Royce 'Snoop' Johnson served as UT Arlington's interim head coach to conclude the 2022-23 season after spending time as associate head coach from April of 2021. He spent the prior three years as an assistant coach with the Mavericks.
After Greg Young was relieved of his duties on Feb. 10, 2023, Johnson was named UTA’s interim head coach for the duration of the 2022-23 campaign. In that role, he went 2-5, picking up wins at Stephen F. Austin, 75-70, on Feb. 18, and in overtime against Utah Tech, 71-69, on Feb. 25.
He also brought a more up-tempo offensive approach to the Mavs in those seven games. UTA scored 70 or more points four times; prior to that, the Mavs had reached 70 points against a Division-I team just once all season (85 versus UT Rio Grande Valley on Jan. 19). Additionally, UTA made double-figure 3-pointers four times – something that only happened one other time all year versus a D-I foe (11 vs. UTRGV).
UTA finished the year ranked 18th nationally in offensive rebounds per game at 12.7. Individually, Shemar Wilson was 9th in the country with 3.6 offensive boards per contest. Chendall Weaver was named Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year – UTA’s first league Freshman of the Year since Roge’r Guignard claimed the Southland Conference’s award in 2007.
The Mavs had two NET Quad 2 victories to tie a single-year program record. UTA also had two road wins over NCAA Tournament teams from 2021-22: 66-55 at New Mexico State on Jan. 14 and 68-63 at San Francisco on Dec. 19.
In his first season as an associate head coach with the Mavs in 2021-22, Johnson helped coach through considerable roster turnover but blended UTA together in conference play to start 4-1 after facing one of the most challenging non-league schedules in the nation.
UTA had the 13th-hardest non-conference strength of schedule in 2021-22, and that prefaced a tough Sun Belt slate as every single one of the Mavs’ losses came by 10 points or less and only by an average of 5.6. UTA set a single-season program record by having six games go to overtime – two shy of tying the all-time NCAA record.
Johnson was instrumental in coaching David Azore to an all-league season in which he was named to the Sun Belt All-Conference First Team and NABC All-District First Team. Azore led the Sun Belt in scoring in conference games at 23.9 – nearly five points better than anyone else – and 19.9 for the year overall, which ranked 20th in the nation.
In 2020-21 behind Johnson, the Mavs wrapped up the year in the top 40 in the country in the following categories: blocks per game (21st, 4.8), steals per game (24th, 8.3), turnover margin (33rd, +2.8) and 3-pointers made per contest (37th, 9.0).
In 2019-20, Johnson helped UTA finish in the top-40 in the nation in four key statistical categories: assist-to-turnover ratio (16th, 1.3), 3-point percentage defense (20th, 29.6), fewest turnovers per game (29th, 11.2) and assists per game (35th, 14.9). The 29.6 percent rate for opponents from the 3-point line set a single-season program record for defensive performance by the Mavs, bettering the mark set in 2018-19 of 29.8.
In his first season with UTA in 2018-19, Johnson played an integral role in guiding a UTA team predicted to finish 2nd-to-last in the Sun Belt Conference Preseason Poll to a 2nd-place finish in the regular-season standings and a berth in the Sun Belt Tournament Final for the second-straight year.
Johnson served as the head boys basketball coach at Kimball High School in Dallas from 1998-2014. He compiled a 373-76 record in 14 seasons, had more than 130 players earn college scholarships and led the Knights to three state championships.
A 2013 graduate of Thomas Edison University, Johnson started his career as an assistant coach under his father, Goree, at Kimball in 1995. He helped lead the 1996 and 1997 teams to state titles during that time. He assumed the head coaching position in 1998 and helped develop and mentor future NBA players such as Quinton Ross, Jeryl Sasser, Acie Law, Juwan Evans and Jalen Jones.
In 2002, he served as the head coach of the USA Basketball U19 national team that claimed the gold medal at the World Global Games. The team featured future NBA players Chris Bosh, Jarrett Jack, Antoine Wright and Ike Diogu.
