Mike Johnston, who served as head football coach of Katy High School, passed away on January 10, 2026.

Tributes immediately poured in on social media and an article praising his career was posted on the “Dave Campbell’s Texas Football” website on Saturday.

“Legendary Katy Tigers head coach Mike Johnston, who won 13 district titles and made five state championship appearances over a 22-year run with the school, passed away on Saturday morning,” the article said. “He had to live for one more Friday night.”

“The Tigers’ 15 state championship appearances are tied for the most in the state’s history, and their last losing season was 1990,” the article continued. “But none of it happens without Johnston, who took over as head coach in 1982 and broke the school’s 23-year playoff drought in 1986.” Johnston retired in 2003, and Mike Johnston Field at Legacy Stadium is named in his honor.

“The program never veered from the blueprint Johnston laid out 40 years ago,” said the article on Dave Campbell’s Texas Football. “In that way, he lives in in the red and white.”

Johnston coached at Hull-Daisetta, Nacogdoches, Beaumont Forest Park and Abilene before coming to Katy as an assistant coach in 1980. After becoming head coach and athletic coordinator, he led Katy to three Texas state championships (1997, 2000, 2003), five state championship game appearances, numerous district titles, and more than 200 career victories, according to Kyle Johnston’s post on Facebook.

“Texas high school football lost a legend,” said Dennis Silva II, former Katy Times sports editor in a January 11 Facebook post. “Katy lost an icon. And so many of us lost someone who embodied a way to live. The right way to win. R.I.P, Coach.”