Taylorsville Native, Former Utah Utes Assistant Stan Johnson Hired As LMU Head Coach

Mar 20, 2020, 11:21 AM

Josh Watkins with assistant coach Stan Johnson at the University of Utah's men's basketball opening scrimmage Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2010, in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Tom Smart, Deseret News)

(Tom Smart, Deseret News)

BY MITCH HARPER, KSL SPORTS

KSL Sports

SALT LAKE CITY – Former Taylorsville High standout guard Stan Johnson continues his rise in the world of college basketball coaching. On Friday, Johnson was named the head coach of the Loyola Marymount (LMU) Lions, his first head coaching gig.

Utah native Stan Johnson is the new head coach at Loyola Marymount. He's a graduate of Taylorsville HS and Southern Utah. He was an assistant at Utah for 3 years. He's an excellent recruiter. https://t.co/eNRyiyV3aJ

— Jeremiah Jensen (@JJSportsBeat) March 20, 2020

Prior to being tabbed to lead the Lions program that resides in the West Coast Conference, the same league as BYU, Johnson was the associate head coach at Marquette in the Big East.

“As the caretaker of this program, I’m beyond thankful to all our former players and coaches for all the effort they’ve poured into LMU basketball over the years,” Johnson said. “We stand on their shoulders as we advance LMU to higher heights. I’m most excited by the opportunity to connect, coach, and develop our current and future players, in order to create a program that our fans, university, and community can all be proud of. We have a tremendous opportunity, in one of the best leagues in America, to do something special. I’m excited to attack that challenge together.”

Welcome to the bluff, Stan Johnson!

» https://t.co/NClRPYNaa7 #JoinThePride pic.twitter.com/lXOYAPyc7u

— LMU Men's Basketball (@lmulionsMBB) March 20, 2020

From 2008-2011, Johnson was as an assistant coach for the Utah Utes under former head coach Jim Boylen. In his first year on the Utes staff, Utah was a co-champion in the Mountain West Conference and earned a five-seed in the NCAA Tournament. Johnson was Boylen’s top recruiter in the state of California and Utah. For what Loyola Marymount is looking for being based in Los Angeles and having a conference foe in Utah, Johnson meets a lot of the Lions needs.

While at Taylorsville High, Johnson was an All-State and All-Region performer where he then traveled south to play for Southern Utah. Johnson was part of the only Southern Utah team to make it to the NCAA Tournament in 2001 where the T-Birds barely lost to three-seed Boston College.