Mark Johnson

Mark Johnson is most famously known as a former baseball coach, most recently leading the Texas A&M Aggies and Sam Houston State. Before his coaching career, Johnson was a former player himself. He attended the University of New Mexico, where he played for the baseball team from 1964-1967 and went on to play in the minor leagues under the New York Mets for two years. Johnson left the minor leagues in 1969 to mount his coaching career with his alma mater, the University of New Mexico, as an assistant until 1971. He then went on to serve as an assistant at the University of Arizona for five years and Mississippi State for six. In 1982, Johnson began coaching for the Texas A&M Aggies baseball team and got his big break two years later when he was promoted to head coach of the team. Staying with the Aggies for over 25 years, Johnson led the team to the NCAA playoffs 13 times, to two College World Series appearances, along with three Southwest Conference championship titles and two Big 12 Conference regular season crowns. He left the Aggies in 2007 to serve as the head coach for Sam Houston State, with whom he became the 44th head coach in baseball history to surpass 1,000 career wins. Johnson’s Bearkats reached remarkable accomplishments under his lead, while they set 26 school records and clinched three championship titles and three NCAA Regional appearances in a mere five years. Johnson certainly left his mark wherever he went throughout his over 40 year coaching career