University of Hawai’i men’s basketball head coach Eran Ganot has announced that Gibson Johnson has returned to the Rainbow Warrior coaching staff as an assistant coach. A former standout player for the ‘Bows, Johnson previously served as a graduate manager and the team’s director of player development from 2019-22.
He most recently worked as an assistant coach for Utah Tech the last two seasons. There he helped the Trailblazers complete their four-year transition to the Division I level. In his first year as an assistant at Utah Tech, the team scored an upset over Stephen F. Austin for the program’s first-ever NCAA Division I postseason victory during its Western Athletic Conference Tournament debut. That same year, Utah Tech improved 145 spots in the KenPom national rankings.
“We are thrilled to welcome Gibson and his great family back into our ‘ohana,” Ganot said. “It’s been an honor to coach and work with him and to follow his continued progress in Utah. He has built a terrific reputation as a coach, recruiter and mentor and has established himself very clearly as a rising star in this profession.
His love for this state, university, and program runs deep and we can’t wait to get to work with him. His fingerprints will be all over the program as he’ll be involved in all aspects with a focus on practice planning, scouting, defense, rebounding, recruiting and player development.”
As a player, Johnson was a two-year co-captain for the Rainbow Warriors and earned all-Big West honorable mention as a junior. He concluded his career ninth all-time at UH in field goal percentage (.524).
Prior to UH, Johnson was an all-region player and won a junior college national championship with Salt Lake Community College where he also eventually landed his first collegiate coaching job during the 2018-19 season.
A native of Centerville, Utah, Johnson earned his undergraduate degree in communications from UH and his master’s degrees in education. He and his wife Kirsten, have a son, Kai.
