the conclusion that If I was going to do this, I was going to be all in.

"When [Tallmadge superintendent] Steve Wood talked to me about the job, one of the things he asked was, 'What are we going to do about basketball?' It was what was best for kids."

Unlike his brother, Bill took over Tallmadge athletics after the majority of its facilities were upgraded over the last 15 years.

"I would say it doesn’t hurt to have updated facilities," he said. "Our administration has been so accommodating. When you have a gorgeous stadium and new softball field, it makes the job easier."

Sibling rivalry leads to Falls-Tallmadge rivalry?

In their many years of coaching, the Johnson brothers only matched wits as head coaches once — during the 2018-19 boys basketball season.

What happened when it was Johnson versus Johnson?

"I don't remember what happened," KJ said, with a laugh.

Bill joked his brother had never beaten him as a coach, but said the two were much better as collaborators.

"In all seriousness, it makes my job so much easier to know KJ is there," Bill said. "I know I have a friend in there. We talk about how we do things as ADs. Our ADs in the American Conference have all been great, but it's much easier to bug your brother about stuff."

KJ said he's not the only who sees irony of parallel careers.

"My wife, Gina, and my daughter Emma were talking about … it’s so eerie that we ended up doing the same thing," he said. "I never have any aspirations at first to do this.

"Being an AD is a lot of work. He did take different paths to where he is. I’m not sure if this will be his last destination."

Bill's promotion to Tallmadge AD coincided with Falls' move into the American Conference from the National Conference last summer.

As the Black Tigers are no longer conference foes with longtime rivals Hudson and Stow-Munroe Falls, KJ said he believes Tallmadge could become Falls' new top rival.

"We both have a pretty good fan bases," he said. "It’s the closest in proximity to each other. The schools are only seven minutes apart. Both communities travel very well. You add the brother versus brother thing and there’s something there we can build on."

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Bill and Kenny Johnson follow different paths to athletic director careers