Jenny Johnson Jordan Promoted to Associate Head Coach
July 13, 2020 | Beach Volleyball
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LOS ANGELES -- Longtime Bruin Jenny Johnson Jordan has been promoted to the post of associate head coach, the UCLA Athletic Department announced today.
The 2019 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) National Assistant Beach Coach of the Year just completed her seventh season with the Bruins' beach volleyball team in the COVID-19 shortened season of 2020. Under her and head coach Stein Metzger's tutelage, UCLA has won the last two NCAA Championships and has a combined record of 88-9 (.907) over the last three seasons. The Bruins also set the UCLA and NCAA record for wins in a season with an overall mark of 40-4 in 2018.
"I have been a part of the UCLA family as a student, an athlete, and as a coach and I am excited to accept this new title as Associate Head Coach," Johnson Jordan said. "I have been with the program for the last seven years with Stein (Metzger) and I can say that we have a true partnership in running our program. I believe that champions are made here but for me, that doesn't only apply to the court. I have very high expectations for how we train and compete yet that doesn't stop me from seeing the importance of mentoring and supporting our athletes holistically."
Johnson Jordan, according to Metzger, has always been a co-head coach. She's involved in decisions and duties typically associated with the head coach including program direction, leadership training, roster management, fundraising and meeting with administrators. She is also the Bruins' point person for counseling and mentorship, and oversees academics.
"Jenny is an exceptional coach and person with the highest integrity of anyone I know," Metzger said. "We all rely on her stability and extraordinarily sound judgment in helping guide this team. I value her character and strength among her many great qualities and the team values her compassion and wisdom as a mentor. They lean on her during their time as student-athletes and beyond."
A member of the UCLA Athletic Department's Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee for two years, Johnson Jordan also conducts life coaching and ministry work with her husband, Kevin Jordan, working with several sports teams and athletes on campus. Jordan was an All-American wide receiver at UCLA (class of '95). The couple has two children, Jaylen, and Kory. Johnson Jordan conducts pregame chapels and meetings with student-athletes in group settings or on a one-on-one basis. She also participates in team bonding events for other sports on campus as well as beach volleyball.
An Olympian and UCLA Hall of Fame inductee in 2018, Johnson Jordan is one of many Bruins to win an NCAA title as both a player and a coach. She played with the Bruins from 1991 to 1995 and was a two-time team captain for the women's indoor volleyball team (1994-95), winning a National Championship in 1991. Her Bruin squads also finished as the NCAA runner-up in 1992 and 1994 with Johnson Jordan earning All-Tournament Team honors in 1994.
Johnson Jordan earned a pair of Volleyball Magazine All-American Honorable Mention accolades in 1994 and 1995. She was also a two-time All-Pac-10 Conference First Team honoree ('93 and '95) and a two-time Pac-10 All-Academic selection.
"Coaching and playing at UCLA has given me the opportunity to do what I love at a place that has been so formative and influential in my life," Johnson Jordan added. "We have many great buildings, facilities, and programs at UCLA, but it is the people who I have met and who have been in my life that keep me coming back."
Following her playing days at UCLA, Johnson Jordan played on the beach, competing in the sport's grandest stage. In 2000, with partner and Bruin Annett (Buckner) Davis, she finished fifth in the Sydney Olympic Games. She also served as an alternate for the 2004 Athens Games, and during that year with Davis, became just the second team in the world to compete in 100 events together.
Elsewhere on the beach, Johnson Jordan has played on the Pro 4's, FIVB, WPVA, BVA, and AVP Tours. In 1997, she won the FIVB 4-Person World Beach Championship at UCLA. Two years later, she won a Silver medal at the FIVB World Championships. A winner of 10 professional beach titles worldwide, Johnson Jordan ranked in the Top 10 in points every year she competed on the BVA and AVP Tours and was honored in 2002 with the AVP Special Achievement Award.
Johnson Jordan has been a High Performance Coach for USA Volleyball and is also USAV Beach Cap Certified. In 2012, she became the first beach volleyball coach at her alma mater, Windward High School, and that year was also the head coach for the LAVA girls club volleyball beach program.
A graduate of UCLA with a bachelor's in communications in 1996, Johnson Jordan comes from a rich tradition of Bruins and athletic pedigree. Her father, Rafer Johnson, was an Olympic gold medalist in the Decathlon in 1960 and a silver medalist in that event in 1956. Her mother, Betsy, also attended UCLA, as did her brother Josh, a former javelin thrower, and uncle Jimmy, a former football player who went on to a career with the San Francisco 49ers and is a member of the NFL Hall of Fame.
"There is no question that the effectiveness of our team culture is a direct result of her influence and leadership," Metzger added. "She has and will continue to make significant contributions to this program and the lives of our past and present Bruin student-athletes."
