After the departure of boys’ basketball head coach David “Tee” Johnson for a college position, former assistant coach Bill Bourgouin has taken over for the 2025-26 season.
“Coach Bill” was a top assistant coach on the team for several years, and has built strong relationships with many of the current players.
“I’ve had really positive experiences with him in the past,” junior Lane Mahan said. Mahan emphasized how Bourgouin “has grown a lot as a coach and helped me a lot”, and he really “loves to coach.”
Senior Dawit Abraham echoed this, saying, “playing under Coach Bill is awesome.” Even though playing under him is nothing new to Abraham as he has been coaching him for the past four years, Abraham is looking forward to “seeing him embrace the role and do his best as he has been doing.”
Athletic Director Patrice Arrington highlighted her confidence in the new coach and his staff. Arrington noted that Bourgouin stepped up after Johnson’s departure for a job as an assistant coach at the University of Massachusetts Lowell at the end of the last season, and she was grateful for his leadership and help. “We will continue our winning tradition with Coach Bill at the helm,” Arrington said.
In four years at JR, Coach Tee had a record of 112-24. His teams won two DCIAA championships and reached the finals of the DCSAA tournament twice, and Johnson was named the DCIAA coach of the year twice. The Tigers reached a national ranking of 19th in the 2023-24 season, their highest ever, and ended the 2024-25 season ranked 38th.
Bourgouin told The Beacon that his philosophy is to “continue to push the bar.” Each year, he said he aims to improve as a coach and help his players improve. “I can’t ask the players to get better if I’m not pushing myself to be better as a coach,” he said.
Looking forward to the new season, the Tigers have big goals. ”Every year the Tigers are competing for states,” and this year is no different. The Tigers lost in the 2024 and 2025 semifinals, and fell in the in the 2023 finals to Sidwell, 62-47.
However, the team looks very different this year. On top of the coaching change, the Tigers also lost star player JJ Massaquoi, who followed Johnson to the University of Massachusetts Lowell. “We don’t necessarily have like a JJ like we had last year,” Mahan said.
Bourgouin said that while Massequoi was “key and critical last year, there’s a lot of balance on this year’s team.” The team has some new additions this year, but Bourgouin said they “fell right in” to the team. He said that the team’s starting five “isn’t necessarily set, and even the guys on the bench have a lot to give.”
The team has been “adding through whole year since last summer” by putting in the work, said Bourgouin. He believes that “when you put in the hard work, the results just show.”
According to Mahan, the team has been working on new offenses and to take advantage of its strengths. Mahan said he is grateful to all of the coaches, who “really want us to win as a team and put in so many hours.” Abraham agreed, saying he is “just ready to get out there with the team.”
Despite changes in tactics and coaching, the main goal of the team remains the same: to win.
The Tigers kick off the season with a game on November 29 against Bullis. “JR supporters have something to look forward to, you should be excited,” Bourgouin said. “It’s going to be a fun team to watch—25-26 is going to be a lot of fun.” Bourgouin does not seem concerned by any short comings of the past stating, “Coach Bill and the Jackson Reed Tigers are going for states.”•