Southern Utah University Athletics

Jay Johnson is entering his eighth season as an assistant coach for the Southern Utah women's basketball team.

Before coming to Southern Utah, Johnson held the title of Director of Women’s Basketball Operations at Saint Mary’s College for the 2017-18 season.

During his time as DOBO, Johnson’s duties included video coordination as well as social media, details of team management, travel and logistics for road trips, and scheduling the use of facilities for practices both at home and away.

Johnson attended Saint Mary’s College from 2013-17 and graduated in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in finance.

While at SUU

2022-23:

• SUU finished the year with a 23-10 record, including the most conference victories in program history with a 16-2 effort in Western Athletic Conference play.
• Helped the Thunderbirds claim the WAC regular season title and WAC tournament championship.
• Southern Utah earned a trip to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history.
• This marked the fourth straight winning season for Southern Utah.

2021-22:

• SUU reached the 18-win mark for the second time during Johnson's time on staff.
• Also helped the Thunderbirds secure 14 conference victories, the second-most in program history.
• First time since 1993-96 that Southern Utah had three consecutive winning seasons.

2020-21:

• In a shortened season, helped Southern Utah to an overall record of 11-9, including a 6-5 record in the Big Sky Conference.

2019-20:

• Helped Southern Utah to their highest overall win total (18) and most conference victories (11) since the 2013-14 season.
• SUU had their second-highest scoring season in program history, amassing 2,186 points over 31 contests, averaging 70.5 points per game.
• Southern Utah also set a new program record for three-pointers made in a season, drilling 197 shots from beyond the arc.
• Johnson assisted in the development of Rebecca Cardenas. Cardenas made immense improvements from her junior to senior season. She finished her senior year as the Big Sky's leading scorer at 17 points per contest and was selected as the Defensive Player of the Year in the Conference on top of earning First-Team All-Big Sky honors.

2018-19:

• Joined the SUU staff along with Coach Sanders in her first season at the helm of the program. 
• Assisted in the development of guard play and with scouting.
• Helped Southern Utah double their conference win total from the previous season, and achieve their most overall victories since the 2014-15 season.
• SUU also won their first Big Sky Conference Tournament game since the 2014-15 season and picked up non-conference victories over BYU, San Diego, and Utah Valley.