LSU taps Stanford's Trent Johnson

• By RANDY ROSETTA
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Apr 10, 2008 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Stanford University coach Trent Johnson has been selected as the new LSU men’s basketball head coach and, barring any last-minute snags, he will be introduced to Tigers fans and the Baton Rouge community at 3 p.m. today.

LSU basketball legend  and longtime supporter Collis Temple Jr. confirmed Wednesday night that Johnson was offered the Tigers head-coaching job and accepted.

By doing so, the 51-year-old Seattle native and 2008 Pac-10 Conference Coach of the Year becomes a notable part of LSU’s rich athletic history.

Johnson will be the first black head coach in any men’s sport.

The only black head coaches for LSU have been former women’s basketball coach Pokey Chatman and  women’s tennis coach Tony Minnis. Longtime associate head basketball coach Butch Pierre served as the Tigers interim head coach after John Brady was fired Feb. 7.

Temple, LSU’s first black basketball player and father of two sons who have played for the Tigers, said Johnson was to fly to Baton Rouge on Wednesday night, meet the team and coaches this morning and meet with Temple prior to the afternoon press conference.

“It’s a done deal,” Temple said. “He’s our man.”

Johnson’s selection comes on the heels of LSU naming Joe Alleva late last week to replace outgoing Athletic Director Skip Bertman. Alleva was Duke University’s athletic director for 10 years, while Johnson spent the last four years at Stanford after serving as a Cardinal assistant for four seasons.

“I think the administration and leadership of LSU has probably made the greatest collective hires in the university’s sports and academic history with Joe Alleva and Trent Johnson,” said Temple, a member of the search committee that recommended Alleva.

“When you can lure away a 10-year veteran from Duke who is still young enough to get the job done, and then you can woo away a proven coach from a school like Stanford, that’s a tremendous and amazing accomplishment for Louisiana State University.

“Duke and Stanford are schools that are second to none academically, very special schools that have shown that you can be excellent in academics and also have a strong athletic legacy,” Temple said.

Numerous calls to Johnson’s cell phone were unanswered and messages were not returned. Messages left for Alleva also were not returned.

Multiple sources at LSU and in the basketball coaching profession confirmed that Johnson was the choice to succeed Brady. Those sources said Johnson interviewed for the job at the Final Four in San Antonio last weekend and talks intensified Monday.