Tonya Doral Johnson (born September 1, 1969) is an American

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

coach and former player. She has been the head coach of the

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

women's volleyball team since 2022.

Personal life

Johnson was born on September 1, 1969, in

Zachary, Louisiana Zachary is a city in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies north of the city of Baton Rouge, and had a population of 14,960 at the 2010 census, up from 11,275 in 2000. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Zachary's ...

. She played both volleyball and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

Zachary High School Zachary High School is a public high school located in Zachary, Louisiana, United States. It is a part of the Zachary Community School Board. History Zachary High School was established in 1912. It was segregated. The Rosenwald Fund helped est ...

before ultimately focusing on volleyball.

Playing career

Johnson played volleyball at LSU from 1987–90, helping the Tigers to Southeastern Conference titles in 1989 and 1990. She also helped LSU advance to its first-ever Final Four appearance in the 1990 NCAA tournament as well as a Sweet 16 appearance in

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

Coaching career

Johnson's first collegiate coaching role came in 1995 when she coached as an assistant at

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, under then-head coach

Fran Flory Fran Flory (born April 30, c. 1962) is an American retired head coach of the LSU Tigers women's indoor volleyball team and former head coach of the LSU Tigers women's beach volleyball team. Coaching career Flory is the former women's volleybal ...

. In 1998, along with Flory, she returned to her alma mater when she went

as an assistant coach. She remained at LSU until 2003, when she moved to

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

as an assistant head coach under

Jerritt Elliott Jerritt Kurt Elliott (born April 28, 1968) is an American volleyball head coach of the Texas Longhorns women's volleyball team since 2001. Early life Elliott is a native of California and graduated from Palisades High School in Pacific Palisa ...

. Johnson's first collegiate head coach role began in 2009 with the

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets is the name used for all of the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The teams have also been nicknamed the ...

. At Georgia Tech, she compiled an overall record of 85–72, with an NCAA tournament appearance in 2009. While at Georgia Tech, she was the co-head coach of USA volleyball's A2 team that won a silver medal in 2012. After leaving Georgia Tech, she returned to Texas as the associate head coach and main recruiting coordinator in 2014 under Elliott, where she would remain until the conclusion of the 2021. In her years at Texas, the team advanced to multiple NCAA final fours and won multiple

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Okla ...

championships. Johnson is also known to be an excellent recruiter, as Johnson helped Elliott land the nation's second-ranked recruiting classes in three consecutive seasons (2006–08). Texas' 2009 recruiting class was also strong, with the signing of the top- and fifth-ranked prep players in Bailey Webster and Sha’Dare McNeal. Johnson returned to LSU as head coach in 2022 after Flory announced her retirement. She stated that she was offered the job before she left campus after her interview. In her first season at LSU, she led the program to its first winning season since 2019 and qualified for the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2017, advancing to the second round after defeating HawaiI, before losing to Stanford in the second round.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Tonya 1969 births Living people American volleyball coaches LSU Tigers women's volleyball coaches Texas Longhorns women's volleyball coaches Kentucky Wildcats women's volleyball coaches Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets women's volleyball coaches Sports coaches from Louisiana American women's volleyball players African-American volleyball players 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportswomen 21st-century American sportswomen LSU Tigers women's volleyball players 20th-century American sportswomen