You may have heard of the NBA’s Harrison brothers but did you know that West has its very own basketball brothers? Ty Johnson taught history and coached women’s basketball at West during the 2015-16 school year.  During the 2016-17 school year he moved to Hickory NC to take a head college basketball coaching position.  His spot at West was filled by his brother, Dylan Johnson, who taught chemistry and also coached women’s basketball.  This year, they are both here teaching and coaching basketball.

Ty Johnson is happy to be back at West and says that everything is going good.  “I love what I do,” said Ty Johnson.  “I’m learning every year, learning something new. I really enjoy it.”  When asked if it was weird to work with his brother, Ty said, “At times yes.  It’s fun, but at times it’s frustrating. So I guess that’s weird. I mean it’s fun and frustrating at the same time.”

Older brother, Dylan Johnson described Ty Johnson as, “different” or “high-strung” and that  “it’s all about Ty.”  Despite this claim that Coach Ty denies, Dylan said that his relationship with his brother is strong; he even goes on to say that when they were younger, “they were inseparable” and that Ty was like his, “little shadow”.

Dylan Johnson loves his job and says that his favorite part about it is, “seeing the looks on the kids faces when they discover something new.” Dylan and Ty Johnson played basketball together throughout high school, college and with a team that traveled around North Carolina.

When Ty was asked to describe Dylan, the only word he needed to sum him up was, “unpredictable.”

It seems that the old saying, “nothing is stronger than brotherly love”, rings true between the two Johnson brothers. The Johnsons have both wanted to be coaches for as long as they can remember, and by an odd twist of fate, they are living out their dreams together.

The basketball brothers’ last comments to anyone who wants to be a coach when they are older were that, “they should do it for the right reasons and stick with it because it’s hard and you’ve gotta be committed to it.”

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Coaches Ty and Dylan Johnson’s team won the USCAA National Championship.