Robyne Johnson
Position:
Director, Track & Field
Experience:
Fourth Season
Alma Mater:
Texas '86
Robyne Johnson enters her fourth season as the director of cross country and track & field and the head men's and women's track coach in 2008-09. During her tenure, the women's indoor track and field team has won three consecutive America East championships and two America East and New England women's cross country crowns. She has also helped student-athletes earn individual awards, including America East Field Performer of the Year and Track Performer of the Year. Johnson is a coaching veteran with 21 years at the Division I level. A four-time participant at the U.S. Olympic trials in the triple jump, Johnson served as the United States Elite Athletes Development coordinator for the event from 2000-05.
From 1995 to 2003, Johnson served as an assistant coach at the University of California-Berkeley, where she was responsible for the training, conditioning and recruitment of both male and female horizontal jumpers and female sprinters. During her time there, she coached 11 All-Americans, including seven Pac-10 champions. Prior to her experience at Cal, Johnson spent two years at Rider University, serving as the associate head coach for track and cross country. At Rider, she coached three conference champions and started the university's first ever women's track and field program. Johnson also served as an assistant coach at Penn State, where she instructed four All-Americans, one Big Ten champion, nine ECAC Champions and six Penn State school record holders. Penn State won the ECAC title six straight seasons.
On the national level, Johnson was an assistant coach for the United States team that captured its first title at the 1998 World Cup in Johannesburg, South Africa. She is a member of the USA Track and Field Coaches Association and she also was an assistant coach for the 2003 Pan American Games. Johnson competed at the 1991 World Championships in Seville, Spain, earning a ninth-place finish in the triple jump. She also contended in the 1993 USA vs. Great Britain, finishing fourth. Johnson was a five-time All-American in the triple jump at the University of Texas at Austin and was a key contributor to the Longhorns' first outdoor national championship squad in 1982. She was ranked in the top 10 in the nation in the triple jump for 10 years and is considered to be a member of the first group of elite triple jumpers of the US. In 1992, she was ranked seventh in the world in the event and competed in the Olympic trials in 1988, 1992, 1996 and 2000. In 1992, Johnson came in second at the Olympic trials.
In addition to her bachelor's degree in history from Texas, Johnson holds a masters of science degree in education from California State University Hayward and has six years of collegiate teaching experience in physical education.
As a high school student, Johnson made the 1980 Jr. Pan American team and finished fourth in the long jump. Johnson was also a high school All-American and a member of the 1981 Berkeley High School track team, considered one of the top high school teams ever.
In addition to developing student-athletes, Johnson is an active leader in the track and field and community, having served in numerous leadership positions. She was selected to the NCAA Division I Track and Field Committee in November 2006, and as part of the sport's top governing body, Johnson and the 13-member committee provide a legislative agenda for cross country and track and field. Her term runs through 2011. Johnson is also on the jury of appeals for the America East Conference and the IC4A games committee. Johnson has a son Joshua and resides in western Massachusetts.
Courtesy Boston University
Keith Conning: I have known Robyne since she was a student at Berkeley High School. She is the daughter of Sylvester Johnson, who coaches Alita Boyd of Moreau Catholic in Hayward. He also coached Olympian Eugene Swift.
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