Talk about a huge upgrade at the head coaching position. After spending some time as an analyst on ESPN, former NBA great Avery Johnson is taking his talent to the University of Alabama as their new basketball coach.
According to ESPN,
Former NBA coach Avery Johnson has verbally agreed to become the head coach at Alabama, sources told ESPN on Sunday.
The 50-year-old Johnson, an ESPN analyst, is from New Orleans and played in the NBA. He coached the Dallas Mavericks from 2005 to 2008 and the Brooklyn Nets from 2010 to 2012.
Johnson, who played 16 years in the league and was a point guard on the 1999 champion San Antonio Spurs, achieved his greatest coaching success with the Mavericks. Dallas won 60 games twice, and Johnson was the NBA coach of the year in 2006 after guiding the Mavs to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Miami Heat in six games.
His son, Avery Johnson Jr., also plays in the SEC as a freshman point guard at Texas A&M.
Alabama swung and missed on Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall earlier in the week after offering him a deal worth $4 million per year. Marshall opted to stay with the Shockers on a seven-year deal worth $3 million annually, sources said.
The Crimson Tide fired Anthony Grant last month after six seasons in which he went 117-85.
This is big news for the college game. Avery Johnson in the SEC will be great and if he can make them a basketball powerhouse, Johnson will be immortalized in Alabama. Stay tuned to Official College Life for all your sports news.
