Gary Compton will be the new head boys basketball coach for Johnson High School. Compton will follow Coach Chris Guthrie, who is retiring from education at the end of the year.
Compton has been the Johnson boys team varsity assistant since 2020. He says he is honored and appreciative of this new opportunity.
“I am also extremely excited to have the opportunity to continue working with the young men here at Johnson High School. I have a great amount of admiration and respect for the coaches who have come before me, and I look forward to making them, the community, and most importantly, the school and the team proud,” says Coach Compton. “We will work hard to carry on with the tradition to build character, integrity, and an intense work ethic in the program.”
Before joining the Knights, Compton served as the girls varsity assistant at Winder-Barrow High School (2019-2020). From 2012 to 2020, he was the head girls coach at Apalachee High School. Compton began his coaching career at Flowery Branch High School as a boys assistant coach (2008-2012).
Compton is a Johnson High alum who has worked with the school’s basketball and football teams.
“Coach Compton is man of high integrity who represents our Knights Creed on a daily basis. He is a humble man who constantly pours into our young people, both in the classroom and in the arena of athletics,” says Johnson High Athletic Director Tony Wagner.
“While we have had the pleasure to work with Coach Compton over the past few years, we are excited to have him take the helm as head coach of our boys basketball program,” says principal Jonathan Edwards. “He is a relationship-builder, and he shares in our vision of developing student-athletes of character here at JHS.”
In April, Coach Guthrie announced his retirement. He spent the last three years of his 35-year coaching and teaching career at Johnson High School.
