Former player becomes new leader of Lady Bucs

Hoover High School’s girls basketball team has a new but familiar face at the helm.

Krystle Johnson was hired in May as the head coach of the Lady Bucs, now leading the same program she led to the 2001 state championship as a player.

“I’ve always said I didn’t ever really want to coach anywhere but here,” Johnson said. “My heart has always been in Hoover.”

Johnson played collegiately at UCLA and Alabama before returning to her high school alma mater from 2007-12, where she assisted with two more state championships for the Lady Bucs. 

Now, following a four-year run at Huntsville High where Johnson led the program to its first two Final Four appearances in school history, she’s back as the head coach and hopeful to restore Hoover as a perennial contender and a feared program.

“State championship here is just kind of mandatory,” she said.

Having played Hoover a few times while coaching at Huntsville, Johnson has seen many of her new players in game action already, and she said she knows what needs to be worked on.

“I played against them, so I know most of their weaknesses and most of their strengths,” she said. “That’s one of the things I worked on when I got here … I tried to correct those weaknesses.”

One of those weaknesses Johnson observed was the inability to shoot the basketball at a high level. Each player is now required to make 1,000 shots per week, and it is the reason why players won’t be found lingering around the locker room before practice.

“Everybody seems to be receptive to everything. Nobody seems to be fighting or anything,” Johnson said.

One area that is not an issue is athleticism, which the Lady Bucs have in abundance, she said. “I’m excited, because I know how much talent we have, but I also know how young our talent is,” Johnson said.

That young talent will need time to mature, and Johnson said she is taking steps to bring the team along as it begins to navigate its schedule.

“When the majority of your team is young — we’ve only got four seniors — it’s always going to take some time. Right now, we don’t have a vocal leader, so I’m having to basically do all the vocal leading at this point,” Johnson said before the season.

However, opposing teams will not be delighted to see junior forwards Angela Grant and Eboni Williams, who are both garnering looks from Division 1 programs. Joiya Maddox and Miya Kimber are sophomores who also will contribute in a big way.

“At any given point, there’s no telling who will lead us in scoring or who will lead us in rebounding, because we’ve just got a lot of talent on this team,” Johnson said.

Johnson said she will not keyhole her team into any single style of play, but that her team will be able to adapt to any opponent.

“We could play any brand of basketball,” she said. “We’ve got people who could go fast. We’ve got threats when it’s time to slow down. We’ve got people who can get to the basket. We’ve got people who can shoot. We’ve got people who can defend. The one thing I’ve always taught my players is to be versatile.”

As for the maturation process of a young, talented team, whether the proper lessons are learned early or late in the season will determine how far the Lady Bucs advance in the spring.