Bill Johnson Named Assistant Men's Basketball Coach

May 13, 2004

Bill Johnson, head coach of Casper College last season and formerly an assistant at Columbia and Nebraska, became the first assistant named to Jessie Evans' new basketball coaching staff at USF. Johnson will start his duties immediately.

"We are very excited to add Bill to our staff here at USF," said Evans. "He is a talented coach, recruiter and teacher who will fit in well with our program. He is someone that I have known and admired for a long time and I wanted to hire for quite a while.

"Bill has the qualities that I was looking for; he's a tireless worker who has worn many hats in the coaching business. We are thrilled to have him aboard."

In his one season at Casper College Johnson took the "T-Birds" to the Wyoming Community College championship and an 18-12 mark. It was Casper's first conference title in nine years and his team was tenth in the nation in scoring defense.

Prior to his assignment in Casper, Johnson was an assistant at Columbia (1997-2003) for six seasons under head coach Armond Hill, specializing in defense. He helped lead the Lions to a third place finish, their best finish in seven seasons and helped recruit 2000-01 Ivy League Player of the Year Craig Austin.

He began his collegiate coaching career at Nebraska as a assistant in 1993 under head coach Danny Nee, helping to lead the 'Huskers to an NIT crown and four other postseason berths.

He was head coach at Omaha Bryan High School from 1990-93 after assisting at Lincoln Southeast High School (1988-89).

A graduate of the University of Nebraska (B.S. Education, 1988) where he was a two-year letterwinner following two seasons at Northeast Community College, he also received a masters in Education Administration (Nebraska, 1994).