Justin Johnson - Head Coach - Women's Track & Field Coaches

Photo by: Heidi Eligio

Justin Johnson

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
justin.johnson@csun.edu
Phone:
2228

A former CSUN All-American, Justin Johnson enters his seventh season as head coach of the CSUN Track & Field and Cross Country programs in 2025-26.

In his six seasons leading the CSUN track & field teams, Johnson's athletes have earned six All-American awards with thrower Trey Knight earning three first-team selections and two national runner-up finishes in the weight throw. Under Johnson, the Matadors have claimed 17 total Big West outdoor individual titles and nine MPSF indoor individual titles.
Justin Johnson at Trojan Invite 3-22-25

The CSUN men's track & field team has won 19 individual conference titles. Over the past five years, the Matadors have won four triple jump titles at the Big West Championships. The team's nine MPSF titles won under Johnson have also occurred over the past three seasons, highlighted by three 400m title wins. In addition, the men's team have broken six outdoor record and five indoor records under Johnson.

On the women's side, the Matadors have won seven total individual conference championships. Matador sprinters have won five conference titles, four of which Big West titles. Matador women have also shattered two school records with Johnson at the helm.

In 2025, CSUN's Trey Knight earned a second consecutive First-Team All-American award in the weight throw after finishing second at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Knight's outstanding campaign included a West Region Field Athlete of the Year and MPSF Male Athlete of the Year honors. Between the men's and women's teams, CSUN won seven total conference titles, five at the Big West Outdoor Championships and two at the MPSF Indoor Championships. The Matador men won the triple jump title for third straight season and hammer throw title for a second consecutive season while Summer Mosley became the first Matador woman to become a double individual champion with wins in the hammer throw and the discus. In the CSUN record book, the Matador men would break six school record on the year. The year would cap with nine qualifiers at the 2024 NCAA West First Round at College Station, Texas.

The Matadors had a banner 2024 season with CSUN competing in four events at the NCAA Outdoor Championships and one event at the NCAA Indoor Championships. The trio consisting of thrower Trey Knight and sprinters David Phillips, Jr. and Chase Mars competed at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Eugene, Ore. CSUN's four qualifiers (men's hammer throw, 100m, 200m and 4x100m) at the 2024 NCAA Championships was the program's most since 2008. Along with competing at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Knight also collected First-Team All-America honors in the outdoor and indoor seasons as he was the national runner-up in the weight throw at the 2024 NCAA Indoor Championships. Knight would win the Big West Field Athlete of the Year and MPSF Male Athlete of the Year awards in 2024.

Matador student-athletes combined to win nine individual conference championships in 2024, eight of which on the men's side. Between the 2024 MPSF and Big West Championships, CSUN student-athletes reached the conference podiums 26 times. The Matadors' men's team took third place at the MPSF Championships while they finished fourth at the Big West Championships, highlighting a banner year on the field of competition.

In 2023, CSUN's posted its first MPSF individual title wins since 2008. The Matadors won three sprint events (60m, 200m and 400m) on the men's side, the most for the program since 1993. During the outdoor season, CSUN had three more individual title wins between the men's and women's track & field teams. Logan Davis, who won the indoor 60m and 400m as well as the outdoor 400m conference titles, was awarded with Big West Freshman of the Year honors after the season.

The 2022 season saw Johnson's Matadors win two women's Big West Outdoor Championships. Arianna Alexander won the 100m while Yanla Ndjip-Nyemeck set the Big West record in the 100m hurdles to take home top honors. The CSUN women earned four All-Conference honors while the Matador men earned three All-Conference certificates.

Johnson's first two years at the helm were shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020-21, however, the Matadors two individual Big West titles at the 2021 championships. Both cross country teams were also recognized as recipients of the NCAA Public Recognition Award, which is based on their most recent multi-year Academic Progress Rate.

Johnson, a four-year letter winner at CSUN from 2004-08, still holds the school's heptathlon record (5,643) and ranks second in program history in the decathlon (7,473). An All-American in the heptathlon in 2008 and a three-time national championship participant in the decathlon, he finished as the Big West Conference's runner-up in the decathlon three times and was the 2007 Western Athletic Conference heptathlon champion. In the spring of 2009, Johnson was the runner up in the heptathlon at the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships.

A coaching veteran at the Division I level, Johnson was the assistant coach in charge of sprints and hurdles at the University of Louisville. While at Louisville (2014-19), Johnson coached numerous All-ACC performers including Martice Moore who earned first-team All-America honors in the 400m hurdles in 2019. Under Johnson's tutelage, two Cardinals broke outdoor and indoor school records this past season. He also coached Louisville's 4x400m relay team to its first-ever NCAA East Preliminary appearance.

Following a standout career as a student-athlete at CSUN, Johnson began his coaching career at Tulane in 2009. In two years at Tulane, Johnson coached Estafany Cruz, the Guatemala record holder in the triple jump. In addition, 17 of his student-athletes were named to the Conference USA Honor Roll.

Johnson returned to CSUN in 2011 as an assistant coach on Avery Anderson's staff. Working with the Matador sprinters, hurdlers and horizontal jumpers, Johnson produced 18 qualifiers into the NCAA West Preliminary, a pair of USA Junior National qualifiers in addition to one World Championship qualifier. He coached the CSUN 4x100m relay team of Le'Shel Vines, Hafsatu Kamara, Marie Veale and Lexis Lambert to All-America honors in 2014.

A native of Oxnard, Johnson graduated from CSUN with a Bachelor's Degree in Kinesiology in May of 2008. Johnson and his wife, Jaime have two children, Zola and Azae.