Dannebrog, Nebraska-native Jina Johansen is returning to her home state to become Head Coach for the Hastings College Women’s Basketball program. Johansen recently finished her fifth season as Head Coach of the NCAA Division III University of Dallas’s women’s basketball program.
"Jina becomes only the fifth head coach of a storied program," said Patty Sitorius, the incoming Interim Athletic Director at Hastings College. "I am confident about Coach Johansen’s ability to carry on our tradition of success. With her experience at NCAA Division I, II and III – either as a player or coach – I have no doubt that provided the appropriate resources and support Jina will thrive in our league and lead our teams to championships."
"This has really been a dream job of mine since I have gotten into coaching, I grew up an hour from here and my oldest sister is in the Hall of Fame," Johansen said. "Some of my first basketball memories have been Hastings College women’s basketball games and just the atmosphere I experienced as a young kid along with wanting to come back to the midwest."
"It’s very exciting to come back and be a part of this and finally get back to the midwest which is where I want to be so thanks to Patty (Sitorius) and President Jackson as I am very happy about things," Johansen continued. "We both talked to the team about how it’s not rebuilding that it is reloading with the great players we have returning along with the great tradition."
Johansen also talked about her coaching philosophy, "Some of it depends on personel but the team asked me that today and mainly like to run man-to-man defense and then offensively like to try and push the ball, get out in transition and play a faster paced game, "Johansen continued. "Obviously if we need to slow it down we will try to and if we need to sit in a zone we will do that but prefer to play man and also try to push the ball and get into a motion offense."
Since arriving at the University of Dallas in 2010, she has led her teams to a school record 63 wins and produced the program’s most winning seasons. Eight of her players have earned post-season honors, including two players who received Newcomer of the Year Awards in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. She also has served as Senior Woman Administrator for the University of Dallas since 2013.
A three-year starter for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Johansen held assistant coaching positions at Augustana College and Southwest Minnesota State University. In addition to earning her B.A. in nutritional science and dietetics at UNL in 2005, she has an M.S. in sports pedagogy from South Dakota State University. She also served as a graduate assistant to the SDSU women’s basketball program.
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