| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Cavin Dennis Johnson[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1958-11-11)11 November 1958 (age 67) | ||
| Place of birth | Johannesburg,South Africa | ||
| Managerial career | |||
| Years | Team | ||
| 2012–2013 | Platinum Stars | ||
| 2013–2014 | SuperSport United | ||
| 2015–2017 | Platinum Stars | ||
| 2017–2019 | AmaZulu | ||
| 2019–2020 | Black Leopards | ||
| 2023–2024 | Kaizer Chiefs | ||
Cavin Dennis Johnson (born 11 November 1958)[1] is a South Africansoccer coach who most recently worked as an interim coach atKaizer Chiefs in theDStv Premiership.
Johnson has previously managed South African clubsPlatinum Stars (twice),SuperSport United,AmaZulu andBlack Leopards in thePremier Soccer League.
Johnson is one of many coaches that came under the tutelage ofTed Dumitru. Before accepting the head coaching role atPlatinum Stars in 2012, Johnson mainly worked as youth and assistant coach for various clubs in South Africa among them assistant coach and later head of youth development atAjax Cape Town,Mamelodi Sundowns and most recentlyPlatinum Stars. In his first season as head coach he led Stars to a 2nd-place finish in the PSL and subsequently joinedSuperSport United to replace the outgoingGavin Hunt. Johnson managedSuperSport between 2013 and 2014 for 39 matches, achieving 1.36 points per game.
After being sacked by SuperSport he returned toPlatinum Stars in March 2015,[2] guiding the club to third place in the league in the 2015–16 season. After a ninth-placed finish in 2016–17, Johnson left Platinum Stars when the club decided not to renew his contract.[3]
On 8 August 2017, he was appointed as the head coach of newly-promoted AmaZulu in the Premier Soccer League - succeeding Joey Antipas.[4] He was fired by AmaZulu in August 2019, after a poor start to the Club's 2019/20 season, accumulating 2 points from 15 (first 5 games), and not having won a game since April 2019.
Following the resignation ofLuc Eymael fromBlack Leopards on 27 December 2019,[5] Johnson was named as the new Black Leopards mentor on 29 December 2019.[6] On 27 January 2020, after being in charge of Leopards for only 5 matches, Johnson was suspended from his duties as head coach - this due to a string of poor performances (four losses and one draw). On 31 January 2020 it was announced that Johnson had officially parted ways with Black Leopards.[7]
He holds a SAFA Level III Pro Licence, Dutch FA (KNVB) certificate, Brazil FA Advanced Course certificate and his preferred formation is 4-4-2.
In 1994, Johnson discoveredSteven Pienaar and later brought him to the School of Excellence where Johnson worked as youth coach at the time. Both hail from Westbury in Johannesburg.[8]
In October 2020, he became an assistant coach toPitso Mosimane at Egyptian clubAl Ahly.[9]
In October 2023, he was appointed interim coach ofKaizer Chiefs[10] He left in July 2024 after leading Chiefs to tenth in the2023–24 Premiership, their lowest ever finish in thePSL era.[11]
Johnson is married, with three children.
Johnson suffered a heart attack on 31 January 2020, spending two nights in hospital under observation.[12]