DaVaughn Johnson enters his second season as an assistant coach with the men's basketball program in 2023-24.
Prior to joining the Cardinals, Johnson coached for three years at John Jay College in New York City. Johnson had assumed full responsibility over the strength and conditioning program for the team where he took on a leadership role creating and implementing workouts, warmups, and recovery lifts throughout the year. Johnson was also heavily involved in many other aspects of the program including recruiting, scouting, player development and other administrative duties.
Johnson’s first season came with it instant success for the program as they achieved a plethora of team accolades and individual awards. John Jay posted a regular season record of 20-5 (13-1 CUNYAC) and were crowned CUNYAC regular season champions. Along with that honor, multiple players were recognized by the conference including Player of the Year, First and Second Team All-CUNYAC honors and the CUNYAC Coach of the Year. John Jay also earned a combined 3.2 GPA for the fall semester: the highest in program history.
In his playing career, Johnson was a four-year member of his high school varsity basketball team. During his final season, he was named co-captain and became both co-leading scoring and leading rebounding with 15 rebounds per game. He was ranked top 15 in rebounds in PSAL among all divisions, while leading his school to the PSAL B Division playoffs for the second consecutive time in school history.
After graduating high school in 2013, Johnson played his first two years of collegiate basketball at Cayuga Community College and finished his career at SUNY Cortland. Throughout the past few summers, he has dedicated his time as a program director and head coach for the Pro Level Titans AAU program. Additionally, Johnson also worked extensively in the summer basketball camp circuit.
In the fall of 2018, Johnson was able to intern with the strength and conditioning team and work with athletes across multiple sports, while assisting with SUNY Cortland's men’s basketball team the 2018-19 campaign. He received his bachelors of science in kinesiology in 2019 after completing his associates degree from Cayuga Community College.
A native of Harlem, New York, Johnson currently resides in Middletown, Connecticut.
