What Is Vontae Johnson From Cheer Doing Now?
If you're into both competitive cheerleading and docu-series, you've most likely seen Netflix's popular and iconic series, "Cheer." The documentary style series that premiered on the streaming platform in 2020 instantly became a household name. The series follows cheerleaders from two junior colleges from Texas on their prepping, preparing, practicing, and performing in the competitive cheerleading world.
The first season documented Navarro Junior College's cheerleading squad on their journey to Daytona, where they worked to win and protect their title. Fans immediately fell in love with the athletes, alongside their coach Monica Aldama. When the second season premiered, Netflix added a new group of athletes into the mix — the cheerleading squad from Trinity Valley College, a junior college located 45 minutes away from Navarro.
Adding a new team to the mix may have felt "random" to some, but fans later found out that there was a true reason why Trinity Valley was chosen for the show. It turns out, the two colleges are each other's only competition — as the two are the only large co-ed teams that compete at Daytona. Therefore, adding Trinity Valley, alongside their coach Vontae Johnson, was an easy choice.
Who is Vontae Johnson?
Vontae Johnson appeared regularly in Season 2 of "Cheer," as the head coach of Trinity Valley College. The head coach, spoiler alert, is able to take his underdog cheerleading squad from their previous loss to Navarro College all the way to the end — Trinity Valley leaves Season 2 with the gold. While his job as a head cheerleading coach for a junior college is successful, Johnson did not start off in cheerleading as a child.
The coach grew up in a rough situation, sharing that when his parents divorced while he was still young, his family struggled a lot. Being raised by a single mother, Johnson shared money was often tight. In interviews on the Netflix series, he explains that growing up in the hood and in poverty, you needed to be good at something in order to get out and do better — sports was an easy way for him to move up in the world. He ended up invested in both basketball and football in high school and, after doing a backflip in the end zone when scoring touchdowns, was scouted by cheerleading coaches in hopes to change gears for college.
Johnson started as a cheerleader at Trinity Valley
Vontae Johnson ended up pursuing cheerleading full time as a sport. Before landing the position as head coach at Trinity Valley College, Johnson himself was a cheerleader on their squad when he was a student. He competed on the same mats, for the same school, and even went to Daytona just like his squad does now. He explains that the team did not win the competition when he was on it, but that gave him even more drive to win when he started as a coach in 2017. Screen Rant reports that he was recruited to the head coaching position from his own coach at Trinity Valley, Khris Franklin.
According to TheCheerBuzz, Johnson has also competed with several other cheerleading teams aside from Trinity Valley. On Team USA Coed, Johnson scored some huge titles, including that of the Silver International Cheer Union (ICU) World Champions in 2015.
Where is Johnson now?
Vontae Johnson is right where we left him at the end of Season 2 of "Cheer." The head coach of Trinity Valley College is still in the position, however, with a slight change. Khris Franklin, former head coach that Johnson had cheered under, left for a period of time. Franklin had poached Johnson to be his replacement. He later returned as Johnson's assistant coach, which was a part of Season 2.
Now, Franklin and Johnson are co-head coaches, leading the team together. According to reports, Johnson doesn't seem to have any intention of leaving Trinity Valley — although, he does coach outside of the college, as well. Johnson's Instagram page showcases that he also coached the CA Wildcats at The Cheerleading Worlds, bringing them home a trophy, as well. So, with two winning teams under his reign, it's safe to say Johnson is living his best life.