SOUTH BEND – Mark Johnson, one of the winningest basketball coaches in South Bend hoops history, will not return as the Riley coach next season.

The highly-respected Johnson, who has won 420 games in his long tenure in South Bend, is retiring as a teacher at Riley. Johnson told his team of his decision earlier today.

Johnson, who is 63,  has been at the helm at Riley for the past 15 seasons. He guided the Wildcats to a 227-127 record with five sectional championships and a pair of regional titles in 2008 and 2015. His Riley team lost to Warsaw in double overtime in a regional semifinal game in 2016. The Tigers went on to win the regional championship.

Johnson, a Ball State University graduate, was the coach at South Bend LaSalle prior to coming to Riley. He is 420-322 in his 33 total seasons on the bench. He began his career as an assistant coach under George Griffith at LaSalle and then was a head coach at Fort Wayne Dwenger and LaSalle (from 1992 until the school closed in 2002).

Johnson’s brother Chris is the boys basketball coach at Homestead High School in Fort Wayne. Riley lost to Homestead in a 2015 semistate game 90-69. That Homestead team was led by current Purdue star Caleb Swanigan.

Riley went 19-3 this season and lost 73-72 to South Bend Adams in the South Bend Washington Sectional. Adams won the sectional title before losing to Merrillville in a regional semifinal on Saturday. Merrillville then beat Warsaw Saturday night to win the Class 4-A Michigan City Regional title.

The Wildcats, who had four seniors this season, went 11-1 to share the Northern Indiana Conference championship with Adams. Riley was led this year by star junior Damezi Anderson. The 6-7 wing player is being courted by several Division 1 college programs.