Coach Mark Johnson
College Baseball Hall of Fame
“Athletics as the Front Porch of the University: Why Athletics is Important to a University’s Mission”

Coach Johnson retired from coaching in 2011. Johnson received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of New Mexico.  He played three years of Professional baseball in the New York Mets organization.  In 1984 he became the successful head baseball coach at Texas A&M University, and over 21 seasons became the winningest coach in A&M history. In 2007 Coach J. became the head coach at Sam Houston State University, a program that had not had a winning record for eight seasons.  In his five years at Sam Houston, Coach Johnson’s teams won three Southland Conference Tournament Championships and played in three NCAA Regional Tournaments. Over his career, Coach Johnson’s teams won 1,043 games!

He was president of the 6,500 member American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) in 1994 and currently serves as Chairman of their Board of Directors.  He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Brazos Valley Fellowship of Christian Athletes.  In 1991 Coach Johnson was selected as an assistant coach for the USA National Baseball team that competed and medaled in the Pan American Games in Havana, Cuba.  In 1999, he was the head coach for the USA National team.  He has co-authored three books published by the ABCA. 

Coach Mark Johnson is a member of five Halls of Fame, including the Texas A&M Lettermen's Association.  He received numerous Coach of the Year and Regional Coach of the Year awards along with the 1999 Sporting News National Coach of the Year and United States Olympics Committee National Coach of the Year.  In 2012 the ABCA presented Coach Johnson with its highest award, the Lefty Gomez Award.  In 2009 he was the inaugural recipient of the ABCA Ethics in Coaching Award and in 2007 he received the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) "Jerry Kindall Character in Coaching Award."  He recently received notice of induction into the FCA 2013 "Hall of Champions," a national recognition.