Consider it done.

Johnson, a former Blue Blazer player and assistant under Tom Kurth, will return to the sidelines next year as head coach of the Central program.

For the last six years, Johnson, 40, has been Pierre Moran Middle School principal. He replaces Mark Hummel, who resigned on Nov. 17 after five seasons as head coach.

Coaching hadn't been a huge priority in Johnson's life until the recent opening. From 1994 to 2001, Johnson had stints coaching offensive line, defensive line and linebackers for ECHS.

"It was one of those things for me that honestly, I just put it away," Johnson said. "I thought I was in a point in my life, my career, where it wasn't gonna happen."

When Kurth retired in 2001, Johnson was a young assistant who was not ready for a head coaching slot, and in 2004 after Mike McClure resigned to leave for Franklin High School, he was in his first year at Pierre Moran.

"I was commited to this site, this building," Johnson said.

A second shot at the Blue Blazers, though, came down to a now-or-never decision.

"For it to come open, it was hard to look at a dream job and pass it up," Johnson said. "If I passed it up, that was it for me."

Central was 2-8 this past fall with wins over South Bend schools Riley and Clay. From 1972, when Elkhart High School was split into Central and Memorial, to 1994, the Blue Blazers recorded just one non-winning record.

But in the last 15 years, Central has managed just six winning seasons.

With Johnson's hire, the Blazers hope to "re-ignite that family feel," according to Brian Buckley, Central's new AD.

"There are several reasons we chose Levon," Buckley said. "First, he's an Elkhart person, he's helped most of the kids who come to Elkhart Central grow up over the last several years. Second, he's definitely qualified. He's played collegiate football, he's run a building as a principal, so he knows how to handle kids and handle a staff.

"He has all the tools it takes to be successful."

And many of those tools have been honed during his administrative work at Pierre Moran. Johnson, who'll continue at the school through the current school year, broke the news to his staff during a meeting Wednesday afternoon.

His teaching peers were the ones who gave him the fuel to jump at the coaching chance.

"It was emotional," Johnson said of the meeting. "The six years with this staff, people I love and respect ... they truly have played a huge role in me making this decision. To see them do what they do inspired me to want to get back into the classroom."