Dr. Bob Frederick Sport Leadership Lecture Series

About Coach Johnson:

Austin Johnson begins his second season after one of the most successful inaugural seasons of any LCSC coach.  First, Coach Johnson’s 2018-19 Warriors tied for the Frontier Conference title, winning their last eight conference games.  Then the men swept the Frontier Conference tournament, extending their winning streak to 11 games.  Johnson’s hoopsters then extended their streak to 14 games by winning their first three games in the NAIA National Tournament, before being eliminated in the semi-final game.  It marked the first time in Warrior history that the men’s team advanced into the semis. 
 
The team finished with a 30-7 record, one short of the school record.  Three of Coach Johnson’s players were named to the All-Frontier Conference team, and two were named to the NAIA All-American team.  In addition, two Warriors were named NAIA Daktronics Scholar-Athletes.
 
Coach  Johnson returned to Lewis-Clark State College as the head men's basketball coach after spending two seasons as head coach at Corban University in Oregon.
 
For Johnson, whose wife, Kelli (Tikker), played volleyball for the Warriors, the return to Lewis-Clark State is like coming home.
  
Johnson, an assistant coach at LC from 2010-16, led Corban's Warriors to levels of success they hadn't experienced in more than a decade. The 2017-18 team finished 17-13 for the highest winning percentage since 2005. Among his players, he counted two first-team all-conference selections and two COSIDA Academic All-Americans.
 
His 2016-17 team, an underdog in the Cascade Collegiate Conference tournament, swept through the postseason to become the first No. 8 seed to claim the league title and the automatic berth into the NAIA Division II National Tournament. Corban, which advanced to the nationals for only the fifth time in school history, lost in the first round of the tournament but was awarded the Naismith-Liston Sportsmanship Award.
 
Johnson's career in the Northwest began in 2010 when he was hired as LCSC's associate head coach. During his time here, the Warriors garnered a No. 1 seed in the 2016 NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament with a 28-4 overall record. LCSC earned the automatic bid to the national tournament after winning the Frontier Conference Tournament title – its second while he was here. The Warriors won three regular-season titles during his tenure.

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During his time with the program, he was a key recruiter and was charged with player development as the Warriors averaged more than 20 wins per season with one of the nation's top performing offenses over a five-season span.
 
Prior to LCSC, he spent two years as a graduate assistant coach at Western Illinois University.
 
He started his career as a volunteer assistant coach at Odessa Junior College in Texas, where he worked for NJCAA Hall of Fame Coach Dennis Helms.
 
Johnson earned his Master's in Sports Management at WIU after graduating in 2008 from Oklahoma Wesleyan University with a Business Marketing degree. 
 
Originally hailing from Wichita, Kan., Johnson enrolled at Butler CC before transferring to Oklahoma Wesleyan where he was a starter in his final two seasons. He finished with 1,207 career points and drained more than 250 3-pointers. While captaining the squad during his senior season, he led Oklahoma Wesleyan to a 26-8 record, marking the best season ever for the team. Ultimately, the team made its first appearance in the NAIA National Tournament where it advanced to the Sweet 16 Round. For his efforts, he was a two-time All-Midlands Conference selection, and he was named Oklahoma Wesleyan's Male Athlete of the Year in 2008.
 
Additionally, Johnson has been active in volunteer and ministry work with both the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Athletes in Action.

Austin and Kelli have one child, a son Koufax.

-Photo and biographical information courtesy of LCSC Communications