Johnson third from left at NAIA National Championship
Concordia assistant basketball coach Patrick Johnson was announced Monday as the 11th head coach at Citrus College, a junior college in Glendora, CA. Johnson was previously an assistant at Citrus from 2010-2012, and is replacing former head coach Chris Victor, who took an assistant coaching position at Eastern Washington University, and is a former Concordia player and assistant coach, and is a member of the CUI Athletic Hall of Fame.
Johnson spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach for Concordia, helping lead the Eagles to a 69-31 record over the course of three seasons. Concordia went to the NAIA National Championship two out of three seasons in which Johnson was a member of the staff and won the GSAC Tournament Championship in 2013.
"I would like to thank coach (Ken) Ammann, Dave Bireline, and the rest of the Concordia family for allowing me to be part of such a special program these last three years," Johnson said. "Concordia is an amazing place and a huge part of who I am today as a coach and as a person. I am so excited to follow this transition to NCAA DII and have no doubt that the school and the athletic program will flourish."
He was born and raised in Atlanta, GA and played college basketball at prestigious Duke University in Durham, NC for Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski from 2002-2006. While there he appeared in one NCAA Final Four and won three ACC Championships. He graduated in 2006 with a B.A. in political science.
He worked and taught at Claremont High School in Claremont, CA from 2006-2008. In 2006-2007 he was a history teacher, JV basketball coach, and assistant varsity coach. In 2007-2008 he added varsity coach to his duties. Johnson moved to Claremont-McKenna College in 2008-2009 to serve as an assistant coach. His team was crowned the 2009 SCIAC Champions. He moved to Missouri Southern State University in 2009-2010 and was named assistant coach. He moved to Citrus College after that. While at Citrus, his squads were 2010 California State Runner-Up and 2011 California Final Four participants.
"Having worked at Citrus before, I know what a great community it is. Citrus is full of passionate and hard-working individuals at all levels and I was extremely attracted by the opportunity to come back and be a part of that," Johnson said. "There is a great chance here to help young people improve themselves and achieve their goals, and I am looking forward to doing my part in that effort."
Parts of the article contributed from http://www.citrusowls.com/
