The Fairleigh Dickinson women’s basketball team and head coach Peter Cinella announced the hiring of Rayven Johnson as assistant coach for the upcoming 2018-19 season.
Johnson comes to FDU after spending the past two seasons as an assistant coach at her alma mater, NJIT, and before then playing three years professionally in Germany.
“I am extremely excited about the opportunity to work with Coach Cinella and the FDU women’s basketball program,” said Johnson. “Coach Cinella has a wealth of experience and knowledge, and I look forward to learning from him and assisting him in whatever way is needed to continue to establish the women’s basketball program. I also look forward to working with our players to continue helping them reach their individual and team goals.”
“I knew Rayven as a player and I felt she was the greatest player in the history of NJIT women’s basketball,” said Coach Cinella upon hiring Johnson. “She had a very successful professional career. I saw her on the road quite a bit, and I know of her as a very good, up and coming coach who is going to be a great addition to our team as far as in the skills workouts as well as in recruiting. We’re happy to have her here.”
Johnson began her coaching career at NJIT at the start of the 2016-17 season, where she assisted in recruiting, player development, scouting and game planning for the Highlanders. She served as the team’s defensive coordinator in her first season before transitioning to offensive coordinator this past season. She helped guide the Highlanders to a seven-win improvement in her first season and the fifth seed in the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament as well as mentoring Atlantic Sun All-Freshman honoree Danielle Tunstall.
Before returning to New Jersey, Johnson played professionally for TK Hannover, rated as one of the top teams in the German Second Bundesliga (German National League), from 2013 to 2016. She led Hannover to the club’s first Second Bundesliga North championship title in the 2015-16 season. In her first season with the club, Johnson led Hannover in scoring (19.0 ppg), free throws made (145) and field goals made (131), while ranking second on the team in rebounding (7.6 rpg).
The website Eurobasket.com named her to its All-Second Bundesliga North Second Team and Second Bundesliga North All-Imports Team following the 2013-14 season.
The Rahway, N.J., native played collegiately at NJIT, helping the Highlanders to their only postseason title in program history by capturing the Great West Conference Tournament crown her senior season. Johnson was named the 2013 tournament MVP following her team’s title victory in addition to earning ECAC All-Metro Second Team honors.
Johnson finished her career with 1, 248 points, second-most in the program’s Division I era and fourth all-time, along with 852 rebounds, tops in program history in the Division I era and second all-time.
Johnson graduated from NJIT with a Bachelor of Science degree in business management and a minor in communications in 2013.
