Volleyball: Gray Selects Johnson as First Hire to Louisiana Volleyball Coaching Staff

Ragin’ Cajuns leadership group for new era beginning to take shape

LAFAYETTE – Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Volleyball head coach Kristi Gray announced on Wednesday (June 9, 2021) the addition of Jazmyne Johnson as assistant coach to the coaching staff for her debut season with the program in fall 2021.

 
Johnson’s duties will include working with the Ragin’ Cajuns hitters, more specifically the middle blockers. She will also assist in offensive schemes, and with the program’s recruiting.  
 
"When I first spoke to Jazmyne we connected immediately, and I knew that she would be a great fit for what our vision is here at Louisiana," Gray said. "I believe that Jaz is the next big thing! She is going to bring so much to this program, not only from a volleyball perspective but also as a mentor to our student-athletes.
 
"She is great at what she does and has an infectious personality that will take her very far in this profession."
 
A standout middle blocker who competed collegiately at Mississippi State and Middle Tennessee, Johnson joins Gray and the Ragin’ Cajuns after spending the 2020-21 season as the assistant volleyball coach at Norfolk State. She served as the Spartans’ recruiting coordinator and provided instruction to the hitters and blockers.
 
The DeSoto, Texas, native launched her coaching career in 2018 assisting the staff at Texas Woman’s University, working with the middle blockers and helping lead the Pioneers to 18 wins and the first winning record in over three seasons. In the 2019 campaign, Johnson served as a graduate assistant at Harding University for a squad that finished 21-11 and advanced to the Great American Conference Tournament championship match.
 
Johnson’s instructing of middle blockers resulted in a pair of Harding team members, Libby Hinton and Kelli McKinnon, earning all-conference honors.
 
She also spent time as a head coach with 360 Volleyball Club in Texas in 2019 and as an assistant at various university summer camps the last few years.
 
Prior to completing her collegiate career at Mississippi State, where Johnson led the Bulldogs in blocks with 89 her junior season and with 136 as a senior in 2016, she climbed to seventh all-time in total blocks in only two seasons at Middle Tennessee (2013-14).
 
Mississippi State finished with a winning record in her first season (2015) on campus, the program’s first in nine years, and her senior-season blocks total ranks fourth in the school’s single-season records.
 
Johnson received her bachelor’s degree in communications with a concentration in broadcast journalism from Mississippi State in December 2016. She earned her master’s in business administration from Harding in December 2020.
 
Johnson was a 2020 AVCA Diversity Award recipient and is an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated.
 
Louisiana Volleyball begins a new era in fall 2021 with Gray’s inaugural season marking the first time a new leader is on the sidelines since 2008. The Ragin’ Cajuns (17-7, 11-5 Sun Belt in 2020) seek to build upon the first back-to-back seasons of double-digit wins in Sun Belt Conference play and continue the climb to the top of the league standings.
 
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