Prep football: Woodford County hires ex-UK star

It would be an understatement to say Dennis Johnson enjoyed his weekend.

On Friday, he found out he was being hired as Woodford County's football coach.

On Saturday, he was inducted into the Dawahares/KHSAA Hall of Fame.

"It was all really exciting," the former Harrodsburg High School and University of Kentucky star said Monday after he was introduced as Woodford County's new coach.

Johnson, 35, said he's always wanted to follow in the footsteps of his dad, Alvis, who was Harrodsburg's long-time football coach.

"Even when I was 5 or 6 years old, anytime dad would get in that old blue truck to go to the football house in Harrodsburg, I was always with him. It's been in my blood ever since."

Dennis has coached in Lexington the last several years, including stints as an assistant at Lafayette and Lexington Christian, and as a middle school head coach at Jessie Clark and Crawford.

Woodford County athletics director Jay Lucas said Johnson impressed the search committee "with his charisma, his enthusiasm and his eagnerness."

Alvis Johnson said his son's greatest strength is that "he's passionate about coaching. He loves the sport. He eats it and breathes it, and that's what you've got to do to be successful in this business.

"This isn't a part-time gig. Coaching is a full-time, full-time, full-time job."

Woodford County has had only one winning season in the last seven years. Johnson, 35, said the key to turning the program around is getting kids out to play the game.

"I'm young enough to know what they kinda like in this new age of football. Once you get them out and they see some success, that's how you build a football program in a community like this."

Johnson's athletic credentials should impress the kids.

A standout defensive lineman, he was Kentucky's Mr. Football in 1997, and USA Today's and Sports Illustrated's national defensive player of the year.

He also starred in basketball at Harrodsburg, totaling 2,306 points and 1,347 rebounds in his career. He led the Pioneers to the 1997 Sweet Sixteen.

He won eight individual state titles in track and field in the shot put, discus and triple jump.

Johnson went on to play football at UK and in the NFL.

This story was originally published March 23, 2015 at 10:05 PM with the headline "Prep football: Woodford County hires ex-UK star."