Kwanza Johnson Named Associate Head Coach

LITTLE ROCK – Head coach Wes Flanigan has announced Kwanza Johnson as Little Rock's new associate head coach. A member of Little Rock's staff in the 2000-01 season, Johnson brings with him nearly 20 years of experience as an assistant at the collegiate level.
 
"I am incredibly excited and honored to have the opportunity to join Wes Flanigan's staff and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock basketball family," Johnson said. "I share coach Flanigan's vision in continuing to build off the success of last year's team and solidify the culture that was established last season. I am prepared to come in and contribute in any way possible to help keep this program performing at a high level."
 
In addition to Little Rock, Johnson's coaching career includes stops at TCU, Georgia, Nevada, Eastern Illinois and Tulsa, among others.
 
"When I started looking into the staff I knew I wanted to bring in someone to fill a similar role to mine last year," Flanigan said. "I wanted someone with a wealth of experience, a smart coach who was articulate and who has a chance to be a head coach. Kwanza fits that description. He's been a lot of different places and seen a lot of different ways that you can do things in basketball. He's loyal, but someone who is going to be tough on our guys, and someone who has played at a high level that they can respect. His contribution to this program is something I'm really excited about."
 
Johnson spent the last three years as an assistant at TCU. In 2014-15, TCU was one of six programs nationally to start the season 13-0. That run to start the year was the best in program history, and the ninth-best in the history of the Big 12 Conference. The Horned Frogs ended non-conference play ranked No. 25 in the AP Top 25.
 
"He's an exceptional teacher," said Trent Johnson, former head coach at TCU, LSU, Stanford and Nevada. "For me, and I've been doing this for a while, he's as good as I've been around. He's spent some years with my former assistant Mark Fox, who is now the head coach at Georgia. He's got the full package. I know Wes (Flanigan), and he and Little Rock couldn't be more fortunate to bring in someone like him."
 
Johnson spent seven years as an assistant under Mark Fox at Georgia (2009-13) and Nevada (2006-09).
 
At Georgia, Johnson was part of a staff that turned Georgia back into an NCAA Tournament qualifier in its second season on campus. The Bulldogs' 21 wins in 2010-11 were the program's most in nine years as the program broke into the national rankings for the first time since 2003.
 
"I think he is an outstanding coach in many ways," Fox said. "I think he is a terrific recruiter. He is a great teacher. He is an outstanding example for young men. I think he is a future head coach, without question. I think it's a home run."
 
Several frontcourt players excelled under Johnson's tutelage at Georgia. All-Southeastern Conference selections Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie were both selected in the 2011 NBA Draft. Johnson also worked with 2013 SEC Player of the Year Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who was selected with the eighth-overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft.
 
He was part of Fox's staff at Nevada that went 71-30 with two Western Athletic Conference Championships in in three years on campus. The Wolfpack played postseason basketball in each of Johnson's three seasons in Reno, including an NCAA Tournament bid in the 2006-07 season.
 
Nevada forward Nik Fazekas was the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year and earned First Team All-America honors in Johnson's first season with the program. The following season, Javale McGee was an All-WAC selection and went on to become the 18^th player selected in the 2008 NBA Draft.
 
Prior to his time at Nevada, Johnson worked as an assistant coach at Eastern Illinois (2006) and Tulsa (2001-05). He was an assistant coach on Porter Moser's staff at Little Rock in the 2000-01 season.
 
Before his first trip to Little Rock, Johnson served as an assistant at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo (2000). He began his career as an administrative assistant on Bill Self's staff at Tulsa from 1997-99.
 
A native of Oklahoma City, Okla., Johnson began his college career on a track scholarship at Kansas. He transferred to Rose State College to play basketball and was the top junior college player in the state of Oklahoma during the 1992-93 season.
 
He played his final two seasons for legendary head coach Tubby Smith at Tulsa. Both of his Hurricane teams won the Missouri Valley Conference title and reached the NCAA Sweet 16. In his final season for the Hurricane, Johnson was elected team captain and was named to the MVC All-Defensive team.
 
Johnson earned his bachelor's degree in economics from Tulsa in 1995 before adding a Juris Doctor degree from the Tulsa College of Law in 1999. He and his wife, Kim, have three children: Kaitlyn, Kendall and Kalli.