Iowa’s Johns claims second American Press Southwest La. Coach of the Year Award
Published 12:40 pm Wednesday, December 25, 2024
- Tommy Johns says his success at Iowa High School has to do with surrounding himself with good people, good coaches and letting them do their job the best way they know how. (Rodrick Anderson / American Press)
Two seasons ago, Tommy Johns took the Iowa Yellow Jackets deeper into the playoffs than they had ever been.
This year he had them on the cusp of taking the next step in their evolution to win his second American Press Southwest Louisiana Coach of the Year Award.
“It is a tremendous honor, but to me, it is really more of a team award,” Johns said. “It is a team of the year because it takes everybody.
“It’s a collaborative effort from the coaches to the player to the administration, everybody.”
He became the 20th coach to win the award at least twice in its 76-year history. Johns led the Yellow Jackets to a 12-2 record, the most wins in a single season in program history, and their second semifinal appearance in three seasons before a comeback bid fell short to Franklinton 35-29.
Like his first award, Johns won his second by a wide margin. He finished with 50 points, including 10 first-place votes, after a runner-up finish last season. Johns won his first Coach of the Year award in 2022 by 48 points.
Johns was also runner-up in 2021. DeQuincy’s Tate Woodard had 24 points followed by Leesville’s Robert Causey (21), Jennings’ Bret Fuselier (13) and Kinder’s Justin Reed (8) round out the top five. Last year’s winner, Welsh’s Ronnie Courville, finished sixth in voting.
After losing a Week 2 contest to Little Cypress-Mauriceville, Texas, in Week 2, the Yellow Jackets won 11 consecutive games, including their third consecutive district championship.
Woodard, the runner-up, led a huge turnaround at DeQuincy as the Tigers went from 2-8 to 9-2 and earned the No. 3 seed in the Nonselect Division III playoffs before bowing out in the regional round.
Causey led the Wampus Cats back to the semifinals for the first time since 2018 after getting upset in the bi-district round last season.
Coach 1st 2nd 3rd Pts
Tommy Johns, Iowa 10 10 0 50
Tate Woodard, DeQuincy 5 2 5 24
Robert Causey, Leesville 4 3 3 21
Bret Fuselier, Jennings 1 4 2 13
Justin Reed, Kinder 1 1 3 8
Ronnie Courville, Welsh 1 0 3 6
Skeet Owens, Barbe 0 1 1 3
Erick Franklin, Lake Charles College Prep 0 1 0 2
Chad Davis, Sam Houston 0 0 1 1
Jeff Wainwright, Grand Lake 0 0 1 1
Tyler LaVergne, Vinton 0 0 1 1
Dexter Washington, Hamilton Christian 0 0 1 1
Idaibi Ogbanga, LaGrange 0 0 1 1
