Minium: Scott Johnson Cared for ODU Student-Athletes for 37 years.

By Harry Minium

NORFOLK, Va. – Scott Johnson was a pretty fair athlete as a young guy, good enough in football to start at wide receiver for three years at Bridgewater State College, a Division III school in Massachusetts.

But he knew his playing days would be over once he graduated. He also knew he wanted to remain in sports, and in doing so, provide the kind of helping hand to student-athletes so many had extended to him.

He decided to become an athletic trainer, and that career choice led him to Old Dominion and ultimately, a 37-year career at ODU.

For nearly four decades, he tended to the injuries of thousands of Monarch athletes and helped shape the University’s sports medicine and athletics training program into one of the best among mid-major schools.

Johnson officially retires this week from ODU, where he has served in various roles, the last seven as associate athletic director for sports medicine and athletic training. During his 37 years, ODU’s athletics training staff grew from three to 11 in part because the athletics program has grown, but also because of the changing nature of athletics.

Most teams now essentially work out year-around and the NCAA has mandated more athletic training care for athletes. And although it’s difficult for 11 people to staff every practice and game for 18 athletics teams, Johnson and company do an amazing job.

“The NCAA rules regarding the care of student-athletes have changed and our program has grown, and Scott has been a steady hand in helping us to keep up with the times,” said Dr. Wood Selig, ODU’s director of athletics.

“We are sorry to see him retire because we’re going to miss him. But he’s given us nearly four decades.

“When someone leaves after that long, it’s like losing a member of the family.”

Johnson said that Selig made his time here much easier.

“I hear from friends at other schools who don’t have the kind of support that we’ve received here,” Johnson said. “Dr. Selig has always been receptive when we’ve asked for more staff and resources.

“We’ve added four people (since 2018). He didn’t give us everything we asked for but has given us all that we needed.”

Johnson grew up in Bethany, Connecticut and when he was a senior at Bridgewater, knew only a little about ODU. Then, early in his senior year, he struck up a conversation with a former classmate who had attended graduate school at ODU.

“He told me, ‘You really need to look at ODU. That’ve got a great program in athletic training. And the people there are great.’

“So, I visited and was impressed.”

ODU was a pioneer in athletic training education – at the time, the University was only one of 13 schools nationally that offered an advanced Master’s degree in athletics training.

Marty Bradley was then the program director of ODU’s athletic training and Johnson and Bradley became fast friends.  

Bradley, an ODU Sports Hall of Famer, came to the University in 1975 and created ODU's athletics training program from scratch. When he retired from ODU in 2018, Johson stepped into his shoes, but essentially had been prepping for the role since ODU added football in 2009.

Because Bradley began working with football directly, Johnson assumed many management duties.

“With Marty, we all had this overwhelming sense of security and safety because he’d been here so long and was just so good,” said Dominic Manilla, ODU’s long-time women’s tennis coach. “And when Scott took over, he just filled those shoes seamlessly. It was a huge transition, but we didn’t feel it.

“Scott was the man, and you knew whatever decision he made, you could trust him.

“You know, there was a time when we were the worst team on campus and he treated me the same way he treated everyone. And that says so much that’s good about Scott Johnson.”

Johnson left ODU after earning his Master’s and spent a year at Virginia Military Institute where he began to learn the ropes of athletic training.

When ODU needed an athletic trainer for men’s basketball, Bradley called Johnson, who returned to Norfolk in 1988 and hasn’t left since.

Johnson was the athletics trainer for men’s basketball for nearly two decades.

“He was part of the family,” said Mike Jones, now ODU’s head men’s basketball coach who was often treated by Johnson when he played for the Monarchs.

“He did everything with us. He took good care of us and made sure we had everything we needed.

“He would drive a cargo van to Scope for home games before the team bus left and I would ride with Scott because I wanted to shoot early.

“You get to know someone when you travel with him. Scott is just such a good guy.”

Johnson was among the first faces Jones saw at his introductory press conference in 2024.  

“He was smiling and it was pretty cool to see such a friendly face there,” Jones said.

Johnson roomed on the road for two decades with Carol Hudson, ODU’s long-time sports information director. Hudson said the most memorable trip was one to Chicago in which, as the team was preparing to return, Johnson felt a pain in his lower abdomen that he quickly realized was a kidney stone.

“I wanted him to go to the emergency room,” Hudson said. “He was in so much pain. He probably should have been in the hospital.

“But he persevered and passed the stone a few days after we got home.”

While Johnson would like to forget that memory, he has others that will last a lifetime. He was there for ODU’s triple-overtime men’s basketball victory over No. 3 seed Villanova in the 1995 NCAA Tournament and the University’s first football game in 2009.

But Johnson said his favorite memories are of the successes of individual athletes, especially those who overcame serious injuries, including Odell Hodge, the men’s basketball assistant who overcame a serious injury that forced him to redshirt in 1994-95 while playing at ODU.

“When Odell scored his 2,000^th point at the ODU Fieldhouse, that’s a moment I’ll never forget,” Johnson said. “I remember it came on a dunk, and you could see so much pure joy in his face.

“He had to fight to recover from surgery and then get back in shape, and it was a really hard thing to do. But he busted his butt and made it back and was so successful.

“My favorite memories are of individuals, be it a football, basketball, volleyball or tennis players, seeing them succeed. I just enjoyed watching our athletes excel.”

Like most jobs in athletics, being an athletics trainer took him away from family more often than he would have liked. He has two sons, Andrew and Michael, “and I missed a lot of their events,” he said.

His wife, Elana, is a school teacher who was there for their sons when Johnson had to be away. That’s in part why Johnson is stepping down at age 60, while he’s still enjoying good health and can spend time with his family.

The Johnsons moved from Norfolk to Newport News recently so that Elana could be close to work and to their first grandchild.

Andrew, 31, works at the Newport News Shipyard and has a daughter, Rosa. Michael, 30, is an Army nurse stationed in Italy, where he recently graduated from airborne school.

“I’m a grandfather and she’s a little spitfire,” Johnson said. “And, yes, I spoil her every chance I get.”

Johnson is being replaced by Elizabeth Jones, who comes from William & Mary, where she worked five years, the last year as head athletic trainer.

She previously worked as a clinical athletic trainer in the sports medicine department at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters in Norfolk.

“I have big shoes to fill,” she said. “Scott has been so helpful” during the transition, she added.

Johnson doesn’t have any grand plans for retirement. “I honestly haven’t thought a lot about it,” he said.

“But I think it’s just time to retire. The Covid pandemic took a lot out of me. That was such a trying time.

“I could hang around a few more years. But I didn’t want to be that person who the staff is asking, ‘When is he going to retire?’

“One of the things you learn early early-on in this business, whether it’s coaching or sports medicine or administration, is that the job comes first.

“You have to sacrifice a lot with your family and I did that for many years. Thank God for my wife. She was always there for me and for our kids. There’s no way I would have been able to do it without her.

“Maybe I’ll travel a bit.

“But mostly, I think it’s time to spend with my family.”

Minium is ODU’s senior executive writer. Contact him at hminium@odu.edu or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram