Winning at the 2024 Athlos NYC was more than just about pocketing the $85000 prize money, as far as Brittany Brown is concerned. Look who she had to beat to clinch the 200m dash – Paris Olympics triple-Gold Medalist Gabby Thomas. That in itself makes the victory even more accomplished for the Iowa graduate.
In fact, it had been an amazing 2024 year for the 29-year-old overall. After all, it also saw her get on the podium at the Paris Olympics. Clinching the bronze medal in the 200m event, Brown added a first Olympics medal to her collection. For this, maybe she has to thank her coach, Lawrence “Boogie” Johnson.
Who is Lawrence “Boogie” Johnson?
Lawrence “Boogie” Johnson’s coaching foundation is built on his collegiate career as a sprinter, coupled with his analytical know-how about the body movement. He gained expertise on the latter while doing his undergraduate degree in kinesiology from Arkansas. It also helped that he was being trained by the great John McDonnell, who himself has coached Arkansas to 42 NCAA championships.
As a graduate assistant from 1999 to 2002, he was learning the ropes from his mentor while assisting in giving out instructions in multiple events like sprints, hurdles, and jumps at Arkansas. This only sharpened the track and field acumen he had, which had been already visible from a much younger age. In 1996, he won the South Coast Conference title in the 400m event while at Long Beach City College.
After this, he would move to Arkansas, where he would only get better and better. It’s come full circle for “Boogie” Johnson now that he is the assistant coach at the University of Arkansas. A big and happy family perfectly complements his successful coaching journey. He is married to Lilly Montgomery, a former communication skills instructor at Virginia Tech. He would meet her during his 4-year stint at Virginia Tech. They have four children: Desirae, Lawrence, Laniah, and Lukas.
We have got to know the man himself. But he has a long list of accolades attached to his name as well.
Lawrence’s career highlights and achievements
Before he became a prominent name in the coaching circle, Johnson was winning SEC titles and NCAA championships. At Arkansas, he won 4 SEC Championships (indoor and outdoor), along with the NCAA Outdoor National Championship in 1998. This success he carried to his coaching tenure. And the Arkansas graduate got his first taste of success as a coach at Virginia Tech.
Leading the women’s sprint and hurdles team to historic seasons, Lawrence “Boogie” Johnson was named the 2008 Southeast Region Assistant Coach-of-the-Year by the U.S. Track & Field coaches’ association (USTFCCCA). His capable mentorship saw the Hokies win four ACC championships in a row. Add to these 2 consecutive NCAA East Region titles. In fact, Johnson would go on to operate as the Associate Head Women’s Coach in the 2007-08 season.
After Virginia Tech, he would move on to Clemson, where he stayed for 5 years as the Director of Track and Field. His tenure here would culminate in him being named the 2013 USATF National Coach of the Year. Besides this, he was the regular recipient of the USTFCCCA Southeast Region Women’s Coach of the Year award from 2010 to 2012, both in indoor and outdoor circuits.
Taking such dominance to his next program, California State University, North Ridge, Johnson would stay at the CSU for 10 years. Johnson added another USATF National Coach of the Year (2019) award to his list. But despite his time at CSU, he would rather be known for the athletes he coached. After all 3 of them would go on to win Olympics medals, but more about that later.
Having a career that has stretched more than 20 years and counting, the 50-year-old holds the distinction of coaching almost 100 All-Americans and more than 80 conference champions, who were part of 16 conference championship wins as a team. It is a privilege for Brittany Brown to have Lawrence “Boogie” Johnson as her coach. The Arkansas assistant coach is the owner cum head coach at Hurdle Mechanic, a training program for professional athletes.
And this is where Brown got to meet her coach, who would change her track and field story forever.
How Lawrence helped Brittany Brown become a world-class sprinter
Brittany Brown came under Johnson’s tutelage in 2021-22. Since then, she has clinched the 2022 NACAC Championships in the 200, 3 Diamond League wins in 2024, along with a huge Diamond League final win in September 2024. Add to that the Paris Olympics bronze and the Athlos NYC, you can see she has been doing something right.
Well, appearing on the ‘I’ll Have Another’ podcast on March 28, 2025, the Paris Olympian gave a glimpse of the training under Johnson: “I trained with a lot of other 400 meter hurdlers … For example, like Dalilah Mohammad, and then (Anna) Cockrell, like I trained with a lot of other 400 meter hurdlers.” And how did it help? “So I get the best of both. Obviously, I don’t hurdle. I’ve never heard of. But like I get the best of the stamina side … You know, I get pushed a lot in practice when it comes to that side of like, the strength portion. So yeah, that’s what I trained with.”
Coming out of her comfort zone, the hurdles training helped her in her endurance. And it has also boosted her leg strength and stride. And being part of a team also helped her, as she shared on the podcast: “I’m really able to like see these women really work really hard and just super, super motivated by them, by their workouts and what they do.” The collective energy that she was a part of helped her train harder, longer, which made her better: “Training is really hard. I think we all have this, like this common motivation of, you know, the goals that we have, and we’re able to feed off each other.”
And when you have Olympic Gold medalists like Dalilah Mohammad training with you, the standards get raised automatically. With Mohammad, Johnson also coached Briana Rollins McNeal. Both Dalilah Muhammad and McNeal won Gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics in 400m and 100m hurdles, respectively. And they were joined by another fellow Johnson student, Kristi Castlin, who brought home the bronze in the 100m hurdles.
Having such elite level coaching experience along with the vast depth of track and field knowledge, Lawrence “Boogie” Johnson is bound to be amongst the leading names in the USA Track and field coaching field.
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