Football coach Bob Johnson remembered for impact on players and family

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MISSION VIEJO — Jed Collins recalls several details from his first meeting with football coach Bob Johnson at Mission Viejo High. On a school tour, he visited with Johnson as an aspiring basketball player and received a challenge that changed his life.

“I sit down in his trailer and the first thing he says to me after shaking my hand is, ‘Where do you honestly think you’re going for basketball?” Collins remembered.

“He wasn’t being rude. He was being honest. He looked at me and he said, ‘Jed, I have a team full of young men down the road here who are going to play top-tier high school football, who are going to continue to play in college. I think you really need to reconsider your options.’ “

“That question and that conversation changed the trajectory of my life,” Collins added. “Football was where I really started to find my confidence.”

Collins recounted the meeting Saturday during a memorial service for Johnson at the Mission Viejo gym.

About 500 people attended the event for the Hall of Fame high school football coach, who died March 11 at age 80 after a long fight with Alzheimer's disease.

Collins provided a glimpse into Johnson’s coaching run at Mission Viejo, which started in 1999 and ended with his retirement after the 2017 season.

Collins, who transferred to Mission Viejo from Santa Margarita, played football at Washington State and in the NFL. He was among the players Saturday who credited Johnson for building a belief that they could become champions.

Former El Toro offensive lineman Scott Spalding described how the journey began with expectations.

He called the 1985 season the “most formable year of my life.” The Chargers went 9-4, surprised by winning the South Coast League championship and set the stage for a 14-0 march the following season.

“Most of us had no varsity experience at that time but we had great coaches and here is what I thought, personally, their expectations were,” Spalding said. “One, you win every game that you’re supposed to win because consistency is the foundation of success. Two, you win the games that are supposed to be a toss-up. That’s what we did at El Toro. And third, you win a number of games that you’re flat out supposed to lose.”

“Every day of that year was difficult,” the former UCLA lineman added. “The league championship in 1985 led to the only undefeated season in El Toro history in 1986. But for me, the satisfaction was being a member of that ’85 team. There’s nothing better than the climb.”

Johnson guided El Toro to three CIF Southern Section titles in the 1980s and led Mission Viejo to five section championships and a state crown in 2015.

A softer side of the coach emerged throughout the event.

His son Bret recalled his father’s postgame smiles, hugs and kisses with his wife of 58 years Debbie. Grandchildren Cierra and Brock Johnson shared their own tender moments.

Cierra Johnson told the gathering how her grandfather watched her train one day at the track at Mission Viejo. The following morning, the coach left her a sticky note on her coffee that read, “Good work out.”

“He wasn’t someone who said I love you very often but I knew in that moment that was his way of telling me that he was proud of me,” she said. “He didn’t necessary say things but he just showed up in ways that you never forget.”

Brock Johnson shared how his grandfather pulled him out of class the day after he threw three interceptions in a game as a freshman.

“My heart is beating and I’m just imaging what analogy he is going to use to chew my (butt) out,” Brock Johnson said. “He said, “Listen Brock. You’re really hard on yourself. And your dad is going to be really hard on you throughout your career. And your uncle (Rob Johnson) is going to be really hard on you throughout your career. They want you to be great and they want what’s best for you. They’re going to be pit bulls. … But I want you to know that’s not going to be me. I want you to know that for the rest of your career, I’ll always be your supporter.”

“I know he wasn’t a Golden Retriever for everyone in this room,” the former O.C. player of the year added. “But what he was was exactly what you needed at one point or another. Whether that was a friend, a mentor, a leader, a rival, a coach, a father figure. … he had that unique ability to know what each of us needs to pull what’s best in us out.”

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This story was originally published April 26, 2026 at 12:10 AM.