DOUBLE DUTY: Longtime Colony boys’ soccer coach also leading the girls

PALMER — After leading the Colony boys soccer program to nearly 300 wins, 11 Northern Lights Conference titles and a pair of state championships since 1995, Jeremy Johnson is guiding a new team for the first time in his 23 years as a high school soccer head coach.

And Johnson didn’t even have to leave Colony High or his boys’ squad. Johnson is now the head coach of both the Colony boys and girls’ varsity teams, after replacing former longtime girls head coach, Lorie Miner, who retired following the 2016 season after 25 years with the team.

“It kind of took me by surprise,” Colony activities director Mike Boyd said of Johnson’s initial interest in the girls’ job. “But soccer is what he does. He loves the game. He interviewed for the job and was the best candidate.”

Johnson said, after Miner retired, the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to throw his hat in the ring.

“Soccer is how I make my living,” Johnson said.

Johnson, never shy about his commitment to the game, has positioned himself to have the opportunity to coach full-time. He is the Anchorage Youth Soccer Club’s director of coaching and is also a coach within the Alaska Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program. That helped allow Johnson to add the Colony girls head coach to his list of duties.

Johnson, who now lives in Anchorage, said he already makes the daily commute to the Valley during the prep soccer season. He said he’s just adding a few hours to his daily stay. Plus, in soccer, the boys’ and girls schedules are aligned.

“We go to the Peninsula at the same time. When we go to Fairbanks, we’re together,” Johnson said. “It absolutely can be done. We’re at the same facilities.”

Johnson was one of three finalists for the job. Boyd said the hiring committee watched as each candidate directed a 15-minute practice session with a group of Colony athletes.

“He impressed us tremendously,” Boyd said of Johnson during the practice session. “That gave him the edge.”

Boyd said there are a number of traits that stand out about Johnson.

“No. 1, his love for the sport,” Boyd said. “He treats the sport with nothing but professionalism. It consumes him. He’s worked jobs throughout the years. If it got in the way of coaching soccer, he got another job.”

Boyd said, year after year, Johnson continues to show his passion for the sport and coaching.

“People doing something for a long time tend to run out of gas, lose their love for it. He hasn’t,” Boyd said. “He shows no sign of slowing down.”

Johnson said this is his first opportunity to coach girls at the high school level. He said he’s not out to coach boys, or coach girls. He wants to coach soccer players. Plus, Johnson’s family has history with high school girls’ soccer. Johnson’s mother, Sandi, was the first girls’ soccer coach at Palmer High School, his alma mater.

“The first thing I ever did, I was the ball boy for the 1986 Palmer girls team,” Johnson said. “First ever gig in high school. I started with the girls and I’m back with the girls.”

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.