Gibson Johnson elevated to associate HC role among handful of Hawai’i coaching moves

HONOLULU – Stop the music, the chairs are filled.

The University of Hawai’i announced a smattering of men’s basketball coaching moves on Friday, headlined by the elevation of current assistant coach Gibson Johnson to associate head coach.

After the departures of Brad Davidson (USC) and Rob Jones (Saint Mary’s) from last season’s Big West champion coaching staff left big holes on the bench, the Rainbow Warriors supplemented the coaching cadre by bringing a trio of familiar faces back to the program with Adam Jacobsen, John Montgomery and Noah Allen being added in assistant coaching roles.

A former standout for the Rainbow Warriors, Johnson has held a handful of different titles for his alma mater since his playing days ended, all the way up to the second chair for Hawai’i. The 6-foot-8 forward was a captain in both seasons at UH and returned to the bench as a graduate assistant from 2019 through 2021. He was promoted to Director of Player Development for the 2021-22 season and spent the following two campaigns at Utah Tech.

Johnson came back to the islands again in 2024, spending the past two years as an assistant coach with more responsibility on his plate. Tasked with defensive coordinator duties, additional scouting and practice planning and rebounding, Johnson also took a larger role in recruiting in his most recent stint at UH as he took the lead on recruiting recent Rainbow Warriors in Tanner Christensen, Hunter Erickson, Isaac Finlinson and Isaac “Big Fish” Johnson, among others.

The first of the three familiar faces joining Eran Ganot’s staff in 2026-27, Jacobsen comes back to the islands after spending the past two seasons with WAC powerhouse Utah Valley. He helped the Wolverines go 50-18 over his two-year tenure as an assistant coach.

Jacobsen spent 2019 through 2023 at Cal Baptist as an assistant, helping the Lancers finish above .500 in all four seasons while still in the infancy stages of moving up into Division I competition. Before CBU, he spent four seasons as the associate head coach at UH at the start of Ganot’s tenure.

According to UH’s website, Jacobsen wore the hats of recruiting, offensive and shooting coordinator in his four years with the Rainbow Warriors. He also was the associate head coach on the Hawai’i staff during new associate HC Gibson Johnson’s playing days.

John Montgomery also re-joined the Rainbow Warriors after spending the past two years at Long Beach State. While at the Beach, Montgomery was tasked with scouting, player development, recruiting and had an emphasis on the offense, which finished in the top half of scoring efficiency (FG, 3PT) in the Big West last season.

Prior to his time at LBSU, Montgomery spent nine seasons at Hawai’i as one of Ganot’s original staff hires in the islands. While with the Rainbow Warriors, Montgomery oversaw development of post players while coordinating the defense and handling typical scouting duties on top.

Noah Allen is the “new” face of the bunch, getting his start in collegiate coaching back at his alma mater after playing professionally in Argentina this past season. Allen spent the first three years of his collegiate playing career at UCLA, seeing the Bruins advance to a pair of Sweet 16s in his time in Westwood.

He broke out into stardom in his senior season after transferring to Hawai’i, earning 1st-team All-Big West honors in his lone year with the Rainbow Warriors after averaging 15.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.2 steals across 30 games.

After the two big-name departures from the Hawai’i staff, Clay Wilson, Juan Munoz and Jake Nishimura remain from last year’s conference tournament-winning group and have tried to help keep the program’s positive momentum entering the Mountain West despite the laundry list of changes.

Wilson, in particular, took a lead role in recruiting for a handful of the recent transfer portal class for the Rainbow Warriors. Heading into his second year with the program and first transfer cycle, Wilson was the first point of contact on players like Bol Dengdit and Kellen Hampton. The young assistant should continue to take on more responsibilities after settling in last year on staff.