LSU Hires Trent Johnson from Stanford as New Basketball Coach

LSU introduced Trent Johnson, who led Stanford to the Sweet 16 in this year’s NCAA tournament, as its new coach today. Coach Johnson had said recently he hoped to remain at Stanford and had been slated to meet with Cardinal athletic director Bob Bowlsby on Thursday to discuss a new contract. Stanford hired Coach Johnson in 2004. He was an assistant at Stanford before going to Nevada and then returning to the Cardinal.

“The opportunity to recruit the best student-athletes across the country and have the opportunity to compete for a championship year in and year out … that is the goal,” said Johnson, who was 80-48 in four seasons at Stanford. “We have an excellent chance to get this thing turned around soon.” His decision to leave may have been helped when Stanford’s twin 7-footers, Brook and Robin Lopez, announced last week they would hire agents and enter the NBA draft, forgoing their final two seasons of eligibility. LSU went to the Final Four only three seasons ago, but failed to make the NCAA tournament in each of the past two years. The Tigers went 13-18 this season, and Coach John Brady was fired during the year. Assistant Butch Pierre took over February 8 and led LSU to victories in five of its last nine games, but the Tigers lost in the opening round of the Southeastern Conference tournament. This week, LSU also likely lost one of its best players when 6-foot-10 freshman forward Anthony Randolph announced he intended to enter the NBA draft. Randolph did not immediately hire an agent, however, leaving open the possibility he could return for his sophomore season. LSU considered a range of candidates, including Travis Ford at Massachusetts, Anthony Grant at Virginia Commonwealth and Oliver Purnell at Clemson. Ford and Purnell both withdrew from consideration Tuesday.

In his four seasons at Stanford, Coach Johnson had a record of 80-48 (a .625 winning percentage). He led the Cardinal to three appearances in the NCAA tournament and one NIT tournament appearance. His overall record as a head coach is 159-122 (.566). His 2003-04 Nevada Wolf Pac team was the Western Athlete Conference (WAC) regular season and WAC Tournament champions and made it to the NCAA Sweet 16.