Basketball: Johnson to leave Penn State:
“For three years, Aaron Johnson weathered the losing, but in reality, the losing weathered Johnson. ‘It was devastating, psychologically,’ his father, Howard, said.
“As Johnson developed into perhaps the most consistent contributor on the Penn State men’s basketball team, he was quietly fighting another development — his spreading belief that Penn State would never give him the feeling of a winning season.
“Three years of mostly disappointing basketball convinced Johnson that his fourth, were it to happen with the Nittany Lions, wouldn’t be any better. Yesterday, Penn State announced that Johnson — a 6-foot-9 junior power forward who averaged 11.8 points and 9.9 rebounds in the 2004-05 season — will leave the program.
“With the departure, the Lions are deprived of their most experienced player and their second-leading scorer. But Johnson felt the change was necessary. During his career at Penn State, the Lions changed coaches and reinvented their roster, but the end result didn’t change. The past three years have produced seven-, nine-, and seven-win seasons, and the losing, as if it possessed its own kinetic power, finally pushed Johnson away. …”