MADISON TOWNSHIP — The Madison Rams didn’t have to look far for the right guy.
Kobi Johnson, a 2012 Madison graduate, has been named the new head football coach, pending board approval, for the Rams after spending nearly a decade on the coaching staff, most recently as the defensive coordinator.
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“He has given everything he has had for nearly a decade here,” Madison Athletic Director Doug Rickert said. “He busts his butt for this program and he said everything we wanted to hear in his interview. So we are proud to have Kobi Johnson as our next football coach.”
This will be Johnson’s first head coaching gig of his young career, but he and everyone around the program are already excited for what is to come.
“We just got the football team together here at Madison and we announced it to the kids and they all just went crazy,” Rickert said. “It was really cool to see their reaction and their excitement to have Kobi lead them.”
Johnson was introduced Tuesday morning to the team and was met with many cheers and hugs from his players, a moment he won’t soon forget.
“It was a very emotional moment for me,” Johnson said. “It means the world to me to have their support because they all have mine. I think we are trending in the right direction and played in some very competitive games last year. With those guys coming back, I think we have something positive moving forward. It is a great opportunity to turn the corner this season and in the future. I really love these kids and Madison and I think they like me, too, even if I am the one pushing them to their limits.”
Johnson inherits a program that has been struggling of late. Last year, the Rams went 2-8 for their best record since 2016. In the past nine seasons, the Rams are 8-79 with three winless seasons, four one-win campaigns and two 2-win years.
Much of that has to do with the coaching carousel of late. Johnson will be the fourth head football coach in the five seasons. After Dave Stupka was let go after the 2021 season, Scott Valentine took over for a season before bolting to return to Ashland. Most recently, Brent Besancon spent two years at the helm before abruptly leaving to take the head coaching job at Orrville. Johnson wants to be the guy who builds long term success with the Rams.
“It is truly a blessing,” Johnson said. “I remember being a little kid watching Madison football and watching those players come out of the locker room. That was always a really big deal to me so now, to be put in a position where I have the opportunity to lead the guys that the young ones gets excited about is really exciting.”
Rickert firmly believes hiring Johnson will bring an end to the revolving door of coaches that has left the kids of Madison and the Ram football players in a form of distrust when it comes to coaches.
“Our biggest thing right now is hiring a guy who wants to be here at Madison,” Rickert said. “We cannot keep doing this to our kids. Kobi spoke on trust, loyalty, commitment, hard work, but the one word he used that really stood out to us in the interview was brotherhood. When adversity happens like what we have been going through with our football program, as a young man, you have to look at your brother beside you and decide if you will attend the weight room in the offseason or make excuses because we don’t have a coach or they can come together and use this. We believe Kobi is the guy who will rally our kids.”
The Rams have a solid football history. They went 7-4 in 2014 and made the playoffs. In 2012, they went 10-2 with a postseason win a year after going 7-3 in 2011. In 2005, Madison was 8-4 with a playoff victory and from 2000-2005, the Rams posted a 33-29 record with five seasons of .500 records or better in six years. They hope to recapture the glory of the 1992 squad that went 10-0 and finished fourth in the final AP Poll and was part of four straight Ohio Heartland Conference titles in the late 80s-early 90s.
Johnson was part of the 2012 team that went 9-1 in the regular season with its only loss coming in double-overtime to West Holmes, 31-28. He felt the thrill of beating Westlake 14-7 in the regional quarterfinals of the playoffs.
From his early education days through high school and into adulthood, Johnson had always bled Madison green.
“I went to elementary school at Eastview, I attended the old Madison Middle School, my whole family is from Madison and we are so proud to be a part of this community,” Johnson said. “I have been fortunate to work under Sean Conway and Jami Massi and Dave Stukpa and I have learned so much from them and it has been a blessing. I am excited for the opportunity to give back to the community I was raised in.”
And Rickert couldn’t be more excited to have a hometown kid at the helm of the football program.
“Kobi has been the guy here who loves Madison and who has constantly picked up the pieces after coaches have left the kids the last few years,” Rickert said. “He sat here when coaches left and he took pride in keeping the ship going. His character mixed with his interview just blew us away. There was no need to go look anywhere else. He has a drive, commitment and a love for Madison that makes us proud to hire him as our next football coach.”
jfurr@gannett.com
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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Madison Rams hire Kobi Johnson as head football coach
