Fresno, CA - Stacy Johnson, who has been a part of one of the nation's most storied women's basketball programs, has been named the head women's basketball coach at Fresno State. Athletics Director Scott Johnson announced.
Johnson has been an assistant coach at Louisiana Tech for the last two seasons, helping the Lady Techsters to two NCAA Tournament appearances. In 2001, Louisiana Tech advanced to the Elite Eight after setting a national record with six consecutive 30-win seasons. This past season, the Lady Techsters went 25-5, won the WAC regular season and tournament and were ranked No. 9 in the nation. Johnson was instrumental in securing a recruiting class that had four McDonald's All-Americans and was ranked third nationally.
During her two seasons, Louisiana Tech had a record of 56-10, lost just one conference game and won two regular season conference titles and two conference tournament championships. Under head coach Leon Barmore, the Techsters program has the best winning percentage in college basketball history (.875), have made 21 NCAA Tournament appearances, 13 Final Fours and won three NCAA championships. Her duties included recruiting, scouting reports, on-floor coaching with the post players and offense, player development and compliance with NCAA rules.
"I am absolutely thrilled to come to Fresno State," Stacy Johnson said. "I look forward to working hard to make our program one of the elite teams in women's basketball. I am totally sold on the vision of the Fresno State athletics department and am excited about bringing a brand new era of excitement to Bulldog women's basketball.
Prior to Louisiana Tech, Johnson was the head coach at Cameron University, a Division II schools in Lawton, Okla. In three seasons there, she produced the first winning season at the school in over a decade and improved her team's GPA to 3.27, which ranked No. 20 nationally.
Johnson was an assistant coach at Oklahoma from 1993-96, where she recruited a top 20 recruiting class and helped the team to a 22-9 record in 1994-95, at the time the best season in school history. The Sooners won the 1994 Women's NIT championship.
In addition, Johnson was an accomplished player. She played collegiately at Northeastern State, where she set 10 school records, many of which still stand. She scored a school-record 45 points in a game and had a school-record scoring average of 23.9 points per game. She was an NAIA honorable mention All-American and three-time all-conference selection. She played professional basketball in Switzerland during the 1992 season and averaged 50 points per game, scoring 65 points in one game. She has also played for the Campus Crusade for Christ that toured South America and was the head coach and a player for the 1998 Christian Outreach International team.
She becomes the sixth coach in the 31-year history of the program and replaces Britt King, who resigned after four years and a 39-76 overall record.
Johnson is engaged to marry Chuck Klein in May. Together, they have four children, Connor (8), Carter (6), Sierra (4) and Collin (3).