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Central High School head football coach Corvin Johnson completed his first year at the school in May.

Growing up in a single parent household, Johnson said men in the community served as role models, inspiring him to pursue a career in sports coaching.

“What inspired me to be a coach was my high school coach, Edward Patrick,” Johnson said. “I looked at him as a role model. He mentored me, took me under his week, and he just poured so much love and attention into me. I just wanted to do the same thing for other kids that my coach did for me.”

Under Patrick’s leadership at Booker T. Washington High School in Tuskegee, Johnson earned an athletic scholarship to Tuskegee University. He transferred to Alcorn State University in Mississippi where he eventually earned his bachelor’s degree in physical education and a master’s degree in athletic administration and coaching.

Johnson serves as In School Suspension (ISS) instructor and teaches strength and conditioning classes. He works with ISS students to complete coursework they miss while serving suspension and also engages the students to help with improvement projects around the school, to teach them responsibility and show them how to contribute to their community.

“I know what it meant to me [to have a coach be a role model] and I know my situation was similar to a lot of kids,” Corvin said. “I fell in love with the type of impact that you can have in a [coaching] type of profession. I saw what you could do for kids, and I wanted to do the same for other kids that was done for me.”

Johnson played football professionally in the Canadian Football League for five years and afterward coached as a volunteer. He enrolled again at Alcorn to complete his degree and pursue a coaching career.

“I was in a volunteer community coach role, but I wasn’t satisfied,” Johnson said. “I was so close to completing my degree and I wanted to take my coaching career to the next level. I went back to school, then my wife and I got married. I finished my degree and was able to earn a master’s degree. After that, my career just took off.”

Johnson began his coaching career at Bullock High School. He came to Central in August of 2022 and has served as head football and baseball coach and also assisted athletic director Brian Coleman in coaching boys’ basketball.

Coleman said Johnson stepped right into the school’s strong athletic program, continuing the work and bringing opportunities for the teams to receive training and recognition.

“Once he puts his mind to something, he always pushes through,” Coleman said. “He stepped into the program last fall and the students look forward to [playing]. He’s been able to take care of a few things with students, like this past weekend he took some to a prospect camp.”

While the Johnsons are new to the 45, he said he already feels at home in the community.

“I feel like a veteran in the community,” Johnson said. “I’ve been making myself known and trying to meet people to gain community support and get them invested in the school because Central is in need of so much. If the community is behind us, we can really move mountains with everybody moving together.”