{"id":2858,"date":"2026-05-08T20:32:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T20:32:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=2858"},"modified":"2026-05-08T20:32:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T20:32:28","slug":"football-coach-bob-johnson-remembered-for-impact-on-players-and-family-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=2858","title":{"rendered":"Football coach Bob Johnson remembered for impact on players and family"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber.\u00a0Subscribe now<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=2857\">Athletes bike, run, swim through Mission Viejo in sports festival<\/a><\/p>\n<p>MISSION VIEJO \u2014 Jed Collins recalls several details from his first meeting with football coach Bob Johnson at Mission Viejo High. On a school tour, he visited with Johnson as an aspiring basketball player and received a challenge that changed his life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI sit down in his trailer and the first thing he says to me after shaking my hand is, \u2018Where do you honestly think you\u2019re going for basketball?\u201d Collins remembered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe wasn\u2019t being rude. He was being honest. He looked at me and he said, \u2018Jed, I have a team full of young men down the road here who are going to play top-tier high school football, who are going to continue to play in college. I think you really need to reconsider your options.\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat question and that conversation changed the trajectory of my life,\u201d Collins added. \u201cFootball was where I really started to find my confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Collins recounted the meeting Saturday during a memorial service for Johnson at the Mission Viejo gym.<\/p>\n<p>About 500 people attended the event for the Hall of Fame high school football coach, who died March 11 at age 80 after a long fight with Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Johnson family displayed some great pics at today\u2019s memorial for coach Bob Johnson, including this one: Palmer, Sanchez, Bret, Rob and Bob pic.twitter.com\/wzDKNhE0aP<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u2014 Dan Albano (@ocvarsityguy) April 26, 2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Collins provided a glimpse into Johnson\u2019s coaching run at Mission Viejo, which started in 1999 and ended with his retirement after the 2017 season.<\/p>\n<p>Collins, who transferred to Mission Viejo from Santa Margarita, played football at Washington State and in the NFL. He was among the players Saturday who credited Johnson for building a belief that they could become champions.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Former El Toro offensive lineman Scott Spalding described how the journey began with expectations.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=2856\">Orange County baseball Top 25: Orange Lutheran stays at No. 1 in rankings<\/a><\/p>\n<p>He called the 1985 season the \u201cmost formable year of my life.\u201d The Chargers went 9-4, surprised by winning the South Coast League championship and set the stage for a 14-0 march the following season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost of us had no varsity experience at that time but we had great coaches and here is what I thought, personally, their expectations were,\u201d Spalding said. \u201cOne, you win every game that you\u2019re supposed to win because consistency is the foundation of success. Two, you win the games that are supposed to be a toss-up. That\u2019s what we did at El Toro. And third, you win a number of games that you\u2019re flat out supposed to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery day of that year was difficult,\u201d the former UCLA lineman added. \u201cThe league championship in 1985 led to the only undefeated season in El Toro history in 1986. But for me, the satisfaction was being a member of that \u201985 team. There\u2019s nothing better than the climb.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson guided El Toro to three CIF Southern Section titles in the 1980s and led Mission Viejo to five section championships and a state crown in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>A softer side of the coach emerged throughout the event.<\/p>\n<p>His son Bret recalled his father\u2019s postgame smiles, hugs and kisses with his wife of 58 years Debbie. Grandchildren Cierra and Brock Johnson shared their own tender moments.<\/p>\n<p>Cierra Johnson told the gathering how her grandfather watched her train one day at the track at Mission Viejo. The following morning, the coach left her a sticky note on her coffee that read, \u201cGood work out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe wasn\u2019t someone who said I love you very often but I knew in that moment that was his way of telling me that he was proud of me,\u201d she said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t necessary say things but he just showed up in ways that you never forget.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Brock Johnson shared how his grandfather pulled him out of class the day after he threw three interceptions in a game as a freshman.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy heart is beating and I\u2019m just imaging what analogy he is going to use to chew my (butt) out,\u201d Brock Johnson said. \u201cHe said, \u201cListen Brock. You\u2019re really hard on yourself. And your dad is going to be really hard on you throughout your career. And your uncle (Rob Johnson) is going to be really hard on you throughout your career. They want you to be great and they want what\u2019s best for you. They\u2019re going to be pit bulls. \u2026 But I want you to know that\u2019s not going to be me. I want you to know that for the rest of your career, I\u2019ll always be your supporter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know he wasn\u2019t a Golden Retriever for everyone in this room,\u201d the former O.C. player of the year added. \u201cBut what he was was exactly what you needed at one point or another. Whether that was a friend, a mentor, a leader, a rival, a coach, a father figure. \u2026 he had that unique ability to know what each of us needs to pull what\u2019s best in us out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=2854\">Orange County softball Top 25: Fullerton joined by Orange Lutheran on top<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>About 500 people attend a memorial service for the Hall of Fame coach, who died last month after a long battle with Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-facts","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Football coach Bob Johnson remembered for impact on players and family - 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