Tyler Janota was named Penn State Director of Men’s Basketball Athletic Performance in April 2025. Janota comes to Happy Valley with over a decade of performance coaching experience, having coached five NBA Draft picks and helping his teams to five national postseason tournament appearances.
Janota most recently spent four seasons as the Head of Men’s Basketball Sports Performance at Northern Kentucky. He joined the Norse staff following a year stint in a similar capacity at East Tennessee State University, three seasons at Texas as assistant men’s basketball sports performance coach and one season at Lamar.
Janota was the driving force behind turning the Norse basketball training program into one of the top mid-major units in the country. To go with the Norse's gains in the weight room, NKU made it to the Horizon League Championship game in each of his first two seasons with the program. Northern Kentucky won the Horizon League Championship in 2022-23 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in school history.
Janota was named one of the most impactful strength and conditioning coaches in all of NCAA Division I athletics, regardless of sport, by Silver Waves Media in August 2022.
While at Texas, Janota oversaw the strength and conditioning for NBA Lottery picks Mohamed Bamba (2018, No. 6, Orlando Magic) and Jaxson Hayes (2019, No. 8, Atlanta Hawks/traded to the New Orleans Pelicans). Texas appeared in the 2018 NCAA Tournament and won the 2019 National Invitational Tournament.
Janota also gained experience as an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Lamar University in 2016-17. Prior to Lamar, he made a stop at Texas in the summer of 2016 where he worked as a Basketball Athletic Performance intern. In 2015-16, Janota also worked as graduate assistant strength and conditioning coach at Belmont University.
Janota earned his bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Northwestern College in 2015, while receiving a master’s degree in sports administration at Belmont in 2017. He was a four-year offensive lineman at Northwestern College, playing in 38 career games and earning all-conference honors. The Red Raiders made three playoff appearances and notched 35 wins during his playing career.
While a student-athlete, Janota's career began in 2014 when he worked as an intern at Baylor University.
Janota has earned certifications from the National Strength and Conditioning Association, the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Association, the National Academy of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association.