Newman names Justin Perron as new head coach

Justin Perron spent the last three seasons at St. Mark's, where he led the Lions to the 2026 Class B Large title. (Jason Ong)

There’s a major coaching shakeup in NEPSAC boys basketball.

Newman announced on Friday that Justin Perron, who led St. Mark’s to last season’s Class B Large championship, will be its new head coach. New England Basketball Journal confirmed that Jackson Johnson, who led Newman to new heights in his four seasons at the Boston prep school, has accepted the head-coaching job at IMG Academy in Florida.

Perron, a former assistant at Clark University, was on John Carroll’s staff at Northfield Mount Hermon in 2020-21 and 2021-22. He took the head coaching job at St. Mark’s in 2023-24 and quickly led the Lions back to NEPSAC prominence. They made their first playoff appearance in a decade in 2025 before claiming the Class B Large trophy this March.

Carroll, who has overseen Newman as the program’s director since 2022, made Perron a top target upon Johnson’s departure.

“Everything that is Newman, it is just an amazing place for all the right reasons,” Perron said. “They really have an amazing platform that they’ve built, and to work really closely with John Carroll again is incredibly exciting to me. They’ve already accelerated the program too, so everything they’ve done before I got here has been just the best and now to continue that and even accelerate it is just incredibly exciting to see the resources, the platform that Newman already has and we’re already increasing those things to make sure it continues to be the best prep opportunity in the country.”

Perron will be tasked with sustaining Newman as one of the top prep programs in New England and the country. In four seasons, Johnson guided the Cardinals to a 108-49 record. They went 69-12 over the last two campaigns, which included back-to-back NEPSAC Class AAA championships and the first national prep championship in program history this March. Newman won a program-record 38 games in 2025-26.

Newman is primed to continue as one of the best teams in the region next season with a roster that includes returners Jaylen Hunter-Coleman, Preston Bollin, Philipe Ndong, William Meribe, Davon Maloney and Jack Donohue.