USD Baseball 2010

Assistant Coach JAY JOl;INSON Fifth Season as Assistant Coach

Jay Johnson is entering his fifth season with the Toreros. During his first four seasons at USD, he has been instrumental in helping guide USD to three consecutive trips to the NCAA Postseason (2006-08) and back-to-back WCC Championships in 2007 and 2008, while assisting head coach Rich Hill with all aspects of the game.

Johnson serves as USD's hitting coach and also takes on the roll of ._______._;.......,<'-------' recruiting coordinator. He helped recruit USD's 2008 class, which was ranked number one in the nation by Baseball America. The Toreros 2010 recruiting class in– cludes five AFLAC High School All Americans. In three of his first four seasons, the Toreros ranked first in the WCC in team hitting (2006, 2007, and 2009). Under his guidance, the Toreros have produces two of the last three WCC Player's of the Year with Shane Buschini taking home the honor is 2007 and James Meador taking home the award in 2009. Johnson also helped guide Josh Romanski to the WCC Freshman of the Year award in 2006 and he has also helped guide 22 Toreros to AII -WCC honors in his four seasons. In 2008,Johnson was instrumental in helping lead the Toreros to their second consecutive 40- win season, as the Toreros set a program-record with a 44 wins.Johnson helped lead USD to the championship game of the Long Beach Regional, and he helped lead six position players to AII-WCC accolades. Johnson helped guide the Toreros to the programs first 40-win season in 2007 with a 43- 18 overall record, as well as a program-best No. 4 national ranking and a No. 8 national seed in the NCAA Tournament. With his guidance, the Toreros had eight players earn first-team AII-WCC honors. Also under his guidance, the team defeated 10 pitchers on the Roger Clemens Award watch list. In 2006, Johnson helped guide the Toreros to the 2006 Fullerton regional; facing one of the toughest schedules in the country; the Toreros compiled wins against five first round draft picks including current Major Leaguers Tim Lincecum, David Price, and Jus– tin Masterson. Johnson, the head coach at nearby Point Loma Nazarene prior to coming to USD, did a remarkable job at PLNU, leading the NAIA Sea Lions to a national ranking as high as No.6 and a 2005 Golden State Athletic Conference-Southern Division Championship. During four seasons at Point Loma Nazarene, three as an assistant before becoming the head coach in 2005, Johnson and the Sea Lions made four consecutive trips to the NAIA Region II Championships and established a Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) record with 47 wins in 2004 while claiming the GSAC championship, as well as finishing third in the NAIA College World Series.The 2004 team was also awarded the Hank Burbridge NAIA team Champions of Character award. In the spring of 2005 Johnson guided Point Loma Nazarene to a 37-16 overall mark, winning the 2005 GSAC-South– ern Division Championship and finishing the season ranked No. 19 nationally. Seven of Jay's players at PLNU moved on to play professional baseball. An outstanding high school and collegiate athlete, Johnson was the starting second baseman at Point Loma Nazarene in 1999 and 2000, hitting .326 during his senior season in 2000. Prior to PLNU, Johnson played at Shasta Junior College. As a prep athlete at Oroville High School, Johnson was a FirstTeam AII-CIF Northern Section pick in both baseball and football.

Johnson earned a degree in Physical Education at PLNU in 2001 and later acquired a Master's degree in Physical Education at Azusa Pacific University.