Basketball coach Johnson '97 leaves University for Fairfield

After leading the men’s basketball team to its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2004, head coach Sydney Johnson ’97 is leaving Princeton to become the head coach at Fairfield University.

Johnson told the team about the move in a private meeting on Monday afternoon.

“We have nothing but great feelings about him and for what he’s done for us, and [we] wish him well for the future,” guard and co-captain Dan Mavraides ’11 said.

“I think he loves Princeton basketball,” said forward and co-captain Kareem Maddox ’11, who was named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year. “Some people may not understand the move, but what I’ll say is that he came, and he got a lot out of Princeton.”

Though Johnson led the Tigers for only four years, he leaves behind an impressive legacy. Johnson oversaw Princeton’s improvement from a program-worst 6-23 record in his debut season to a 25-7 finish, an Ivy League title and a NCAA Tournament appearance this season. Princeton won the league’s automatic bid with a last-second 63-62 victory over Harvard but fell to eventual Final Four participant Kentucky in its first game of the tournament, 59-57.

“He came back [to Princeton] and accomplished his goals; he came here and did what he wanted to do,” Maddox said.

“The team is going to miss him a lot. He was a great coach who did a lot for this program,” Mavraides said. “[His tenure was] rather short-lived, but he made a huge impact on this program in merely four years.”

Johnson leaves behind a 66-53 career record and a 34-22 mark in the Ivy League as coach of the Tigers. His Princeton connection began when he played under head coach Pete Carrill from 1994 to 1997. He was the 1997 Ivy League Player of the Year, a three-year team captain and a key player in Princeton’s historic upset over University of California at Los Angeles in 1996.

The move was not entirely unexpected, and several players said they were aware that Johnson had been receiving offers to coach at other schools.

“We knew teams had been offering him [positions], but we weren’t quite sure what was gonna happen,” Mavraides said. “We knew he would make the right decision [and do] what’s best for him and his family.”

Still, players said they were having a difficult time coming to terms with the move.

“I’m going to have to sit down and reflect on it tomorrow,” Maddox said. “It’s sad.”

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“Obviously, we’re a little upset because we look to him for a lot of leadership,” forward Mack Darrow '13 said. “We support him and consider him someone we look up to.”

Darrow said that the players on the team would keep their offseason concentration on individual improvement, but admitted, “There’s still some shock.”

“Certainly [we are] still very excited about what we have in our circle,” Darrow added.

Former Fairfield head coach Ed Cooley took the head coaching job at Providence College after leading the Stags to a 25-8 record and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular season title. The Stags were invited to the National Invitational Tournament, where they won their opening matchup before losing to Kent State University in the second round.

Fairfield, located in Fairfield, Conn., has qualified for the NCAA Tournament three times in its history, its most recent appearance taking place in 1997. It has an enrollment of 3,500 undergraduate students.

Johnson will officially be presented as the head coach of Fairfield at a press conference on Wednesday morning.

Calls to the Princeton basketball program office were not returned as of Monday afternoon.

“We learned this afternoon that Sydney was going to take the job at Fairfield,” Director of Athletics Gary Walters ’67 told GoPrincetonTigers.com. “We want to thank Sydney for his significant contributions at Princeton as the head coach of our basketball team.”

Accoding to Walters, the nationwide search for Johnson’s replacement will begin immediately.