Remember this guy? Former NSU star now playing Aussie football
April 8, 2014Johnson will be a grand slam home run as VCHS AD
April 8, 2014
Vandebilt Catholic softball coach Margaret Johnson will have just one more shot at winning her 12th state championship title.
The prestigious Lady Terriers coach announced this week via a news release that the 2014 season will be her last on the diamond for Vandebilt – a school known throughout the state for its softball prowess.
Johnson has coached the Lady Terriers to seven titles in her 24 seasons in the dugout, five times finishing as the state runner-up.
Vandebilt has also made 15-straight trips to the state quarterfinals under Johnson’s watch.
As a player for Vandebilt, Johnson was equally successful, winning four state championships in the 1980s.
The 2014 season has been special so far for Johnson, as she won her 600th career game a few weeks ago.
Johnson’s retirement will only be from coaching and not from athletics altogether. The coach said she is stepping away from softball so that she can focus all of her attention on her position as the school’s athletic director.
Johnson was given the position on an interim basis in December, but will now handle the duties on a permanent basis.
Johnson declined comment on her decision, touting that it wasn’t healthy to her 2014 softball squad.
But the release states that she was chosen as Vandebilt’s AD because of her commitment to student athletes and success.
A search for Johnson’s replacement will begin following the 2014 season. Vandebilt is again one of the top teams in Louisiana this season – a contender to win the state title.
“Vandebilt congratulates Margaret Johnson on this new appointment and has confidence that she will execute her new responsibilities in the same spirit in which she has embraced professional commitments throughout her career,” the release reads.
For Johnson, the move away from softball will cap a historic career on the diamond.
The longtime Terriers’ coach turned her success as a player into success at the collegiate level, as well. Johnson played collegiately at McNeese State before getting into coaching at her alma mater in the late 1980s.
Johnson’s successes have landed her as a Hall of Famer for both Vandebilt and the Louisiana Softball Coaches Association. She received the former honor in 2013 and the latter in 2009.
But as an AD, Johnson will have an entirely new set of challenges.
The coach said last December that the position was a new challenge for her – one that she was looking to tackle head-on.
The week she was tapped as Vandebilt’s Interim AD, Johnson said she was energized and ready to tackle the challenge head-on.
“It’s definitely a new challenge for me,” Johnson said. “It’s going to require a lot of time, energy and commitment on my part, but I’m looking forward to it. Sometimes when you have a new challenge, it makes you re-commit and re-dedicate yourself to what you’re doing.”
Johnson said last December that a big focus of her planning as AD would revolve around eligibility for the school’s athletes. The Terriers had to forfeit games in both girls’ basketball and football in the past two seasons because of eligibility issues.
In the four months of Johnson’s reign as interim AD, no such infractions have occurred.
“My first priority is eligibility,” Johnson said in December. “We have sports coming up in the spring, and we’ve got to make sure we get every, single one of those kids registered with the LHSAA and that we get our rosters sent in and that we’re all good to go from there.”
One of the concerns the softball coach had when named as AD was how it would affect her softball job. At the time, she said she believed that she could balance both roles with success.
Looking at Vandebilt’s success this season, one could easily make the assumption that Johnson is wearing both hats seamlessly. and could continue to do so in the future.
But it appears the 2014 season will be the only one where Johnson will have to juggle the differing roles.
When she departs, one of the most prestigious coaches in the history of Tri-parish athletics will walk off the playing field for the final time.
They are few and far between:
In the past three years, Vandebilt Catholic has seen its proverbial ‘Mount Rushmore’ of coaches resign or move to other positions around the state. Here is a look at the number of wins the team has lost in several of its sports.
Football: Laury Dupont – Resigned in 2011; had 228 career wins and three state titles.
Girls’ basketball: Kathy Luke – Resigned in 2013; had a 685-233 record with Seton Academy and Vandebilt. Won one state title with the team. Louisiana High School Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Famer.
Softball: Margaret Johnson – Retiring in 2014; has 600-plus wins with the school. Won seven state titles and has reached the state quarterfinals 20 times. Will coach her last season in 2014.
