SALT LAKE CITY (September 25, 2012) – The Utah Jazz announced today that the team has agreed in principle with Johnnie Bryant to assume the position of player development assistant. In that role, Bryant will work under Jazz assistant coach/player development Brad Jones to create and implement individual skill development plans for all Jazz players.
“The addition of Johnnie will help to further bolster our player development program,” said Utah Jazz Head Coach Tyrone Corbin. “We’ve been impressed with Johnnie’s offseason training of some of our players in the past, and we are pleased to officially make him a member of the Jazz family.”
For the past three years Bryant has been operating Bryant Sports Academy, an intense and unique skill development program through which he has worked extensively with more than 125 athletes of various age groups to advance each player’s skill set through personalized workout sessions. Among the athletes he has worked with are numerous professional European players and several NBA players, including Jazz forward Paul Millsap.
A native of Oakland, Calif., Bryant is a former standout guard at the University of Utah where he played three seasons (2005-08) and finished his career as the school’s all-time leader in three-point percentage (.455) and ranked 20th on the Utes’ all-time scoring list. As a senior in 2008, Bryant averaged 14.2 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.2 assists and was selected to the All-Mountain West Conference Second Team and was the recipient of the Jack Gardner Award as Utah’s team MVP. Following his collegiate career Bryant played one professional season in Germany for Telemotive Muenchen, where he averaged 21 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.
An Academic All-Mountain West Conference selection in 2007-08, Bryant earned bachelor’s degrees from Utah in both human development and family studies, and sports management.