Kentwood girls basketball names Felicia Johnson as new coach

Published 1:12 pm Friday, July 17, 2026

Kentwood High School girl’s basketball is ready to usher in a new era with Felicia Johnson taking over as head coach.

She will be the third coach in three years for the Conquerors. She was named to the position in May.

“I’m looking to bring back the winning ways of the program here at Kentwood,” Johnson said in a phone interview with The Kent Reporter.

Johnson began her coaching career in 2003 while she was still playing college basketball at Central Washington University in Ellensburg following a transfer from Bellevue Community College.

“Ever since I have been coaching, it is just something that I knew I wanted to do. I love working with the youth,” Johnson said. “I thought being an assistant coach would be a good role for me. I wanted to be under a coach who knew what they were doing and learn from them. I wanted to bring my expertise just as an assistant role.”

Johnson works at Cedar Heights Middle School in Covington and has been a track and field coach there and a soccer coach as well. She has now pulled back on those roles to focus on her head coaching gig with Kentwood, which also is in Covington, but part of the Kent School District.

She has never been a head coach, but last year she got a taste and was appointed to the interim job on Jan. 31 at Kentwood following Diago Hunter who departed with two regular season games left on the calendar before the playoffs.

“I went home and I told my family ‘If this position opens, I think I am going to go for it.’ I have been hoping to be a head coach but I wasn’t sure. My mantra is God, family and everything else,” Johnson said. “I wanted to be there for my family and my kids, so the timing of going for this position was key. But everyone saw the light that coaching brings me.”

Johnson has been in the Kentwood program since 2022 and never had any head coaching aspirations before taking over as interim and just thought operating in the background was what she was meant to do. But now a new challenge awaits Johnson and she’s taking on her biggest role on a basketball court since she was playing on it.

“When it came to doing it (last year), I really enjoyed it. I was like ‘Oh, maybe I could be a head coach.’ So that is why I went for it,” Johnson said. “I know it is going to take a lot of work to build a program.”

Her coaching philosophy relies heavily on player involvement. Johnson wants to be a two-way communicator with the players where they are free to voice their opinion on anything from practice plans, offseason workouts and even offensive sets and plays. She views that as a critical piece to team success and helping Kentwood get back to the form it had become used to under former head coach Jordan Nero.

“They want to have a voice and share it. They want to work with the coaches about what they hope should be the focus. I am coming in and I want to build something,” Johnson said.

Kentwood’s last two seasons have been the worst records in back-to-back years since 2014 and 2015, the last time the team was under .500 in two consecutive seasons. Johnson knows the challenge that lies ahead, one where not only do they have to compete against other teams on the court, but also teams on the football field.

Since its inception, Kentwood girls flag football has always had good turnouts. Last year there were 90 girls coming out to play flag football. A couple junior varsity players who thought they would benefit on the football field did impact the player count inside the gym.

“If you build it, they will come,” Johnson said. “I just gotta get back to my basics, trust if we build it they will come and the rest will come. It has to be that easy, it will be a challenge. But I think that it makes you have to do a better job of planning.”

Another assistant on Nero’s staff towards the end of his tenure was current head football coach Quincey Davison. Johnson and Davison developed a friendship and since he has taken over as the head football coach in 2025, Johnson has seen the effort and time it takes to build a program through someone she knows very well.

“Coach Q does really know all the kids at Kentwood, having his voice and his opinion is something I value very much,” Johnson said.

Johnson also is looking to work with boys basketball head coach Blake Solomon. They are going to host a scrimmage practice night with both the boys and girls teams and try to host more quad nights, where both boys and girls teams play back-to-back games.

“Just bringing back the family sense with all the programs. I met with the volleyball coach and soccer coach, I want everybody to get a feel for who I am so they can say ‘Yeah I met coach Johnson, you should go out for basketball,” Johnson said.

Johnson’s squad is now in the weight room as the Conks prepare for a strong 2026-27 campaign.