Photos courtesy of John Van Hezewyk Photography
Collin Johnson was named 2024 Western Conference – National Division Coach of the Year after finishing the season 13-6. The two seasons prior, when Johnson was an assistant, the team was 0-20. What an amazing turnaround for the Chargers.
In 2021 and 2022 Johnson served as assistant coach for the Strawberry Crest flag football team. In those two seasons, the Chargers were 0-10 each season, and in 2020, before Johnson’s arrival, they were also 0-10.
Johnson knew he had to take steps to turn the team around.
“Hillsborough County is the most competitive area in the country to play flag football,” Johnson said. “To keep up you have to play year-round or you don’t stand a chance. And that’s what we did under the AAU umbrella. I had an interest meeting before the school year ended last year and told the girls that we are going to start from square one and lay the foundation for what we want this program to become. Scheme-wise, effort-wise, culture-wise. Those girls really bought in and we had a very successful summer and fall showing together. I had a feeling early in the fall that the team was bonding and having more fun than they ever had before. And the results started reflecting that on the field.”
Johnson also sought guidance from others. “This area is rich with talent and coaching,” he said. “Powerhouse programs in the area saw Crest showing up to off-season tournaments for the first time and really embraced helping me with whatever I had questions or needed help with. It’s created a really fun rivalry in the county and I can text those guys and know they will help me out if they can.”
Something else that drove this team was the will to win. “We were 0-30 heading into this year. My seniors this year had never won a game in a crest flag uniform which was a big motivation.”
“This is the best season Crest has had flag football-wise,” Johnson said. “To my knowledge, it’s the first time the program has made the District Championship, and it is the first time we’ve ever made it to regionals.”
This award is voted on by other coaches. In a town hall-type format, everyone shares their opinions on the 20 best players in the division as well as the top performing coach in that division. Other schools in the division include King, Spoto, Wharton, Hillsborough, Chamberlain, Middleton, Freedom, Armwood and Tampa Bay Tech.
In addition to Coach of the Year, Crest had six girls selected for the All-Conference Team including, 1st Team All Conference Zoe Surrency – Quarterback, Ariana Ruiz – WR/Safety, Carson Buttram – RB/Linebacker and 2nd Team All Conference Nasma Ador – Rusher/RB, Lexie Powell – WR/Cornerback and Katelyn Hartman – WR/Cornerback.
“It means so much winning that in year one,” Johnson said. “It’s voted on by your peers, so I was chosen by a lot of the coaches we faced this year. It’s just one of those things that validates the effort and time that these girls put in. They took a lot of pride in me winning that but it’s just a reflection of them at the end of the day. If they hadn’t made the choice to buy in and show up all summer and fall and learn our playbook I wouldn’t have won that award. I don’t necessarily see it as a personal award, more so like a team award. We celebrated that one together.”