Nate Johnson
Associate Head Coach | 10th Season
Nate Johnson is in his 10th season as a coach with the Mules in 2022-23. For his first five seasons, Johnson was an assistant coach, before being promoted to Associate Head Coach in September of 2018.
As the longest-tenured coach on staff, the Mules have a combined record of 141-93 during his time in Warrensburg and 20 players have earned All-MIAA honors.
The Mules put together another 20-win season in 2017-18, going 20-10 and winning a game in the MIAA Tournament. The Mules have won 20 or more games in four of Coach Johnson’s six seasons on the bench. Injuries got the better of the team in 2018-19, but they fought to a .500 record at 14-14.
After a tough 2015-16 season where the Mules finished 14-15, Johnson help guide the team to a 21-9 finish in 2016-17 and a runner-up finish at the MIAA Tournament. The Mules finished 13-6 in conference play to place second in the regular season standings.
In 2014-15 he helped UCM to a third straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament and a 25-7 overall record. In his first season in 2013-14, Johnson helped the Mules to their third straight MIAA regular season championship and the NCAA Division II National Championship.
Before his time in Warrensburg, Johnson served as an assistant coach at the University of Missouri-Kansas City for one season, and prior to that, was an assistant coach at Moberly (Mo.) Area Community College for three seasons. While at Moberly, he helped the Greyhounds to a pair of regular season conference titles. He got his coaching start during the 2008-09 season as a graduate assistant for both the men’s and women’s teams at Trinity Valley Community College in Texas.
The Kansas City, Mo. native started his playing career at MACC, where he earned second team All-America honors and led his squad to a fifth-place finish at the national tournament. He averaged 10.2 points, 7.3 assists, 3.1 steals and 3.0 rebounds per game and was named Region XVI Most Valuable Player.
Johnson moved on to the NCAA Division I level and played his final two seasons at Florida State, where he started all 62 games during his career. As a senior, he led the ACC in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.2 and assists per game at 3.8. He earned his bachelor’s degree in social science from FSU in 2004.
After his college career, he played professionally in Europe for three years in Slovenia, Germany, and England. He also played in the CBA from 2007-08.
Johnson is a graduate of Ruskin High School in Kansas City, where he averaged 25.0 points and 7.0 assists per game as a senior earning all-metro and all-district honors. He is the nephew of former Jennies basketball player and UCM and MIAA Hall of Famer Rosie Jones.
