Johnson held the longest coaching tenure in the history of MCC baseball, serving a total of 14 years, with two separate stints in the position, from 1992-1996 and again from 2001-2011.
His 1996 MCC squad won the prestigious NJCAA Region 4 title and the Skyway Conference championship, bringing the Scots to within one win of a Midwest District Championship and a trip to the NJCAA World Series.
That year, Johnson was named the NJCAA Region 4 Coach of the Year. Under Coach Johnson’s expert tutelage, numerous individual players earned NJCAA All-American honors, while others, such as Tony Bacci (NJCAA Region 4 and Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference Halls of Fame), went on to have successful professional baseball careers. Other Johnson protégés have gone on to successful college and professional careers in many fields, including coaching.
Johnson completed 20 years of head coaching at the collegiate level, reaching the significant 500 career-wins plateau, in April, 2011. During his illustrious coaching career, he coached 37 players who signed professional baseball contracts, along with developing 10 NJCAA All-Americans, seven at MCC. In July 2011,
Johnson was inducted into the Continental Amateur Baseball Assn. (CABA) Hall of Fame. He has also been a featured speaker at both the Illinois and Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Conventions. His other coaching stints and baseball involvements included: Major League Baseball scout for the Texas Rangers, professional baseball pitching coach with the Cook County Cheetahs and international travel team coach, taking teams to places like Japan, Germany, Colombia and Mexico.
“Hoss is a true educator and a fine developer of young men,” said Reynolds. “He has exemplary character, is responsible for transforming lives, providing a quality experience and has always been genuinely concerned with seeing all student-athletes grow and succeed academically, personally and athletically. He will be missed.”
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