It is an understatement to say that Barry Johnson has a personal interest in the Kang boys basketball team performing well. The new Lake Washington High School coach grew up on Rose Hill, played his youth basketball in the area and was a star at Redmond High School.

“It is important to me,” said Johnson, who guided the Lindbergh Eagles in Renton to five district titles in seven seasons. “Everything around here is home and I am in it for the kids.”

One of Johnson’s motivations is the reason he attended Redmond and not Lake Washington.

“I’ll be honest, it was a better basketball school,” said the 1991 Redmond grad. “But this is an opportunity to build something great.”

That opportunity to be a Mustang worked out well for Johnson, who won a state title as a sophomore. As a senior he led the team to the state title game again, taking second overall. He credits his style of coaching to Jerry Koester, his coach at Redmond.

“He has been my biggest coaching influence,” said Johnson. “My style originated with him.”

He would go on to play throughout college. He now wants to give his Kangs the same opportunity without leaving Kirkland.

But Johnson takes over a program that has struggled in recent years. The team was just 6-14 last year, in last place and the coach has no illusions about the challenge ahead.

“I am not going to say that we will win the league title. I am realistic. I think we can be middle-of-the-pack, around .500 if we play hard,” said Johnson. “Senior leadership will be huge. We have built a great relationship.”

Three seniors, Ryan Guisness, Dallas Serles and Alex Houghton, are a part of that group that will lead a young team.

“We have two sophomore starters that will make a difference,” said Guisness. “But we have something to prove.”

The seniors have not seen a winning season during their three years at the high school and that gives them motivation to leave the team in a better place than they found it.

“The seniors have been through the downs and we want them to finish in the ups. That is what we are striving for,” said the coach, who was hired in June.

But the players know that it is about what they don on the court that counts.

“I don’t think it is on him as much as it is on us,” said Serles.

Johnson said that his team will have to play hard to counter other teams’ athleticism.

We will need to play hard-nosed defense,” said Johnson. “We need to work the ball around a lot to get buckets.”

But the Kangs do have height in the future. One freshman is 6-foot-10 but will probably not see varsity action this season.

Johnson also brings his father Lee with him to Lake Washington. Lee Johnson will be the Junior Varsity coach and assistant head coach.

But the future is not here yet and this season could be rocky. This year, the Kangs will be looking up at Skyline, Roosevelt and Inglemoor. An upset of any one of those teams will mean great improvement for Lake Washington.

“Them and everyone else,” said Johnson. “We were in last place so there is only one place we can go.”

Johnson said that the community has been very welcoming for the hometown boy.

“It is difficult when you don’t know where everything is,” said Johnson. “But the kids and parents have been great. We will need to have a good relationship to move this forward and we have a great start.”