Family decision sparks coach to change mind, take Chelsea basketball job

Location. Location. Location.

Real estate’s mantra turns out to be the underlying reason for a high school basketball coaching decision for a pair of Class 6A programs.

Former Ramsay boys basketball coach Denton Johnson will not be the new girls head coach at Decatur next season after all. Instead, Johnson was approved as the new girls coach at Chelsea on Thursday by the Shelby County Board of Education.

Johnson said the switch had nothing to do with the Decatur program, which turned to former Grayson, Ga., assistant Tyler Wright as his replacement.

“When I had to call the principal (at Decatur), it was heartbreaking,” Johnson said. “They were as first class as first class gets. I didn’t have a connection there with the girls yet, I’d only met them once. I feel bad for the kids, but I knew they had a backup plan.

“It was just best for our family,” said the coach, who was 290-90 in nine seasons at Ramsay. “We were all in on Decatur, 100 percent, but we had our house on the market for almost a month and got just one low-ball offer on it. I can drive to Chelsea from my house in 10 minutes and my wife is a teacher at Oak Mountain. It’s just better for our kids.”

The economics of making the move without a certainty over selling their home was too much for the Johnson family, he said.

“I don’t usually jump on jobs quick like that. I try to stay put,” said Johnson, a Scottsboro native. “It was a big deal at first to try to come back closer to home, but you can’t pay two mortgages.”

Johnson said working at either school would be a plus for any coach. He is replacing 2024-25 Class 6A Coach of the Year Jason Harlow, who took the Chelsea girls to the state championship game last season. Harlow, whose Hornets lost to Park Crossing in the title game, is now the head coach at Homewood.

“Chelsea, you’re set to make a final four run for sure,” he said. “Chelsea is a good, healthy spot to be successful. It’s no knock on Decatur because they are as first class as they can be. They have some really good players up there and they’ll be perfectly fine.”