Associate Head Coach John Wardenburg is in his sixth season on the Thunderbird staff after joining head coach Todd Simon in May of 2016. Wardenburg was hired on as an Assistant Coach, but was promoted in August of 2018.
Wardenburg has been an integral part of the rebuilding process at Southern Utah, which culminated in the program's first-ever Big Sky Conference Regular Season Championship during the 2020-21 season.
Wardenburg spent nine years as an assistant basketball coach at Brigham Young University, from May 2001 to July 2010. During that span the Cougars made the NCAA Tournament six times and played in the NIT two times. He was also a part of four conference titles. While at BYU he coached several All-Americans including Kyle Collinsworth, Tyler Haws, Jimmer Fredette, Lee Cummard, Keena Young, Trent Plaisted and Rafael Araujo.
Following his tenure at BYU, Wardenburg became an assistant coach at BYU-Hawai'i for one season and helped the Seasiders reach the NCAA Division 2 National Championship game. Wardenburg left BYU-Hawaii to take an assistant coach job at Indian Hills Community College from July 2011 to April 2014. During this time, IHCC qualified for the NJCAA National Tournament twice, including playing for the NJCAA National championship in March, 2012. Wardenburg became the head coach of Indian Hills Community College in April of 2014. As head coach his team finished the season 29-5, won their Region and District championship and qualified for the NJCAA National Tournament.
Most recently, Wardenburg was an educator and assistant basketball coach at Westlake High School in Saratoga Springs, where the Thunder played in the Utah State semi-finals for the first time in the history of the school.
He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from BYU in 1986, with a minor in geography. He went on to receive a Master's Degree in Health, PE & Recreation from Utah State University in 1991. Born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Wardenburg and his wife, Pam, have four sons and six grandchildren.
