If there is such a thing as winning the lottery in a coaching search, the women’s basketball team certainly did last Wednesday when Erik Johnson was named the 10th head coach in program history.
The smile on the face of athletic director Peg Bradley-Doppes could not have been any broader as she introduced the 36-year old at a press conference in the Ritchie Center.
“He is a student of the game, he has high energy, he is passionate, and he is an incredible team player. Most importantly, he leads by example, and he is student-centered,” said Bradley-Doppes about the new coach.
Johnson takes over from Pam Tanner, who stepped down on April 1 after 13 seasons at the helm of the women’s basketball program and compiled a 190-181 record, including a trip to the NCAA tournament in 2001.
Johnson most recently served as an assistant basketball coach at Boston College (BC) for three seasons and helped the Eagles advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament in 2006. He helped guide a young team to a 21-12 record and trip to the quarter-finals of the WNIT this season. While at BC Johnson also served as the recruiting coordinator and helped bring in two top-20 classes.
Before coaching at BC, Johnson served as an assistant coach at the University of San Diego from 1998 to 2002 and then was promoted to associate head coach at USD in 2002.
Johnson started his coaching career in 1994 as an assistant coach at Rhode Island after playing four seasons at Division III University of California- San Diego where he helped lead the Tritons to a Sweet 16 trip during the 1990-91 season.
“There was a common name, a name that was thread through all the fabrics. No matter who we talked to, Erik Johnson’s name came up,” said Bradley-Doppes about the search process that took just over a month and was led by Pam Wettig.
Johnson will take over a team that is coming off a disappointing and frustrating 11-19 season and is ready for new leadership and direction. Johnson didn’t waste any time getting together with his new team as they met early last Wednesday morning and then practiced for the first time just an hour after the press conference.
“This is a place where you can come and get one of the best educations anywhere and play high level basketball and we can win a lot of basketball games,” said Johnson.
Coming from the very competitive ACC conference Johnson is excited to see what the Sun Belt Conference is like.
“I can’t wait to see the level of competition in the Sun Belt. I know it’s going to be an exciting and challenging conference, and we’re looking forward to it,” said Johnson.
Johnson has stated that he already has two commitments to be his assistant coaches and is excited to take on the challenge of going from assistant to head coach.
“It’s always a challenge, learning how to delegate a little bit. I’ve got an incredible staff that I know is getting ready to come. I’ve been ready to do this for a long time, and you wait for the right fit,” said Johnson.
Johnson will be making the move to Denver with his wife, Laura, and their two daughters, Daly and Avery and son Davis.
