Ricky Johns

Biography

Ricky Johns was named an assistant coach at St. John’s in April 2023, joining the Red Storm after six seasons on staff at Iona. In just three seasons with the Red Storm, Johns has helped the Red Storm return to positions of prominence on both the BIG EAST and national stages. After going 20-13 in Johns’ first year on staff and narrowly missing out on an NCAA Tournament bid, St. John’s has rattled off back-to-back historic campaigns in Queens, winning the outright BIG EAST Regular Season Championship and the BIG EAST Tournament title in consecutive seasons. The Red Storm is the only program in the five-decade history of the league that can lay claim to that accomplishment. Winners of 30-plus games in back-to-back seasons, St. John’s is 81-25 (.764) with Johns on staff entering 2026-27. In 2025, the Red Storm won its first NCAA Tournament game since 2000. In 2026, the Johnnies advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999. Johns has seen numerous St. John’s student-athletes earn local and national recognition, including a pair of BIG EAST Players of the Year in RJ Luis Jr. (2025) and Zuby Ejiofor (2026). Ejiofor also won BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year, becoming just the second player in conference history to do so alongside UConn’s Emeka Okafor in 2004. During his tenure in New Rochelle, Johns spent five of his six seasons as an assistant coach and was part of four MAAC tournament championships (2018, 2019, 2021, 2023), three MAAC