CHEYENNE — Sly Johnson has spent the past six years helping Cheyenne East establish itself as one of the most consistent boys basketball programs in Class 4A.
He’ll have an even bigger hand in the Thunderbirds’ results starting this winter after being hired as the head coach this week.
“The history of East and being in the program and learning from the guys I coached with made me want to take this one,” Johnson said Thursday afternoon. “So did my overall loyalty and commitment to the high school. ... This has been a dream job for me forever. I just had to learn and wait my time.”
Johnson was an assistant for all six of Rusty Horsley’s seasons at the helm. Horsley stepped down last month after coaching East to a 127-34 record, one state championship and one state runner-up finish. Johnson also spent three seasons as an assistant for East coach Damon Artery before taking time away from high school coaching to focus on completing his master’s degree.
East won the 2006 Class 4A state championship during Artery’s first season as head coach. Johnson was an assistant for that ballclub. That was the T-Birds’ first boys hoops title since 1988.
“We had a pretty excellent candidate pool,” East athletics director Jerry Schlabs said. “Any time you change coaches, you worry about how the transition is going to go. Sly has been with the basketball program for about 10 years, and coached a lot of these guys since they were in elementary school.
“He’s got a great relationship with these guys because he’s been part of our program. He has a good plan. We’re happy he’s taken us up on this opportunity because he’s going to do a great job.”
Johnson started his teaching career at Normative Services outside Sheridan, and helped that school start its basketball programs. He was the boys head coach in 2000, going 4-11. Johnson also was a coach at CY Junior High in Casper and a volunteer assistant for Laramie High. He also has been a camp instructor at several college summer camps, including Wake Forest, Xavier and Wyoming.
Johnson grew up in Minnesota and spent one season at the North Dakota State College of Science, helping the Wildcats to the National Junior College Athletic Association tournament. He followed NDSC coach Ed Toohey to Casper College for his sophomore season before transferring to the University of Wyoming for two seasons.
Johnson isn’t just familiar with the East roster he inherits because he coached most of the players at the sub-varsity level, but because he coached them during their youth days with the Wyoming Flight competitive program.
“They’re a very good group of kids, who are talented and committed to whatever coach is leading them and committed to East High School,” Johnson said. “We’re going to learn and take our bumps, but we’re going to get better because this is a good group of kids.”
Johnson will put his own stamp on the T-Birds, but doesn’t want to deviate too far from a proven formula for success.
“Coach Horsley was great about Xs and Os, getting everyone on the same page and building relationships with kids,” he said. “The biggest part is the relationship. If you have that, they’ll run through the wall for you. I’m definitely going to run through the wall for them.
“We’re not going to stray too much from what we’ve done. We’re going to play fast and play hard-nosed, blue-collar defense.”
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