RBCN BASKETBALL NEXUS WEBSITE COURTCAST
FEATURING: COACH JOHNNY TAUER, U. OF ST. THOMAS, MN
Available for purchase at: https://coaching-nexus.myrustbeltbasketball.com/ 
Courtcast Length: 43 Minutes

Coach Tauer, one of the hottest names in men’s NCAA DI college basketball joined RBCN Basketball Nexus’, Derek Sheridan for a podcast on Wednesday, December 31, 2025.  Coach Tauer & Coach Sheridan discussed several topics associated with Coach Johnny Tauer’s coaching success while as a player, assistant coach, head NCAA DIII, & head NCAA DI coach all at the University of St. Thomas, located in Saint Paul, Minnesota.  A few of Coach Tauer’s topics include:

Coach Tauer’s Journey
The Tommies Transition from NCAA DII to DI
How the Tommies have Made this Transition Successful
St. Thomas Offense
St. Thomas Roster
Nolan Minessale
Coach Tauer Coaching Two of His Sons
The New Lee & Penny Anderson Arena
The Tommies Balance, Unshelfishness, & Depth Mantra

Coach Johnny Tauer’s Awards & Achievements

2016 NCAA Division III National Champion
2016 National Association of Basketball Coaches Division III Coach of the Year
2013, 2016 Basketball Times' Division III National Coach of the Year
2-time NCAA Division III Final Four (2013, 2016)
8-time NCAA Division III Tournament Participant
5-time MIAC Coach of the Year (2013, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2020)
3-time MIAC Division III Tournament Champion (2012, 2013, 2015)
2-time NABC West District Coach of the Year (2013, 2016)
8-time Division III MIAC Conference Regular Season Champion
2001 St. Thomas Athletic Hall of Fame Inductee 

Johnny Tauer built an elite Division III program over his first 10 seasons and is on his way to doing the same in Division I, following one of the most historic transitions of any basketball program.

Tauer is entering his 15th year as head coach of St. Thomas men’s basketball in 2025-26. That puts him first in tenure among the nine Summit League head coaches at their schools, and in the top 30 for longevity in their current role among all DI men’s basketball coaches.
 
Tauer's basketball playing success here from 1991-95 led to his induction into the Tommie Athletics Hall of Fame. He joins Tommie women's hoops head coach Ruth Sinn to put St. Thomas on a short list of only five D-I institutions that feature alumni in both of their basketball head coaching roles.

St. Thomas reached another milestone during its fourth and final season of the D-I transition under Head Coach Johnny Tauer, advancing to its first Summit League Championship title game and finishing second in the regular-season standings. The Tommies compiled a 24-10 overall record—the most in the program’s D-I era and third-most by any reclassifying team during its fourth year—while becoming the only transitioning team to post three straight 19-win seasons. St. Thomas led the Summit League with a .706 winning percentage and finished with a perfect 14-0 home record, the second perfect season for the program at Schoenecker Arena. Nationally, the Purple ranked top 10 in effective field goal percentage and top 20 in 10 statistical categories, standing alone as the only program in the country to rank top 20 in 2FG%, 3FG%, FT%, and turnover margin. Junior Miles Barnstable and graduate student Drake Dobbs headlined a program-best four All-Summit League selections, with Dobbs finishing fifth in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio. The Tommies’ postseason resume featured wins over NCAA Tournament qualifiers Montana and Omaha, along with victories over 19-win Portland State and 25-win and Big Sky Regular Season Champion Northern Colorado. Tauer led the Tommies to 73 total wins through the transition period—second-most by any program making the move to Division I.

The program’s sustained excellence continued in year three of the transition as the Tommies finished with their first 20-win season of the DI era following a win over North Dakota State to open the Summit League Championship, beating a Bison program that reached the league title in each of the past five seasons. The Toms are just the third team to transition and earn 20 wins during its third year of DI play. Like its win total, its ranking in the Ken Pom and NET has risen each season as the program is on pace for the third best Ken Pom Ranking and fourth best NET Ranking for a transitioning team in its third year, among 45 programs since 2000. St. Thomas is the lone program to make the jump from the Division III level as the other 44 previously came from Division II.

Tauer reached his 250th career win as head coach following a 76-70 victory over Portland State, becoming the fastest to reach the milestone in program history. He is one of six active head coaches among all of NCAA with at least 250 wins and a .734 winning percentage all at one program.