PROVO, Utah — BYU head coach Lee Cummard announced the addition of former Cougar standout Paisley Johnson-Harding as the program’s newest assistant coach on Friday morning.
“Paisley is one of us and bleeds BYU blue,” said Cummard. “She loves this place and is committed to helping these athletes and this program excel. Paisley is an extremely hard worker, a team player and aligns perfectly with the values of our program and this university. We couldn’t be more thrilled to have one of the all-time greats back in our program.”
Johnson-Harding will enter her second season on the Division I sidelines when she joins the BYU bench this season under her former assistant coach, Cummard. The three-time All-WCC First Team honoree began her college coaching career as an assistant to Utah Valley head coach and former BYU associate head coach Dan Nielson.
In her one season in Orem, Johnson-Harding helped the Wolverines to a 19-13 record and their first postseason trip since 2020-21 as Utah Valley advanced to the second round of the WNIT. Johnson-Harding was key in the development of three All-WAC honorees: Co-Sixth Player of the Year Kylee Mabry, All-Defensive Team selection Tahlia White and Cambree Blackham, who earned an All-Freshman nod.
Prior to UVU, Johnson-Harding coached at Timpview High School in Provo, where she led the Thunderbirds to the 2024 5A Region Title. Before entering the coaching world, Johnson-Harding spent training camp with the WNBA’s Seattle Storm in 2022 before playing professionally in Germany’s top league for the GiroLive Panthers in Osnabrück for the 2022-23 season. She also suited up for Seattle Force 10 on the Red Bull 3x3 Circuit.
As a player at BYU, Johnson-Harding led the Cougars to three NCAA Tournament appearances and two conference titles, the 2019 WCC Tournament title and the 2022 WCC regular season championship. She also etched her name into the BYU record books, sitting in the top 20 of 19 statistical categories.
Johnson-Harding is the all-time leader in games played (146), second in minutes played (4,363), fifth in games started (116), sixth in total points (1,938), seventh in 3-point field goals made (220), free throws made (392) and free throw percentage (.775), ninth in field goals made (663), 10th in 3-point field goals per game (1.51), 11th in minutes played per game (29:53), 12th in assists (506), 14th in points per game (13.27), 16th in 3-point percentage (.354) and 17th in steals (177).
Johnson-Harding is a native of Everett, Washington. She is married to former men’s basketball player Connor Harding and graduated from BYU in 2022 with a degree in sociology.