Johnson named new head wrestling coach

by Marianne Gasaway

Evan Johnson has been named as the new head wrestling coach at Clear Lake High School.  Johnson, who served as an assistant coach during the 2019-20 season, takes over for Doug Munn, who resigned after one season.

“I am excited for this new adventure.  My first big goal is to get the numbers up,” said Johnson.  “I would like to see more youth practices and keep that interest growing into high school.”

Johnson said he was pleased to be asked to participate in recent planning meetings to discuss ideas to rejuvenate the town’s youth wrestling program.  The former Mighty Lions will now be known as the Clear Lake Youth Wrestlng Club, he said.

As a relative newcomer to Clear Lake, Johnson said he can provide an outsider’s view, possibly introduce some new techniques and mesh them with what has made Clear Lake’s wrestling program so successful.

In addition to serving as an assistant coach in wrestling, Johnson was also an  assistant in Clear Lake ‘s high school football program and was junior high track coach during his first year in Clear Lake.

He joined the CLHS faculty in 2019 as a social studies teacher.

Johnson graduated from high school at AGWSR, where he was a multi-sport athlete. He attended college at Grand View University in Des Moines and was a member of the football team there.  Following graduation in 2015 he taught four years in Des Moines before accepting a teaching and coaching position in Clear Lake.