Phil Johnson
Johnson coaches USC in 2007.
Biographical details
Born (1958-06-04) June 4, 1958 (age 65)
Playing career
1977–1981East Central Oklahoma State
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1982–1985East Central Oklahoma State (asst.)
1985–1987Northern Oklahoma JC
1987–1990Seminole JC
1990–1991Tulsa (asst.)
1991–1993New Orleans (asst.)
1993–1998Arizona (asst.)
1998–1999San Jose State
1999–2001Chicago Bulls (asst.)
2002–2005San Jose State
2005–2010USC (asst.)
2010–2017UTEP (asst.)
2017–2018UTEP (interim)
Head coaching record
Overall41–98 (.295)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
As head coach:

As assistant coach:

Phillip Lane Johnson (born June 4, 1958)[1] is an American college basketball coach. He was the interim men's head basketball coach at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP).

Early life and college career

After graduating from Putnam City High School in Warr Acres, Oklahoma in 1976,[2] Johnson attended East Central Oklahoma State University. At East Central Oklahoma State, Johnson was basketball co-captain in his senior season. Johnson graduated from East Central Oklahoma with a B.A. in education in 1981. He then earned an M.A. from Henderson State University in 1982.[3]

Coaching career

Assistant coach and junior college head coach

After earning his master's degree, Johnson began his coaching career in 1982 at East Central Oklahoma State and coached there for three seasons. In 1985, Johnson worked his first head coaching position at Northern Oklahoma Junior College and coached there for two seasons.[4] In 1987, Johnson became head coach at Seminole Junior College, also in Oklahoma. In his three seasons coaching Seminole, Johnson led Seminole to the 1988 state championship and 1989 Bi-State Conference championship.[4][5][6]

Johnson moved to the NCAA ranks in the 1990–91 season as an assistant under J. D. Barnett at Tulsa.[3] The following season, Johnson began what would be several stints as an assistant coach under Tim Floyd at New Orleans.[4] In Johnson's second season as assistant, New Orleans qualified for the 1993 NCAA tournament and finished the season ranked #17 in the AP Poll and first in the Sun Belt Conference.[7]

Johnson then became an assistant at Arizona under Lute Olson for five seasons from 1993 to 1998, including the 1997 national championship team.[4] In every season with Johnson as assistant, Arizona was ranked in the year-end AP Polls.[8]

First stint at San Jose State

In 1998, Johnson began one of two stints as San Jose State head coach. San Jose State improved from 3–23 in the 1997–98 season to 12–16 in the 1998–99 season, including wins over Jerry Tarkanian's Fresno State and Don Haskins's UTEP.[9][10]

Chicago Bulls assistant

In his first professional coaching position, Johnson was an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls from 1999 to 2002, again under Tim Floyd; Johnson remained on staff under Bill Cartwright, after Floyd resigned in December 2001 following a 4–21 start.[1][11]

Second stint at San Jose State

In 2002, Johnson returned to San Jose State to be head coach. San Jose State went 7–21 in the 2002–03 season, then 6–23 the following season.[12] On February 25, 2004, San Jose State and the Western Athletic Conference both reprimanded Johnson for what San Jose State described as a "verbal confrontation with a UTEP fan" during the February 19 game against UTEP. This was six years before Johnson became an assistant coach at UTEP. San Jose State athletic director Chuck Bell stated: "While recognizing that the fan's verbal harassment of Coach Johnson throughout the game led to the confrontation, under no circumstances can a coach allow himself to be placed in a situation that jeopardizes the safety of the players and the fans in an arena."[13] The same day of the reprimand, the San Jose Mercury News revealed that Johnson had a suspended driver's license due to three arrests for drunk driving from 2002 and 2003.[14]

San Jose State fired Johnson after the 2004–05 season, in which San Jose State finished 6–23 for the second straight season.[15] In 2008, the NCAA reduced the number of scholarships for San Jose State men's basketball by two, as a result of an unsatisfactory four-year Academic Progress Rate of 886 (the minimum satisfactory APR is 925) that spanned Johnson's final two seasons (2003–04 and 2004–05) and the first two seasons of succeeding head coach George Nessman (2005–06 and 2006–07).[16][17]

Assistant at USC and UTEP

From 2005 to 2010, Johnson was an assistant coach at USC under Tim Floyd.[3] For his first four seasons at USC, Johnson served under Tim Floyd, and Johnson remained on staff in the 2009–10 season under Kevin O'Neill. Johnson helped USC make the 2007, 2008, and 2009 NCAA Tournaments and the 2009 Pac-10 tournament.[3] However, in 2010, the NCAA vacated all of USC's wins from the 2007–08 season.

For the fourth time, Johnson became an assistant coach on Tim Floyd's staff in 2010, with UTEP.[3] UTEP made the 2011 National Invitation Tournament and 2014 College Basketball Invitational in Johnson's time at UTEP.

On February 24, 2011, Johnson was ejected from UTEP's game at East Carolina for receiving two technical fouls.[18]

On January 30, 2015, C-USA issued a reprimand to Johnson for throwing a piece of paper on the court during UTEP's game against Marshall.[19] Johnson served as interim head coach for the February 28, 2015 game at Southern Miss because regular head coach Tim Floyd was suspended for violating league conduct policy.[20][21] UTEP lost, 63-60.[22] However, Floyd was still credited for the win.

Interim head coach at UTEP

On November 28, 2017, Johnson was named interim head coach of the Miners following Floyd's abrupt retirement.[23]

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
San Jose State Spartans (Western Athletic Conference) (1998–1999)
1998–99 San Jose State 12–16 5–9 6th (Pacific)
San Jose State Spartans (Western Athletic Conference) (2002–2005)
2002–03 San Jose State 7–21 4–14 9th
2003–04 San Jose State 6–23 1–17 10th
2004–05 San Jose State 6–23 3–15 10th
San Jose State: 31–83 (.272) 13–55 (.191)
UTEP Miners (Conference USA) (2017–2018)
2017–18 UTEP 10–15 6–12 T-11th
UTEP: 10–15 (.400) 6–12 (.333)
Total: 41–98 (.295)

References

  1. ^ a b "Johnson File" (PDF). 2003-04 WAC Media Guide. p. 43. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 22, 2015.
  2. ^ Tramel, Berry (March 24, 2014). "Bob Hoffman: Another in a long legacy of coaches from Putnam City Original". The Oklahoman. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Phil Johnson". UTEP Miners. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d "Phil Johnson". USC Trojans. 2009. Archived from the original on May 26, 2010. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  5. ^ Meece, Volney (March 3, 1988). "NEO, Seminole Register State Tourney Victories". The Oklahoman. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
  6. ^ "Seminole's Johnson May Take TU Job". The Oklahoman. June 27, 1990. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
  7. ^ "1992-93 New Orleans Privateers Schedule and Results". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.
  8. ^ "Lute Olson Coaching Record". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.
  9. ^ "1998-99 San Jose State Spartans Schedule and Results". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.
  10. ^ "1997-98 San Jose State Spartans Schedule and Results". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.
  11. ^ Johnson, K.C. (April 19, 2002). "Another crucial off-season". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
  12. ^ "Phil Johnson Coaching Record". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.
  13. ^ "Phil Johnson receives university & WAC reprimand". San Jose State Spartans. February 25, 2004. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  14. ^ Emmons, Mark (February 25, 2004). "Spat with fan latest in string of troubles for SJSU coach". San Jose Mercury News. Archived from the original on September 23, 2004.
  15. ^ Gomez, Mark (February 22, 2005). "SJSU ousts basketball coach". San Jose Mercury News. Archived from the original on February 24, 2005. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
  16. ^ Morinaga, Dayton (May 7, 2008). "Three UH sports penalized". Honolulu Advertiser. Retrieved March 20, 2015.
  17. ^ "NCAA Division I 2006 - 2007 Academic Progress Rate Public Report, San Jose State University" (PDF). NCAA. August 6, 2008. Retrieved March 20, 2015.
  18. ^ Duncan, Chris. "C-USA reprimands UTEP coach for outburst at ECU". Associated Press. Archived from the original on February 27, 2011. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  19. ^ "Coach reprimanded by Conference USA". Charleston Gazette. January 30, 2015. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  20. ^ Hurcomb, Michael (February 27, 2015). "UTEP coach Tim Floyd hit with one-game suspensionn". CBS Sports. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  21. ^ "Johnson Takes Over on the Bench as Miners Battle Southern Miss". UTEP Miners. February 27, 2015. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  22. ^ Munz, Jason (March 1, 2015). "Golden Eagles soar in big victory". Hattiesburg American. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  23. ^ Dauster, Rob. "UTEP announces that Phil Johnson will replace Tim Floyd". Yahoo Sports. Retrieved November 28, 2017.
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