The first year as a head coach of a new program is always difficult, but new LSU volleyball head coach Tonya Johnson faces the unique challenge of having to replace one of the all-time greats.
With Fran Flory retiring following the 2021 season, her replacement is following a coach who stands as LSU’s most winningest of all time. Her 24-year tenure included 405 wins for the Tigers, nine NCAA Tournament berths and the 2009 SEC Championship. That represents an incredibly tough void to fill for Johnson.
Understandably, Johnson’s first matter of business is to establish a culture of her own.
“I wholeheartedly believe that if there’s no culture, there’s no winning,” she said, adding that her players are expected to “come in and work hard every day and give their best to this program, because the program is going to give their best to you.”
Johnson, a Zachary native, played volleyball for LSU as a student from 1987-90, and was an assistant on Flory’s LSU staff from 1998-2002, so her Tiger connections run deep. She also served as an assistant coach for Texas from 2003-2008 and from 2014-2021, with a period serving as Georgia Tech’s head coach in between. With Johnson on the staff, Texas has been a perennial top-five team and has made many deep tournament runs.
Johnson’s experience will be vital this year for a program that is looking to bounce back. The team has not made the NCAA Tournament since 2017, and its present state is a far cry from when LSU made six consecutive postseason appearances from 2005-2010.
Of the team’s 17 players this year, seven are newcomers–four freshmen and three graduate transfers. That represents another obstacle for a new coach, but it’s an obstacle that has been made easier by the upperclassmen leadership on the team. Johnson said that during the summer, when there are no coach-led practices, many of the older players took it upon themselves to organize training sessions.
“I feel like our veterans did a great job of getting everybody acclimated to our culture and what we do in our gym on a daily basis,” Johnson said. Two such leaders are seniors Samarah Hill and Anita Anwusi, who were recently voted as the team captains for the season.
Though LSU’s official home opener will not be until Sept. 21 against Arkansas, the Tigers play their first six games at the PMAC. This weekend, LSU will face Samford and Houston on Friday and Rice on Saturday while hosting the Tiger Classic. Johnson anticipates that this weekend will be challenging–these teams are working with considerably more program continuity than LSU.
When asked about her goal for these upcoming matches, Johnson said, “I want us to be intentional about everything that we do, and that’s regardless of if we win the match or not. I want us to be intentional. I want us to be focused.”
Playing in front of a home crowd for so many games may be an opportunity for LSU to pick up some early-season momentum. As an LSU alum herself, Johnson understands the atmosphere:
“I want them to build that excitement and that anticipation of what that feels like to get ready for a big match, and every match that we play is going to be big.”
