Shayla Johnson is entering her second season as assistant women's basketball coach at Arcadia University in 2015, where she assists in all facets of the Knights' program.
Johnson spent this past season as the head girl’s basketball coach at Philadelphia’s Tacony Academy Charter School while also serving as the assistant director of the Philadelphia 76ers Basketball Camps.
Johnson was a standout player at Cheltenham High School, where she was a 1,000-point scorer and led the Lady Panthers to the 2000 state championship, the first in the school’s history. She was named the 2000 Montgomery County Player of the Year while earning conference MVP and all-area honors.
Johnson went on to be a four-year starter and NCAA Division I University of Rhode Island, leading the Rams to three consecutive winning seasons. She ranked among the teams scoring leaders in each of her four seasons, was named to the Atlantic 10 Conference All-Defensive Team her junior and senior seasons, and was a key component of the Rhody team that advanced to the 2003 Atlantic 10 Championship Game.
After earning her bachelor’s degree in communication from Rhode Island in 2004, Johnson returned home to start her coaching career at Cheltenham as an assistant varsity and junior varsity coach/head freshman coach in 2005-06. She then spent two years as the top assistant coach at NCAA Division II Cheyney University, where she worked on developing the team’s guard play. She helped lead the Wolves to their first Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference tournament appearance in 19 years in 2007-08, a season that saw two players named to the all-conference team.
Johnson then spent three seasons as an assistant coach at NCAA Division I University of Portland from 2008-11, where again she worked primarily with the team’s guards. The Pilots had a winning season in each of her three years on the bench, and was selected for the Women’s NIT in 2009 and Women’s Basketball Invitational in 2010. Portland also had a pair of all-conference selections during Johnson’s tenure.
Updated 10/13/2015
