Ben Johnson
Coach
Johnson became an assistant at SMU in 2017 after spending seven seasons as the head coach at Richmond.
In his first year on the Hilltop, Johnson helped develop a group of seven newcomers under legendary head coach Carl Neufeld.
Johnson took over the Spiders in 2010 and saw 20 of his student-athletes earn All-Atlantic 10 accolades, including eleven first team honors, during his time at Richmond. In 2015 and 2017, Johnson won the A-10 Men’s Tennis Coach of the Year award.
He helped guide the Spiders to 100 wins in seven years, including a program record 25 in 2017, when Richmond earned the top seed in the Atlantic 10 tournament. Johnson saw the Spiders reach the Atlantic 10 semifinals in 2014-15 and 2015-16 and led the Spiders to their first A-10 championship appearance in over 10 years in 2017.
In addition to his coaching duties, Johnson was also head of the Atlantic 10 men’s tennis coaches’ committee.
Prior to his time at Richmond, Johnson spent three seasons as the top assistant at Davidson. During his time with the Wildcats, he was involved with every aspect of the program, including player development, recruiting budget management and scheduling.
As an assistant, Johnson helped land Davidson’s first and only top-75 ITA recruiting class, which was also ranked in the top-25 by tennisrecruiting.net, two feats that have never been repeated by the Wildcats.
Before arriving at Davidson, Johnson was the Co-Founder and Director of Birmingham's Elite Tennis Academy (BETA) in Birmingham, Ala. In addition, from 2004-2006 he also was the Co-Founder and Director of Junior Development at Revolution Tennis Academy, also located in Birmingham.
While at the academies, Johnson led eight players to a top-100 USTA ranking, with many of the talents earning scholarships in the Southeastern Conference, Big Ten, Big South, Big East, Southern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference.
A native of Louisville, Ky., Johnson was a four-year starter for nationally-ranked Saint Xavier High School. He was a four-year Kentucky High School Athletic Association state champion for the Tigers and was crowned Mr. Kentucky Tennis in 2000. He was also a nationally-ranked junior during his prep career.
Upon graduation, Johnson attended Birmingham-Southern, where he was a four-year letterwinner for the Panther tennis program. A three-year team captain, Johnson led the team in singles wins in 2001 and 2002 in addition to pacing the squad in doubles wins the following two seasons. He capped off his career with a designation to the Big South All-Academic team his senior season.
Johnson graduated in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in history and secondary education.