Former Northampton football coach Teko Johnson has died

FROM KEITH GROLLER

The details aren't clear yet, but several sources have confirmed that former Northampton High football coach Terry "Teko" Johnson has died. He was found dead in an Atlantic City hotel.

Johnson, a former Purdue lineman believed to be 41 years old, coached four seasons at Northampton, from 2003-06.

His Konkrete Kids teams went 31-19, qualifying for districts in 2003 and winning an Eastern Conference title in 2006. Northampton was 6-26 in the three seasons before his arrival.

He also coached at Pottsville for three seasons before coming to Northampton, going 18-15 with the Crimson Tide and winning another Eastern Conference crown in 2001.

Johnson left Pennsylvania in March of 2007 to return home to Utah. He coached at Mountain View High in Salt Lake City for three seasons and recently became head coach at Cottonwood, also in the Salt Lake City region.

In a story in the Salt Lake City newspaper back in March when he took the job, Johnson said: "Coming to Cottonwood, it's a new experience for me. One of the things that I'm going to do, and have done, is keeping the same things in place that have made them successful. That's my area of focus right now, not make too many changes."

Northampton athletic director Mike Schneider knew of Johnson's passing even before being contacted on Wednesday afternoon.

"Teko did a great job for our program," Schneider said. "On the field, he was an excellent coach. And in terms of his coaching, I had a good rapport with him. I am very sorry to hear of his passing and word of this has caused sadness throughout the Northampton sports community. We all express our sympathies to his family."

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