Jackson State University

Year after year, Omar Johnson continues to make Jackson State baseball one of the top programs in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

Since taking the helm of the program prior to the 2007 season, Johnson has led JSU baseball to a winning season every year with 14 30-win campaigns in 16 seasons. In 2022, Johnson earned his 500th win as JSU head coach, joining former JSU head coach and former Athletics Director Robert “Bob” Braddy as the only coaches in program history to surpass 200, 300, 400, and 500 wins. Under Johnson’s leadership, Jackson State has finished with a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.0 or better every season. 

The current Dean of Southwestern Athletic Conference baseball coaches at one school in his 19th season, Johnson’s Tigers have averaged nearly 32 wins per season, winning seven SWAC Eastern Division titles and two SWAC Championships.

In his first season at the helm of the Tigers program (2007), Johnson posted a 33-23 record, the first of four consecutive 30-win seasons. The following season, 2008, his Tigers recorded 37 wins, at the time the fourth-highest single-season total in program history. During the 2009 season, Johnson became the first JSU baseball coach to reach the 100-win plateau within his first three years. 

Johnson led JSU to another string of 30+plus win seasons, as the Tigers posted eight consecutive 30-win seasons from 2012-19. Johnson captured back-to-back Southwestern Athletic Conference titles in 2013 and 2014, going undefeated in the conference tournament and earning NCAA Tournament berths after each title.

During the 2014 NCAA Tournament, JSU knocked off the No. 1 ranked Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns 1-0 to mark the programs’ and Jackson State’s first Division I NCAA postseason win and the program’s first victory over a No. 1 ranked NCAA team. In 2018, Johnson led JSU to 38 wins, tied for the third highest win single-season win total in program history (52 - 1978; 42 - 1977; 38 - 1981). 

In 2021, JSU baseball was ranked the No. 1 team in Black College Nines (BCN) HBCU Baseball large school top ten poll and received votes in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Top 30 poll.  Jackson State became only the second conference baseball team to go 24-0 in SWAC play, advancing to the SWAC Tournament finals and finishing the season 34-9.

During the 2022 season, Johnson led the Tigers on the brink of another 30 win season. On April 23, 2022, Johnson posted his 500th career win in a victory of Alabama State. Last season, despite finishing fourth in the East Division, Jackson State made a run in the conference tournament and finished as the runner-up in the tournament with a 36-20 regular season record.

Prior to coaching at Jackson State, Johnson worked at the University of North Alabama for four years. In 1999, for the first time in university history, the University of North Alabama won the South Central Regional Championship and appeared in the 1999 NCAA II College World Series. In 2008-2010, Johnson served on the German national team coaching staff, competing in the World Baseball Challenge, World Cup, and European baseball championship, where he received a bronze medal. In 35 years of international competition, this was the first time the German national team placed and in the WBC defeating team USA. Johnson has had the privilege of coaching numerous players who have played professional baseball. 

In the summer of 2004, Johnson traveled to serve as a coach with Major League Baseball Envoy program. The Envoy Program sends baseball coaches to teach the fundamentals of the game to players and coaches in countries throughout the world. Johnson says his mission as a head coach is twofold: 1) to win games and 2) to prepare young men to contribute to their families and society positively. 

Johnson and his beautiful wife, Kira, have been married for 17 years. They have one lovely daughter, Olivia.

JOHNSON MILESTONE WINS
100th Win: 22-0 vs. Lemoyne-Owen (April 22, 2009)
200th Win: 10-0 vs. Alabama A&M (May 5, 2012)
237th Win: 6-2 vs. Prairie View A&M (SWAC Championship - May 19, 2013)
268th Win: 9-8 vs. Alabama St. (SWAC Championship - May 18, 2014)
269th Win: 1-0 at Louisiana-Lafayette (NCAA Regional - May 30, 2014)
300th Win: 10-1 vs. Prairie View A&M (May 14, 2015)
400th Win: 7-3 vs. Alcorn (April 28, 2018)
500th Win: 5-0 vs. Alabama St. (April 23, 2022)