Former Olympian and four-time NCAA Division I national champion Brian Johnson enters his fourth year as its Director of Track and Field and Cross Country.

The 2023-24 season was one for the record books. The Bulldogs set seven program records during the indoor and outdoor season. LA Tech would qualify 19 athletes for the NCAA East Regional, the most since 2011.

Johnson helped develop one of the top hurdlers in the country, Oscar Smith. Smith had one of the best years in program history since Trey Hadnot. Smith started his Bulldog career by breaking the 19-year-old school record in the 60m hurdles at the Rod McCravy Memorial Invitational with a time of 7.74. He would go on to beat that time at the CUSA Championships to earn silver at 7.70. In the outdoor season, Smith would continue to dominate his races on his way to a Second Team All-American honor at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the 110m hurdles. Smith would run a 13.42 and 13.52 at the NCAA Regional before running a 13.45 to finish 10th at the Championships. The marks rank in the top four in program history, just behind a 13.30 wind-aided time from Ricky Stubbs in 1974.

The men's 4x400 relay team set the indoor record with a time of 3:10.32 and would win their fourth straight CUSA gold at the CUSA Outdoor Championships. The women's team would set the CUSA Outdoor Championship record with a time of 3:33.60 to make it a sweep of outdoor titles. 

Johnson also oversaw the development of Sabastian Bradley-Reed, Osaretin Joy Usenbor and Jamara Patterson in the 400m. Each athlete would go on to set multiple marks inside the top 10 for the indoor and outdoor seasons. Bradley-Reed would win gold at the CUSA Indoor Championships with a program record of 46.74 while finishing with silver at the CUSA Outdoor Championship with the second-fastest time in program history at 45.88. Joy Usenbor and Patterson won gold and silver, respectively, at the CUSA Indoor and Outdoor Championships. Both would finish the season with five marks inside the top 10 between the indoor and outdoor seasons.

Donald Lamp broke the program's record in the hammer throw three times throughout the season. In his first meet as a Bulldog, Lamp broke the seven-year-old record with a throw of 60.01m (196-10). He would go on to break it a month later at the LSU Alumni Gold and at the Conference USA Championship at 62.02m (203-5) to become the first LA Tech athlete in program history to win gold at a conference meet in the hammer. Lamp would finish with six marks inside the top 10 in the hammer and two marks in the indoor weight throw.

The Bulldogs took significant strides in Johnson's second season. The Bulldogs qualified nine for the NCAA East Regional.

A'reil Williams and Tonnie-Ann Forbes set program records during their freshman campaign. Williams cleared a height of 1.78m (5-10) in her first meet as a Bulldog, and Forbes would run an 8.15 to break the 10-year-old program record in the 60m hurdles.

LA Tech would finish with their best CUSA finish in both indoor and outdoor since the 2015 season. The mmen's4x400 team swept the indoor and outdoor titles, while Rodney Heath Jr. and Julian Forde finished second and third in the 60m, and Cobe Johnson had a third-place finish in the triple jump during the indoor season. The 4x100 relay team and Mateo Smith (long jump) won gold at the CUSA Outdoor Championships. Heath Jr. and Laeden Tucker took silver in the 100m and 400m hurdles, respectively. William Estes (javelin) and Quoi Ellis (200m) won bronze.

For the women, the 4x400 won indoor silver, and Forbes and Williams took home bronze in their events. Williams and Joy Usenbor won gold during the outdoor championships, while the 4x100 and 4x400 took home silver. Jiana Stewartburgess and Forbes won bronze in the high jump and 100m hurdles.

In his first season at LA Tech, Johnson coached two athletes who qualified for the NCAA East Regional: Rodney Heath Jr. and Jamie Sancho. Heath Jr. would advance to the NCAA Championships by running a wind-aided time of 9.99 at the regional for the program record. The Bulldogs set eight top-10 marks in program history throughout the season while also improving their scores at the CUSA Championships.

Completing his fifth year as the Director of Track and Field and Cross Country at New Orleans, Johnson's squad this year boasted the 47th-ranked men's track and field program, a 5th-ranked men's 100 m event group, and sprinter Ismael Kone, who recorded back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships.

Johnson comes to Tech from the University of New Orleans, where he has led the Privateers track & field and cross country programs since the fall of 2018. He takes over the reins after 40-year veteran Gary Stanley retired at the conclusion of the 2021-22 season.

During his collegiate career at Southern in Baton Rouge, Johnson – who was a member of the 2008 United States Olympic Track & Field team that competed in Beijing, China – became only the third Jaguars athlete to win an indoor NCAA Division I national title when he captured the long jump crown in 2003 with a best leap of 8.28m (27-2).

Johnson finished fourth at the 2004 U.S. Indoor Championships and then captured gold with a first-place finish the following year at the 2005 Indoor Championships. He also won U.S. titles with his victories at both the 2006 Indoor and Outdoor Championships with jumps of 7.95m (26-1) and 8.10m (26-7), respectively.

In 2008, he finished second at the Olympic Trails in Eugene, Oregon, which qualified him for the national team. He went on to finish 22nd overall at the 2008 Olympics.

Also during that time, Johnson posted a personal best of 8.33m with his second-place performance at the Fort-de-France international meet, and he also won a silver medal at the IAAF World Athletics Final. 

During his coaching career in the Big Easy, Johnson guided both the men's and women's cross country and men's and women's track & field programs to record-setting performances at the Southland Conference Championships. All six teams have set a team point total record since joining the conference at their respective championship meet.

Most recently, Kone competed in the 2022 NCAA Outdoor National Championships in the 100m and the 200m. Kone, who was the Southland Conference Track and Field Athlete of the Year, was the first standout in UNO track and field history to advance to two straight NCAA Outdoor Championships and the only Privateer to ever compete in two events in nationals.

Johnson has also helped in the mentoring of Arina Kleshchukova, who was the first athlete in school history to advance to the NCAA Division I Cross Country National Championships in 2019.

Kleshchukova won four of her first five races in 2019, including winning the Southland title to advance to the South Central Regionals. There, she placed tenth overall to earn All-Region honors and a chance to advance to NCAAs. Kleshchukova earned numerous awards, including Southland Women's Runner of the Year and Louisiana Runner of the Year, as recognized by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association.

In total, the Privateers claimed three Southland titles, nine silver and four bronze medals across the indoor and outdoor conference championships in 2021. New Orleans also sent a school-record four student-athletes to the NCAA DI East Preliminary Round.

Both his men's and women's cross country programs have also been honored numerous times as U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic teams.

The Iowa, Louisiana, native has been in the coaching ranks since 2003 and stopped competing following the 2010 season. He was ranked as high as No. 2 in the United States in the long jump by Track & Field News following his 2008 campaign and ended as the No. 3 ranked athlete in the event in 2010. Johnson was ranked in the top 10 in the world in his event every year between 2005-10. 

Johnson has had coaching stops at Southern, Alcorn State and the University of Georgia. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Studies from Southern in 2003.