Stanford Set to Hire Johnson

Stanford will hire Nevada’s Trent Johnson as the school’s new men’s basketball coach, according to Pacific 10 Conference and Stanford sources.

Johnson, a former assistant at Stanford under Mike Montgomery, met with school officials for about six hours Sunday. Johnson will be formally introduced within the next few days.

Montgomery, who was at Stanford for 18 years and led the Cardinal to the Final Four in 1998, left last week to become coach of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.

Montgomery’s former staff was in a meeting Monday afternoon, according to a secretary in its office.

Johnson has big shoes to fill.

Montgomery led the Cardinal to its third No. 1 NCAA tournament seeding in five years this season, but Stanford was upset in the second round by Alabama.

Stanford has been to the second round of the NCAA tournament for 10 straight years.

Johnson agreed to a new five-year contract worth $450,000 a season with Nevada in March after leading the Wolf Pack to the NCAA tournament’s round of 16 for the first time.