Georgia hires Wes Johnson as new head baseball coach
Georgia hires Wes Johnson as new head baseball coach
ATHENS — The University of Georgia has hired its new baseball coach in LSU assistant Wes Johnson, per an announcement from the school released on Monday night.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel was the first to report on the story.
UGA athletic director Josh Brooks released a statement on the hire of Johnson to the media.
“We are extremely excited to welcome Wes Johnson and his family to Athens and the University of Georgia,” Josh Brooks said. “Wes has a proven track record of developing student-athletes while helping teams achieve impressive results. We aim to compete for postseason success and championships, and Wes has done that throughout his coaching career at every level, from high school to college and up to the Major Leagues. We are confident he will make Georgia Baseball one of the premier programs in the country.”
Johnson spent the last season at LSU, where he helped develop pitcher Paul Skenes. The Tigers’ ace is slated to be the top pitcher selected in the upcoming 2023 MLB Draft.
The 52-year-old veteran Johnson replaces former Georgia head coach Scott Stricklin, who was fired following the 2023 season after coaching the Bulldogs for the past 10 years.
A native of Sherwood, Arkansas., Johnson became the first pitching coach in Major League Baseball history to make the move directly from the college ranks to the big leagues when he was hired by the Minnesota Twins in November of 2018. He served as a collegiate pitching coach since 2008 with stints in the SEC at Mississippi State and Arkansas before joining the Twins a decade later. Minnesota was the leading the American League Central Division in June of 2022 when he opted to return to the college level.
The Twins won their division in Johnson’s first two years directing the pitching staff. In 2020, the club ranked fourth in the MLB in ERA, WHIP and ninth in strikeouts per nine innings.
During his time as a college coach, Johnson helped develop 30 pitchers that would get drafted into the MLB. He’s also been at the forefront of utilizing Trackman pitching technology.
As pitching coach at Arkansas, he helped the 2018 Razorbacks reach the College World Series final, finishing 48-21. Blaine Knight was the top pitcher on that 2018 staff, who went 14-0 with a 2.80 ERA and was a third-round pick of the Baltimore Orioles.
In his one season at Mississippi State, Johnson was instrumental in a dramatic turnaround by the Bulldogs going from worst to first. After winning only eight SEC games the previous year and having the highest ERA in the conference, the 2016 Bulldogs claimed the SEC regular-season title and advanced to an NCAA Super Regional.
Mississippi State won 44 games, which was the most since 1997. He also produced six pitchers that would be selected in the MLB Draft, including Golden Spikes Award semifinalist (2016) Dakota Hudson, who went 34th overall to the St. Louis Cardinals in 2018.
In four seasons at Dallas Baptist, Johnson helped the Patriots to three NCAA Regional appearances. He had 14 pitchers drafted and his pitching staffs set single-season records for almost every major statistical category including ERA, strikeouts and saves.
In 2015, DBU had five pitchers chosen in the first 12 rounds. Prior to his arrival, the Patriots had only six pitchers drafted in the first 10 rounds. The 2015 Patriots won a record 46 games, hosted their first NCAA Regional and earned the program’s highest final ranking.
During his three seasons in the Southland Conference at the University of Central Arkansas, Johnson’s pitching staff set Division I school records in ERA, WHIP, strikeouts, opponent batting average, and fewest walks. In 2009, while Johnson was on staff at Southern Arkansas, the Muleriders went 52-11 overall and were ranked No.1 in the NCAA Division II poll for 20 weeks. One of his star pitchers was Hayden Simpson, who became the first-round pick for the Chicago Cubs in the 2010 MLB Draft.
Before going to UCA, Johnson spent four seasons as the head coach of Abundant Life High School in his hometown of Sherwood. He guided the Owls to a 102-25 record in that span, which included one state championship and two state title game appearances.
Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Arkansas Monticello in 1994. While at Dallas Baptist, he tallied 33 hours working towards a master’s in kinesiology. Johnson and his wife Angie, have three children: Ryan, Anna, and Ava.
Wes Johnson’s coaching career:
1997-2002: Assistant Coach, Sylvan Hills (Ark.) High School
2003: Assistant Coach, Arkansas Baptist High School
2004-2007: Head Coach, Abundant Life High School (Sherwood, Ark.)
2008: Pitching Coach, Central Arkansas
2009: Pitching Coach, Southern Arkansas
2010-11: Pitching Coach, Central Arkansas
2012-2015: Pitching Coach, Dallas Baptist
2016: Pitching Coach, Mississippi State
2017-18: Pitching Coach, Arkansas
2019-22: MLB Pitching Coach, Minnesota Twins
2023: Pitching Coach, LSU
***UGA Sports Communications helped contribute to this report.