ATHENS — You’ll have to forgive Wes Johnson if he was a little distracted Tuesday. It’s just that he’s still in the midst of pursuing a championship with LSU even while being introduced as Georgia’s new head baseball coach.
The fact is, Johnson had been the Bulldogs’ new skipper for eight days as of Tuesday. Athletic Director Josh Brooks tabbed him as Scott Stricklin’s successor June 5 and presented him with a six-year contract that will pay Johnson $700,000 a year to start, not including incentives.
Brooks did so with the assurance that Johnson would be allowed to complete his assignment with the Tigers. LSU didn’t punch its ticket to Omaha until late Sunday night. The Tigers will face Tennessee on Friday in the College World Series. In the meantime, Johnson has been doing both jobs as pitching coach for the Tigers and as a first-time college head coach for UGA. So, yeah, it’s been a little hectic.
“We’ll fly back tonight,” said Johnson, accompanied by his wife, Angie, and his daughter, Ava, during his introductory press conference Tuesday at UGA’s Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall. “I’ve got bullpen with Paul Skenes at 8 in the morning, and we leave for Omaha at 10.”
Though Johnson is a mere assistant coach for the Tigers, he has everything to do with them being back in Omaha, Nebraska Johnson is credited with making Skenes into the the top pitcher in college baseball. They arrived in Baton Rouge at about the same time last summer, Skenes as a transfer from the Air Force Academy and Johnson showing up after a successful stint as an MLB pitching coach.
Johnson had a similar effect on Mississippi State when he took a job there. The Bulldogs went from worst to first in the SEC in Johnson’s first season, and six of his pitchers were selected in the MLB draft, including Golden Spikes semifinalist Dakota Johnson.
In a nutshell, that’s why Johnson and his family soon will be moving to Athens. If there is a such a thing as a “pitcher whisperer,” Johnson has been it. Thirty of his pitchers have been drafted by MLB teams. Skenes is just the latest who will head there as a first-rounder.
“We think we’ve found a leader to take us to the next level in baseball,” Brooks said Tuesday. “... He’s had success at ever level, high school, small college, big college, pros, on and on. He’s won championships with every team he has been associated. We as an athletic department are committed to reaching new levels with baseball ... We want to win championships in all 21 sports and this is part of that build.”
Johnson was being introduced inside the football complex because construction already was ongoing right across East Rutherford Street at Foley Field. Though it will take 18 months to complete, UGA has committed $45 million to a renovation of the Bulldogs’ baseball facility. And while some of that will go toward the exterior fan experience, the grand majority of work will be done underneath the grandstands with state-of-the-art hitting and pitching labs.
That’s where Johnson some in. He long has been known as one of the foremost authorities on Trackman technology for baseball. It’s a system that uses radar and digital-data collection track the direction and spin of a baseball.
Johnson now will oversee identification and installation of those systems to Georgia’s baseball complex. He also said he will act as Georgia’s pitching coach. He’s still in the process of identifying those who will join his staff.
Credit: Chip Towers
Credit: Chip Towers
Asked for the secret of his success, Johnson laughed and said it really was pretty simple.
“I’ll tell you what people think – velocity. I’ve increased pitchers’ velocity on the mound,” he said. “My track record’s out there, and you can obviously look that up and see. And Trackman is a big part of that. There’s a lot of technology we use, but at the end of the day, it comes down to velocity.”
Though his career date has kept Johnson far from Georgia – his latest stints have been in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Minnesota – he said he’s more than a little familiar with the state he’ll soon call home.
“Here’s a fun fact: I was born in Atlanta, Georgia,” Johnson said. “I know the area well, know a lot of the coaches. Obviously, I’ve recruited for a long time. If you’re going to be any good, you come to the state of Georgia. They’ve got phenomenal baseball players here. So I’ve got a lot of relationships here.”
Johnson currently is coaching Ty Floyd, a right-handed pitcher from Rockmart and the former No. 1 pitcher in Georgia.
As for building his first roster with the Bulldogs, Johnson said he already has had several conversations with star slugger Charlie Condon, who was named freshman hitter of the year and a freshman All-American. He also has been in conversations with every member of last year’s team, several of whom already entered the transfer portal.
Johnston said he, too, will have to make use of the portal. Between that, high school recruiting, maintaining his roster and getting the Tigers ready for the World Series, there hasn’t been much time left over for other things – like sleep.
Johnson’s days begin at 5 a.m., at which time he turns his attention to the Georgia job until about 8 a.m. From then until noon, he works on his scouting and film work for the Tigers, then prepares for LSU’s afternoon practices. In the evening, he’s back to work on the Bulldogs, working the phone until bedtime.
“I wake up really early, I go to bed really late and I drink a lot of caffeine in the middle,” Johnson said to laughter.
While Johnson is not tall in stature, one thing he is not short on is confidence. As for not landing a head coaching job until age 51, he said, simply, “I’m ready now.” He guaranteed that Georgia will “high-five more than anybody in the country” next year. As for the potential of the overall Bulldogs’ baseball program, he said, “we’re going to do some things they haven’t done here in a while.”
“We will make this the best place to play college baseball,” Johnson said.
Soon after, Johnson was off to Athens’ Ben Epps Airport and back to Baton Rouge.
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