Luke Johnson takes over TC Central basketball program
May 1—TRAVERSE CITY — Almost like clockwork, every three decades.
Luke Johnson accepted the head coaching position atop the Traverse City Central boys basketball program recently, fulfilling a family destiny.
His grandfather Jim Mongeau was hired as basketball coach at Gaylord in the 1960s, his father Tom Johnson took the same position in the 1990s and now Luke Johnson another 30 or so years later is coaching the Trojans in the same conference and will play a road game every year in the Gaylord High School gymnasium named after his grandfather.
TC Central tentatively visits Gaylord and "The Monge" on Feb. 6. Season schedules are still a work in progress, but most Big North Conference games are set in at least preliminary spots already.
"That's a cool thing to carry on," Luke Johnson said. "It's going to be surreal. It'll be fun, and hopefully a great atmosphere for me and my family."
Johnson, 45, said he hasn't made any decisions one way or the other on Central's staff, aside from retaining assistant coach Cole Walker, a former Elk Rapids player during Johnson's tenure there from 2008-15 and eventual Division 2 national champion at Ferris State University.
Johnson taught at Elk Rapids through 2022, also coaching tennis for 14 years, track for four seasons and serving as dean of students his final two years. He moved on to East Jordan as an assistant principal last year and joined Traverse City Area Public Schools in 2023 as an assistant principal at Eastern Middle School.
Prior to his Elk Rapids tenure — where he produced an 85-66 record and one district title — Johnson coached for three seasons as an assistant under Cadillac's Jeff McDonald.
"We're going to defend and make it hard for them and take them out of what they do," Johnson said, adding that the offense will vary by personnel.
The Trojans have only two seniors returning next season, Aiden Moorhead and Jack Potgieter, although sophomores Brendan Slack, Owen Ribel and Ethan Rademacher played regularly. Slack was the Trojans' second-leading scorer at 13.6 points a game, and Ribel added 11.0 per contest.
"I'm excited," Johnson said. "It's not something I really expected to see. If you would have asked me six months ago, I would have said you're crazy."
That changed when he agreed to coach a Huffman Basketball Elite eighth-grade travel team, one he's still leading this spring.
Johnson becomes the fifth Central head coach since 2017, when Jeff Turner left after 10 years for Allegan (he's now at his alma mater, Jonesville).
Ben Fischer led Central the last two seasons, including last year's 6-16 campaign as the Trojans were plagued by injuries and lost a rotational player to a midseason transfer.
Stephen Draper coached Central to a 22-14 mark in two seasons, with Travis Schuba leading the team for three campaigns after Turner's departure, posting a 32-21 record.
Johnson played at Central Michigan University from 1997-2001 after a standout prep career at Gaylord.
