It is with great pleasure that Benedictine University announces the appointment of Zontavius Johnson to the position of head women's track and field coach.

"I feel completely blessed and honored to have been chosen to lead the Benedictine Women's Track & Field program," Johnson said. "Becoming a college head coach has been a coaching goal of mine for a long time, and I'm super excited to be in this position."

Johnson arrives at Benedictine after spending a year at Aurora University as the sprint and hurdles coach. A decorated high school coach, Johnson was selected as the 2019 USTFCCCA Illinois High Coach of the Year and also received high school coach of the year honors from NFHS in 2019 while directing the Homewood-Flossmoor girls program.

"We are excited to welcome Zontavius to Benedictine," said director of athletics Paul Nelson. "He has a clear passion for the sport and an understanding of the needs of our women's track and field student-athletes."

Homewood-Flossmoor won the 2019 IHSA Class 3A state championship. Johnson coached 68 state qualifiers while mentoring 40 athletes to all-state honors and eight claiming individual state championships. Johnson also coached at North Lawndale College Prep from 2009-2016 as the head boys and girls track and field coach and served as head girls coach at Green Pastures Christian Academy in Georgia from 2006-2008.