Mark Johnson was the head coach at Texas A&M from 1984-2005 where he compiled a record of 876-433-3 and led the Aggies to College World Series appearances in 1993 and 1999. He was head coach at Sam Houston State University from 2006 until his retirement in 2011.
At the completion of his coaching career, Johnson’s career record was 1043-564-3 (.649). He was the 44th coach to total 1,000 coaching victories at the NCAA Div. I level.
At Texas A&M, Johnson also led the Aggies to the NCAA playoffs 13 times, won the Big 12 Conference regular-season crown in 1998 and 1999 and won the Southwest Conference championship three times (1986, 1989, 1993). A replica of his #7 jersey is now displayed on the right field fence in his honor.
From 2006-11 at Sam Houston State University, Johnson led the Bearkats to three consecutive Southland Conference Championships and three NCAA Tournament berths.
Johnson recorded four 50-plus winning seasons and thirteen 40-plus winning seasons. In 1989 the Aggies concluded their baseball season with a final ranking of No. 2 in the country. The 1989 team also went 58-7, a school record, and had the top winning percentage in the NCAA.
Johnson had 108 players drafted into professional baseball and 93 percent of his student-athletes graduated.
Johnson was an assistant baseball coach for 15 years prior to becoming the head coach at Texas A&M. He spent two years at his alma mater, the University of New Mexico, five years at the University of Arizona, where in 1976, the Wildcats won the NCAA Div. I National Championship, six years at Mississippi State University and two years at Texas A&M.
Johnson is a former chairman of the ABCA Board of Directors and served as ABCA President in 1994.
In 2009, Johnson was honored with the ABCA’s inaugural Ethics in Coaching Award, and in 2012 he was again honored by the ABCA with its prestigious Lefty Gomez Award.
He has been inducted into numerous halls of fame, including the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame (2002), the University of New Mexico Hall of Honor (2006), the Texas A&M Lettermen’s Hall of Fame (2012), the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Hall of Champions (2014), Texas Sports Hall of Fame (2014), and the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame (2014). He was also honored as a Southeastern Conference “Baseball Legend” in 2015.
