Bryce Alderton Khari Johnson has seen the...

Bryce Alderton

Khari Johnson has seen the growth. The 31-year-old Newport Beach

resident and former UCI student athlete played on the Anteaters’ 1994

men’s basketball team that made the finals of the Big West Conference

Tournament under then-coach Rod Baker.

In almost 11 years as a student athlete and now as an

administrator, the 6-foot-6 Johnson said the UCI community is getting

more and more behind its athletic teams.

The school’s baseball program was dropped during Johnson’s senior

year at UCI. Its recent reinstatement, along with the success of two

back-to-back Big West championships for the men’s basketball team,

have both contributed to increased support for student athletes and

athletics, said Johnson, who serves as UCI’s assistant athletic

director for student services.

“We’ve added more sports, we’re winning more games and we have

support from (Chancellor Ralph Cicerone), Johnson said. “Students

want competitive Division I athletics and they are getting it. The

progress over the last decade is something I’ve enjoyed being a part

of. In the last four years we’ve had almost $40 million in

reconstruction and we’ve significantly enhanced scholarship funding

for all sports. We all have the common goal of enhancing the

student-athlete experience and that can be with administration or

with a coach.”

Johnson oversees the director of the university’s academic support

system, making sure athletes progress to their degrees. He counsels

students and communicates with housing and admissions departments

when necessary and conducts tutorial career programs.

“Though my eligibility is done, it’s a team effort with the

coaches and staff all working together to make this a better

experience for student athletes,” Johnson said.

Johnson, who received his master’s degree in public policy from

Long Beach State in 1997 and his bachelor’s from UCI in social

science in 1994, hopes to receive his doctorate in educational

leadership from USC this summer and begin working on his dissertation

shortly thereafter.

Upon graduating from UCI in 1994, Johnson played with the Converse

All-Stars traveling team for a few games and was the assistant

basketball coach at Servite High before enrolling at Long Beach

State.

He always liked UCI and Southern California and jumped at the

chance to return to Irvine.

“I was attracted to the academic reputation, coaching staff and

the area when I was a student and now I’m still attracted to those

same qualities,” said Johnson, who moved to Newport Beach in 1993.

Summertime offers Johnson the only chance he gets to play pick-up

basketball games, which he usually does at Main Beach in Laguna

Beach.

The El Toro High product recently completed his second year as

presenter at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)

Foundation Leadership Conference and is in his third year on the NCAA

Advisory Committee. Johnson helps coordinate educational seminars

focusing on personal development programs for elementary, high school

and Division I, II and III students.

For two years he has taught leadership conferences that have

selected 300 student athletes from universities across the country to

take what they have learned back to their schools and teach

teammates, coaches and administrators.

“I’m focusing on (UCI) with the goal of making sure athletes

achieve both academically and academically,” Johnson said.