FEATURE STORY
1998 Sun Belt Conference regular season championship and the 1999 Sun Belt Con- ference tournament title, as he recruited six junior college All-Americans to the school. He also recruited the only junior college player in Arkansas State history to score 1,000 points in two seasons. He coached four all-conference players and the Sun Belt Conference Newcomer of the Year. Madlock began his coaching career as an assis- tant and teacher at his alma mater, Melrose High School, in Memphis. The Golden Wildcats posted a 67-29 mark over the three seasons with Madlock on the staff, and Melrose was the 1997
state tournament runner-up with a 32-7 record. Madlock also starred at Melrose, receiving honorable mention All-America and first-team All-State honors as a point guard while lettering three years. Madlock earned a bach- elor's degree in marketing from then-Memphis State in 1991 in 3.5 years. The Memphis started three of his four seasons and played on teams that went to four straight postseason tourna- ments. A four-year letterman and three-year starter for Memphis from 1988-92, Madlock was a member of four postseason tournament teams for the Tigers, reach-
ing the NCAA Tournament and NIT two times each. He still ranks among the school's all-time leaders for games played (128) and averaged double figures as a junior and senior. Madlock played one year of professional basketball in South America before start- ing his coaching career. Jermaine Johnson returns home to the Bluff City for his first season as an as- sistant on head coach Penny Hardaway’s staff. A Mem- phis native, Johnson had a highly-successful stint as head coach at Melrose High School from 2007-13. Johnson comes to Memphis after serving as an assistant coach at Troy in 2019-20. Prior to his one season at Troy, Johnson was a member of UT Martin’s coaching staff from 2014-19. He began his time in Mar- tin, Tenn., as an assistant and was promoted to associ- ate head coach his final two seasons. Johnson played a key role in the Skyhawks’ recent run of success. With Johnson on the bench, UT Martin won the program’s first two Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) West Division champion- ships (2015-16, 2016-17), made the school’s first two OVC Tournament champi- onship game appearances (2016, 2017) and rolled up five CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT) victories. In addition, Johnson helped oversee 73 wins from 2014-15 to 2017-18, the most victories in any
four-year span in the school’s NCAA Division I era (since 1992). UT Martin posted three consecutive 20-win seasons for the first time in school history (2014-17). Johnson joined the Skyhawks from Georgia Southern in Statesboro, Ga., where he helped the Eagles to the Southern Conference (SoCon) Tournament semifi- nals in 2013-14. Before moving to the collegiate coaching ranks, Johnson made a name for himself as the Melrose High School head coach from 2007-13. In develop- ing Melrose into a national top-25 program, Johnson led the Golden Wildcats to five straight District 16 AAA championships. He reached the pinnacle of his high school career in 2010 when he guided Melrose to the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) Class 3A state crown, the program’s first state title since 1983. John- son’s 2010 Melrose squad posted a 37-4 record. During his tenure, he coached 32 seniors and all 32 players received college scholarships, including for- mer Tiger Adonis Thomas. Johnson posted a 353-91 record as a high school head coach. Johnson graduated from United States Sports Academy in 2007, and he received a master's degree in coaching and athletic administration in 2014.
Jermaine Johnson
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