GALLATIN, TN -- Volunteer State Community College’s Athletics Program announces a new head men’s basketball coach for the Pioneers. For 30 years, Lynn served as the Head Coach for Women’s Fast Pitch Softball at Vol State and coached the program to over 1,040 wins. During the first half of his 30 years with Vol State, Lynn also assisted the Men’s Basketball team for 14 years and assisted the Women’s Basketball team for 7 years. Lynn will transition to serve as the Head Men’s Basketball Coach for the upcoming season.
In addition to being a college athlete in both baseball and basketball, Johnny has enjoyed a coaching career leading men’s and women’s basketball teams and has most recently served as the long-time women’s softball coach at Vol State, taking his team to win the TCCAA Region VII Region Championship and earning a spot at the NJCAA National Tournament in Utah in 2011. In 2016, Johnny was inducted into the TCCAA Hall of Fame. In March 2022, Johnny hit a milestone of 1,000 + wins as a Head Softball Coach and in April 2022 he hit a coaching milestone of 1,000+ wins for the Volunteer State Community College softball program. In his career, Johnny has earned the TCCAA Coach of the Year Award 11 times. With a career record of 1,027 wins and 472 losses (at the end of the 2022 season), Johnny has enjoyed tremendous success in this role with numerous players continuing their softball careers at the University level in all divisions with several players now serving as coaches.
Vol State’s Athletic Director, Bobby Hudson states, “We are ecstatic to have Coach Johnny Lynn at the helm of our Pioneers Men’s Basketball Team. He has proven himself as a college athlete and successful coach for men and women in basketball and women’s softball. This level of experience paired with his service and dedication to Vol State’s Pioneer Athletics program is simply unparalleled. I look forward to Coach Lynn’s leadership in this program and know our players are excited to have him on board.”
As a student-athlete at Auburn University for legendary Basketball Coach Sonny Smith, Lynn is one of only six Auburn University Basketball athletes to play in four consecutive NCAA tournaments, 1985-1988. College sports have always been a way of life for Johnny Lynn as he enjoyed being an athlete, playing baseball and men’s basketball for Auburn University. Johnny played under one of the top Southeastern Conference coaches in the country, Sonny Smith. Under Sonny’s leadership, Johnny was a freshman member of the 1985 SEC Tournament Champion team. The Tigers made it to the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen and Johnny was honored as a member of the All-SEC Freshman Second Team that same year. Johnny and the Auburn Tigers had the opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament the next three years and Johnny earned the Team Leadership Award his senior year. Sonny Smith congratulated Johnny Lynn by saying, “Johnny was always very loyal to the team and Auburn University. I would use him when we were recruiting players to come to Auburn. He was like a coach on the floor and knew where everyone was supposed to be and what we wanted to do. If I had to list players that I knew were going to be successful Johnny would be at the top of that list. I know he has done a great job at Volunteer State and he will do a great job with the basketball program. He is one of my favorite players.”
Lynn has a Bachelor’s Degree in Distributive Education from Auburn University. He is a 2016 inductee in the Tennessee Community College Athletic Association (TCCAA) Hall of Fame and a 2011 Inductee in the Beech High School Athletic Hall of Fame. Lynn will also serve as Interim Softball Coach for Vol State.
