Tristan Johnson - Women's Volleyball Coach - Southern Illinois University Athletics

Photo by: Will Becque

Tristan Johnson

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
tristan.johnson@siu.edu
Phone:
618-453-5476

Tristan Johnson enters his second season as an assistant coach at Southern Illinois University in 2019. He assists with all aspects of team training as well as serving as the team’s recruiting coordinator.

The Salukis improved greatly in Johnson’s first season on Allen's staff, as their +9 win differential from the 2018 season was the 10th-best in the nation in 2019. Three of SIU’s 14 wins in 2019 were against teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament and Southern set program records for total digs in a season and five-set matches played in. Southern led the nation in total digs while Rachel Maguire became the first Saluki since at least 1994 to lead the nation in a statistical category (triple-doubles).

Johnson has also been instrumental in SIU's aggressive overhaul of it's roster. Despite only having a few months on the job to recruit in their first season, SIU inked three impact players in Alex Washington, Savannah Sheridan and Kyra Hunter. Southern's first full signing class with it's new coaching staff will feature 10 newcomers, including nine freshmen. Southern's 20-person roster is tied for the largest in school history dating back to 1982 and it's nine freshmen are tied for the second-most in program history.

Johnson arrived in Carbondale by way of the University of Alabama, where he spent two seasons as an assistant under coach Ed Allen at his alma-mater. The Tide went 36-24 in his two seasons as a full-time assistant.

A 2014 graduate of Alabama, Johnson spent three seasons after graduation as an assistant at Arkansas State. He served two seasons as an assistant coach before being promoted to associate head coach in 2016. That season, Johnson helped the Red Wolves to a 25-8 overall record, including a 15-1 record in conference play, en route to winning the Sun Belt West division title.

Arkansas State amassed a 74-20 (.787) record in Johnson’s three seasons, which included a 46-6 record in conference play. After a perfect 16-0 record in Sun Belt play in 2015, the Red Wolves advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1999 under Johnson’s tutelage.

Johnson spent two seasons as a student assistant under Allen at Alabama, including the 2013 season in which the Tide made their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2007. He transferred to Alabama after two years at Blinn College, where he worked with the Buccaneers’ NJCAA national champion volleyball team that went 38-0 in 2011.

Johnson was honored in 2015 as a member of the American Volleyball Coaches Association's "Thirty Under 30" list of up-and-coming volleyball coaches. Additionally, he spent two summers as an intern with the U.S. Men's and Women's national teams, primarily coordinating practice video. In 2013, he served as the scout coach with the USA Volleyball Pan American Cup coaching staff.