NC State assistant James Johnson won’t be returning, either

Well, Kevin Keatts is back in the market for an assistant coach—unexpectedly this time, it seems. James Johnson won’t be back on the bench next season, and this was a personal decision, per Inside Pack Sports. Johnson was Keatts’ longest-tenured assistant.

Keatts decided to move on from assistants Mike Summey and Roy Roberson back in March, shortly after the season concluded. Those guys have since been replaced by Levi Watkins and Kareem Richardson. Presumably, Keatts would have fired Johnson at that point as well if he didn’t want Johnson back.

Could be that Johnson decided he wanted some time off while getting a head start on his next opportunity rather than go through next season with his (and everybody else’s) fate up in the air. I wouldn’t blame him if that’s the case.

Regardless, Keatts has yet another position to fill, and it’ll be interesting to see where this search goes.