Assistant Coach Tonya Johnson
The 2007 season marks Tonya Johnson's fifth as an assistant coach on Jerritt Elliott's staff at Texas. She was brought into the UT family in April of 2003 after spending five seasons as an assistant at her alma mater, LSU. Johnson works with the team's outside hitters and, off the court, she is the team's recruiting coordinator, travel coordinator and is the assistant camp director. Johnson helped lead Texas' 2006 squad to its first NCAA Regional Finals appearance since 1998 and a No. 7 ranking in the final AVCA poll. Freshman opposite hitter Ashley Engle nabbed Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Year honors and AVCA All-America Second Team accolades in 2006, while freshman outside hitter Destinee Hooker added AVCA All-Central Region First Team honors. As the team's recruiting coordinator, Johnson has helped head coach Jerritt Elliott land the second-ranked recruiting class in the country in each of the past two seasons (2006-07). She mentored the Longhorns 2005 club - complete with one senior and five starters who were freshmen or sophomores - to its second 20-win season in a row and a second consecutive second-place showing in the highly competitive Big 12 Conference. UT went 7-3 against other ranked teams, including a thrilling, 3-2 victory over top-ranked and previously undefeated Nebraska to close the regular season. In 2004, senior All-America outside hitter Mira Topic garnered tremendous attention for her performance on the court. Topic led the Big 12 in kills per game and, while hitting at a .308 clip. Additionally, Topic became the Texas all-time kills leader for a season (593) and for a career (2,116). Topic also became the seventh player in school history to record 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs. At the end of the season, Topic earned American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) first team All-America honors, AVCA first-team All-Central Region and Big 12 Player of the Year accolades. Behind Topic and the powerful Texas attack, the Longhorns finished the year ranked fourth nationally in hitting percentage with a school record mark of .305, and was 13th in kills per game (17.09). In her first season at Texas in 2003, Johnson was instrumental in organizing the team's 13-day tour of Europe in May 2004. Johnson served as the top volleyball assistant at LSU from 1998-2003 under Fran (Teeter) Flory (Texas '83) where she was responsible for the majority of the Tigers' recruiting efforts. In 1995, Johnson began her collegiate coaching career at Kentucky as an assistant to Flory. The Tigers finished last in the 11-team SEC in 1997, prior to Johnson's arrival to the program. LSU moved up from sixth in the West Division to fourth in 1998 with a 5-10 SEC finish. The Tigers' best finish during Johnson's tenure was in 2001 as LSU was second in the SEC West Division with a 10-5 mark. LSU was second in the SEC West in 2002 with a 9-7 conference record while going 17-10 overall. Born Sept. 1, 1969 in Zachary, La., Johnson was a four-year letterwinner at LSU from 1987-1990. She won consecutive SEC titles in 1989 and 1990 as well. Her playing days culminated as a senior in 1990 with a trip to the NCAA women's volleyball final four. Prior to joining the collegiate coaching ranks, Johnson taught at Wellington Landings Middle School in Boca Raton, Fla. While teaching, Johnson coached the Florida Gold Coast club team and served as an assistant coach at Olympic Heights High School.
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