The team was coming off of a losing record and made it to a 2005 National Invitation Tournament. The team reached the Sweet Sixteen round of the 2006 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. During his tenure at Georgetown, he helped coach the team to an overall 72–30 record over 3 seasons and the 2006–07 team the 2007 Big East regular season championship, the 2007 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament championship, and a trip to the Final Four of the 2007 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. When Scott abandoned his struggling Princeton team to coach at Denver in 2007, athletic director Gary Walters hired Sydney Johnson to take over the program. Johnson emerged from a field of Princeton offense veterans that included Mike Brennan, Robert Burke, Craig Robinson, Bill Carmody, Armond Hill, Chris Mooney, and Mitch Henderson. Johnson's demeanor as a coach is said by players to be more benevolent than his predecessor, Joe Scott, who left for the University of Denver after compiling a losing record in three years at Princeton. He was regarded as an inexperienced coach because he only had three years of experience as an assistant coach. He became the youngest coach in the Ivy League. Johnson inherited a team that had gone 2–12 in conference the prior season and 38–45 overall during the prior three season. Among the lowlights that the team had achieved during the Scott era was a 21-point performance that tied the record for fewest points since the inception of the three point shot and the shot clock. The team had ranked last in the nation in scoring in both 2006 and 2007. Although race is an issue among collegiate coaching ranks, in Johnson's first year, he was one of six African-American men's basketball head coaches in the 8-team Ivy League. Johnson employs the Princeton offense. Former Tiger stars Brian Earl and Scott Greenman were among Johnson's assistants at Princeton. After a tumultuous first season of rebuilding during which it posted a 3–11 record, Princeton began to show great improvement in 2008–2009. Even with only three games left on their schedule and a 7–4 conference record, they still controlled their own destiny for a possible postseason bid. They finished 13–14 with an 8–6 record in the Ivy League, which tied them with for second place. Along the way, the Tigers defeated , , and during their non-conference schedule and also notched wins over twice. One highlight of the season was an early season victory over eventual Ivy League champs who had possessed a 19-game Ivy League winning streak. The Ivy League does not name a coach of the year in any sport, but Collegeinsider.com named Johnson Ivy League Coach of the Year.