Grand Valley State University Athletics

Taylor Johnson was named the interim head coach of GVSU men's basketball on March 20, 2022 by director of athletics Keri Becker. As a national search for the next head coach is ongoing, Johnson oversees the program on an interim basis after six seasons as an assistant on Ric Wesley's staff after Wesley stepped down following the 2021-22 season.

Johnson completed his sixth season on the GVSU coaching staff in the 2021-22 campaign, going 17-11 and finishing as the five seed in the GLIAC, falling on the road in the GLIAC Tournament to Saginaw Valley. The Lakers are 101-66 in his time on staff, being named an assistant coach on on July 7, 2016 after spending the previous three years as a graduate assistant coach at North Carolina State.
 
Johnson is integral in all recruiting efforts for the Lakers and his responsibilities also include offensive play calling, opponents scouting, scheduling, and Team Camps. 

Johnson spearheaded the efforts of a strong transfer class that helped the Lakers to a 23-7 overall record in 2019-20 and a GLIAC South Division championship after going 15-5 in the league. His tutalidge led to three all-conference performers, including first team All-GLIAC and NABC All-American Jake Van Tubbergen. Christian Negron and Jeremiah Ferguson each earned second team honors.

Grand Valley State went 19-13  (13-10 GLIAC) in 2018-19 after a 14-15 (9-11 GLIAC) mark in 2017-18... The Lakers have reached the GLIAC Tournament in all three seasons with Johnson on staff and six Lakers have earned All-GLIAC honors plus two All-Defensive Team nods and a Freshman of the Year honor.
 
The 2018-19 Lakers were led by Hunter Hale, who was first Team All-GLIAC after leading the Lakers in scoring with 17 ppg, and Jake Van Tubbergen a second Team All-GLIAC honoree at 14.3 ppg… The Lakers had a historic run to the Conference Tournament Championship, becoming the first 7-seed to ever win the Tournament while upsetting the top three seeds in the process. The Lakers returned to the Top 25 polls for the first time this season, coming in at No. 24 in the D2CCA poll... The Lakers also had 3 Top 25 victories, all on the road, including a win over No. 7 Ashland for GVSU's first road win against a national top-10 team since 2003.

The 2017-18 team led the GLIAC in rebounding margin (+7) while finishing second in rebounds per game... Hunter Hale knocked down 67 three-pointers, the eighth-most in a single season in GVSU history, to earn All-GLIAC second team honors along with Jake Van Tubbergen, who also earned GLIAC Freshman of the Year... 

In 2016-17, the Lakers led the GLIAC in points per game allowed (67.4), opponents' field goal percentage (39.2), and rebounding margin (+6.1). The team's 39.2 opponents' shooting percentage was tied for second-best in all of Division II, while GVSU finished 19th in the country in scoring defense.

During his three seasons at NC State, Johnson was given a number of responsibilities, including coordinating scouting reports, editing game film and handling film exchange, player analysis, and scheduling. He also assisted in arranging on-campus recruiting activities and tracking student-athletes' academic progress. Johnson was instrumental in running the Mark Gottfried Summer Basketball camps, the former head coach at NC State.

The Wolfpack totaled a 59-46 overall record in Johnson's three years on staff. In his first season of 2013-14, NC State finished 21-15 and advanced to the semifinals of the ACC Tournament, while defeating Xavier in the NCAA Tournament. The following year, the Wolfpack went 22-14 and had a number of big victories en route to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. NC State upset #2 Duke in an 87-75 home win, while also knocking off #15 North Carolina in Chapel Hill, 58-46.

In the 2014-15 postseason, the Wolfpack defeated LSU and Villanova in the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament before falling in the Sweet Sixteen. NC State finished 16-17 in the 2015-16 campaign, but scored a top-25 victory by taking down #22 LSU by an 83-72 score in Brooklyn, NY.

Prior to his arrival at NC State, Johnson spent two years as the head student manager at Western Michigan. In his first year at WMU, the Broncos finished 21-13 and won the Mid-American Conference (MAC) West Division championship.

Johnson also worked for a year as a volunteer student assistant and recruiting coordinator at Southeastern, an NAIA institution in Lakeland, Fla. While at Southeastern, he helped sign five student-athletes, including the program's first-ever Florida Top-50 recruit where he helped lead the team to the NCCAA National Championship game in 2010.

He has coached at multiple basketball camps including Michigan State, Oakland, Detroit Pistons Year Round Hoops, Bankhoops, Camp Darryl, and Kalamazoo Valley Community College, among others.

Johnson graduated from Western Michigan in 2013 with honors in organizational communications and business. He also received his Master's degree in Family and Youth Studies from North Carolina State in 2015.