Among the nation's most highly regarded horizontal jumps coaches, Dean Johnson is in his third season back on the track and field staff at his alma mater.
Head women's track and field coach for nine seasons, Johnson left the NSU staff after the 2003 season to take a teaching and coaching position at adjacent Natchitoches Central High School, where three of his five daughters were attending. He remains a teacher at NCHS, having seen a fourth daughter reach high school.
He is the son of venerable head men's track and field coach Leon Johnson, and while he's worked with his father for most of the past two decades since competing for him, Dean has risen from the formidable shadow of his dad's accomplishments and forged a name for himself in the sport.
Coaching two Olympic triple jumpers will do that for you - USA team members LaMark Carter in 2000 and Kenta Bell in 2004 and 2008. Bell told reporters after qualifying for his second Olympics that in his training, he uses the strategy "WWDD" -- "what would Dean do?"
Johnson's expertise helped the NSU men win seven Southland Conference titles from 1992-2002 while he worked with the heavy-scoring jump stable for the Demons.
As head women's coach, he guided Lady Demon teams to their best-ever point totals in Southland Conference championship competition - 112 for third place, best in school history, in 1997; 84 points (fourth place) in 1998; and 108 points for third place in 1999. The 2000 squad was also third place, scoring 97 points.
Johnson has earned national recognition through USA Track and Field. He was certified as a Level Two Coach in the sprints, hurdles and relays in 1988 and in 1994 received Level Two certification in the multi-events. He has also been part of a select group of jump coaches invited to attend USA Track and Field's elite jumps seminars for long and triple jumpers, and has spoken to state coaching clinics in Louisiana and Missouri.
The 44-year-old is a DeRidder native and DHS graduate. He has five daughters: Loren, Keagan, Lindsey, Morgan and Lillie
