Former Louisville assistant Kenny Johnson hired at La Salle

Kenny Johnson, the former Louisville basketball assistant coach who was fired in November following the news of Louisville’s involvement in the FBI’s deep dive into college basketball, has been hired as an assistant coach at La Salle.

Johnson came to Louisville in 2014 after two seasons on Tom Crean’s staff at Indiana. While with the Hoosiers, Johnson established a reputation for being one of the top recruiting assistant coaches in the country.

Before becoming a college assistant, Johnson was already a formidable presence on the AAU scene. For six years he served as the vice president/assistant director of basketball operations for well-known AAU program TeamTakeover.

According to CBS Sports, Johnson is being viewed in the FBI investigation as “a potential witness and nothing more.”

A source told CBS Sports that multiple head coaches have tried to hire Johnson in recent weeks only to have a school administrator eventually nix the deal. In response, a source told CBS Sports that Johnson has shared a letter dated April 19 from his attorney, David Lambertus, in which Lambertus claims to have been told by the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York that it views his client “as a potential witness in its case and nothing more.” CBS Sports has not independently confirmed the letter is an accurate reflection of reality. But Johnson has shared it with potential employers. A source told CBS Sports Johnson has also shared a letter dated March 7 from Jim Elworth, the associate director for the NCAA’s Office of the Committees on Infractions, that states the NCAA “has no record of [Johnson] having past involvement in any Level I/Level II/major NCAA infractions” -- though, it should be noted, that the NCAA has yet to investigate the allegations that ultimately led to Johnson’s dismissal at Louisville.

In 2016, after reportedly being pursued for multiple head coaching vacancies, Johnson signed a lucrative contract extension that kept him on the U of L staff. He was officially fired on Nov. 22, 2017.