Mary Lou Johns is a pioneer in women’s college basketball, and the first head coach of the University of Memphis women’s basketball team. She is the program’s winningest head coach with 368 victories and is the all-time fifth-winningest NCAA Division I head coach in the state of Tennessee women’s basketball history.
Among her 368 wins are the program’s lone victory over a No. 1 team in the national polls (No. 1 Louisiana Tech in 1983-84 season) and the Tigers’ only win over a Summitt-coached Tennessee squad (1978-79 season). Johns’ squads also were a fixture in the national poll, as the Tigers were ranked 40 weeks from 1977-85. Johns’ 1981-82 team was ranked No. 10 for two weeks, the highest national ranking in program history.
Johns led the Memphis women’s basketball program through the transition from AIAW to the NCAA in 1981-82. Along with that transition, Johns helped the Tigers move into a conference – the Metro Conference – for the first time in program history that same season. She guided Memphis to two Metro Conference Tournament titles in 1982 and 1985 and three NCAA Tournament appearances in 1982, 1984 and 1987. Her 1982 team reached the NCAA Tournament Mideast Region semifinals (Sweet Sixteen). Johns’ 1983 squad was the Women’s NIT (WNIT) runner-up. For her efforts, Johns was named the Metro Conference Coach of the Year in 1984, 1986 and 1987.
A 1964 graduate of then-Memphis State University with a degree in Physical Education and minor in Biology, Johns was a member of the women’s basketball, volleyball, tennis and badminton teams. She was inducted into the University of Memphis Athletics M Club Hall of Fame in 1996.
For over 25 years, Johns ran her very own Mary Lou Johns All-Sports and Basketball Camps. In 2002, she started coaching middle school girls’ basketball and middle and high school girls’ golf at St. George’s Independent. She would go on to establish the school’s first-ever tennis program and become the Director of Wellness in 2007. She retired from St. George’s in 2014 as Director of Wellness but continues to coach the middle and high school girls’ golf teams.
Johns and her husband, Jimmy, have been married for 56 years and counting. They have two children – Jay and James – and four grandchildren – Cameron, Garrett, Hunter and Mary Katherine.