Johnson's first year ends with question mark

First-year head coach Sydney Johnson ’97 was, after all, one of the Ivy League’s most feared players in his heyday at Princeton. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see the two-time All-Ivy selection taking on his young pupils in one-on-one matchups at practice, tutoring them the way Michael Jordan once schooled rookie teammates.

Of course, Johnson is a gentler teacher than the relentlessly competitive and mercilessly demanding Jordan. I’m sure his players are thankful for that, having chafed under the tutelage of harsher taskmasters during their time as Tigers.

His teaching has shown some early returns. Sophomore center Zach Finley, who averaged a middling three points and two rebounds a game during his freshman season, improved by leaps and bounds this season. Finley led the team in scoring, at 10.2 points per game, showcasing the ability that could make him the pivot needed to effectively run the Princeton offense. Sophomore guard Lincoln Gunn, meanwhile, spearheaded the Tiger offense, leading the team with 81 assists.

And, as an added bonus, The New York Times hasn’t written an expose detailing assistant coach Scotty Greenman ’05’s illicit pickup games with Class of 2012 recruits. For that alone, Johnson probably takes the award for rookie of the year among Ivy head coaches.

In retrospect, however, Princeton didn’t exactly evince the earth-shattering improvement we were expecting. After the team finished a disappointing 11-17 in former head coach Joe Scott ’87’s last year, the Tigers came back without graduating any of their core players and put up a 6-23 record — albeit with one more league win. And last year’s season finale — a 64-48 loss to Ivy champion Penn — looks eerily like Tuesday’s 60-47 defeat at the hands of the Quakers.

Speaking of which, Cornell and Brown at the top of the standings? Every dog has its day, and, I suppose, the corollary is that every perennial powerhouse has to find itself in the doghouse once in awhile. But after winning or sharing 10 of the last 20 titles, I can’t find much consolation in the thought that, every 20 years or so, the stars align, the Fates fall asleep, quantum mechanics goes berserk, and neither Princeton nor Penn finishes as the best team in the Ivy League.

The simple answer, of course, is that we expected too much. Johnson’s hiring last spring brought a wave of hope that swept over alumni and current students alike. I can only imagine how popular Johnson must have been at his 10th reunion. In a wide-open Ivy League, a dark-horse title run looked possible.

I must confess that my own excitement was probably a bit unhealthy. After two tough seasons, I was clearly ready for a change. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen this year, leaving one glaring question: what will the future bring for Tiger basketball?

Bold prediction of the day: I believe Johnson will engineer a quiet post-hype turnaround in the coming years, returning Princeton to prominence in the Ivy League.

Why, you ask? I think it goes back to a bizarre phone interview I conducted with Johnson last December. I was in New York helping a friend carry some camera equipment back to campus, and Johnson returned a call I had made earlier that day — just as I was getting out of a taxi cab with about 30 pounds of junk weighing me down. Frantically, I pulled out a pen and began writing on the inside margin of “The Brothers Karamazov,” a book I had brought with the hopelessly naive and unfulfilled intention of reading on the train.

As we rushed into Penn Station, my reception crackling as we went further underground, I remember being struck by Johnson’s sense of optimism. His team was riding a historic 14-game losing streak, but the coach remained positive about his players’ progress and emphasized that the Ivy schedule represented a new season for his team. I can’t help thinking that Johnson’s consistently upbeat attitude inspired the Tigers, who won their first two league games against Dartmouth and Harvard that very weekend.

In the end, I believe the culture Johnson is creating at Princeton will pay off in happier players, good recruits and better performances. Johnson’s work reminds me of another coach who has forged a reputation as a gentle teacher, one who rarely — if ever — berates or insults his players. And as Tony Dungy proved in 2007, nice guys can finish first.