SAN JOSE — Stephen Johnson will step down as head coach of the Branham football team after the conclusion of the Bruins’ 2024 season, he exclusively told the Bay Area News Group on Friday.
Johnson, who has coached the Bruins since 2018, said multiple factors played a role in his decision to leave Branham’s sideline after this year. The most impactful one? He needs to focus on his own overall well-being.
“At the end of the day, I’ve got to put myself first,” Johnson said. “I’ve never put myself first ever. I’m a very selfless person, and I really put everything else before me, and I figure it out when it comes to me. But I think it’s time for once in my life to finally say, ‘Hey, it’s time to grow up. It’s time to get your act together.’ It’s time to think about long-term security and stability financially, emotionally, mentally, all that stuff.”
In his seven years in charge of Branham’s program, Johnson has compiled an overall record of 50-22. During his seven-year tenure, the Bruins have been promoted from the Blossom Valley Athletic League’s Santa Teresa Division to its Santa Teresa – Foothill Division, and finally this season to its highest division, the Mt. Hamilton.
Branham advanced to the CCS Division IV championship game in 2022, losing 23-15 to Santa Teresa. The Bruins won outright or shared league championships under Johnson in 2023, 2022 and 2019.
Substitute teaching has been Johnson’s day job while coaching the Bruins. He loves working with Branham’s players, but at this point, he feels he needs to prioritize his professional career over his passion.
“Not even just a teaching position, I’m just looking for just a job in general,” Johnson said. “If I can coach, that’s great, but right now I just need a job, a job with benefits, a job that allows me to live comfortably and not go to bed hungry during the summer time. I don’t work during the summer because I sub.”
Branham coach Stephen Johnson is photographed on the sidelines in the in the second half of a game at Lincoln-San Jose in 2022. (Photo by Josie Lepe)
This decision, which Johnson informed his players of after their 42-13 win over Leigh on Friday night, is one he has wrestled with. The emotions of parting ways with his players are difficult to handle.
“Being the head coach at Branham High School is my identity,” Johnson said. “The job and the title, every ounce of it through and through, it is me. The idea that this thing that I’ve identified with for so long and made it my personality, my whole entire being, it’s definitely a tough pill to swallow. It’s not that I want to do it. I have to do it, unfortunately.”
Johnson will finish out this campaign with Branham in the CCS playoffs, which the Bruins have qualified for after a 7-3 overall regular season and third-place finish (4-2) in the BVAL Mt. Hamilton Division.
“I want to continue to make these guys the best version of themselves and give them everything they want, their goals and aspirations they want to get out of the season, more than anything,” he said. “It’s not about me, it’s about them, their goals that they set forth and want to accomplish this year.”
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Johnson said his decision is not tied to Branham’s change of athletic director after the controversial dismissal of Landon Jacobs, but it does make it a bit easier to say goodbye. The Bruins hired Kaleb Lane as their new AD prior to this academic year.
“No fault of Kaleb, but it’s easier to do it now without Landon here,” Johnson said. “The relationship and what I built with Landon over the course of this time together, I really look at Landon as not just a boss, but honestly more so like a role model and father figure. So that relationship not being there anymore makes it easier to walk away.
“Would it have made a difference if Landon was still here? No, because he can’t put money in my pocket. He can’t put food on my table at the end of the day, and so he would understand. I know that for a fact. But I don’t think whoever’s the AD affects the decision at the end of the day. I’ve definitely been putting myself on the back burner. I think it’s time, it’s been time to put myself first for once.”