Chad Jilek was named the MaxPreps National Coach of the Year after leading Johnston to a perfect 27-0 season and a third straight Class 5A state championship. The award comes after a year in which the Dragons extended the nation's longest active win streak to 79 games.
Jilek's honor arrives as Johnston's girls basketball program has settled into the role of a national powerhouse. The 79-game streak is described as the longest active run in the country for girls high school basketball, a mark that gives the Dragons a rare kind of separation from the rest of the field.
The recognition also underscores how complete Johnston's season was: unbeaten, championship-winning and still adding to a streak that now stretches across three title runs. For Jilek, the award turns a dominant year into a national benchmark, with MaxPreps placing his name at the center of a run that has become hard to match and harder to stop.
