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Oklahoma baseball: Skip Johnson named Central Region Coach of the Year

By Chip Rouse

Jun 25, 2022; Omaha, NE, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Skip Johnson looks over the field before the game against the Ole Miss Rebels at Charles Schwab Field. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 25, 2022; Omaha, NE, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Skip Johnson looks over the field before the game against the Ole Miss Rebels at Charles Schwab Field. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports /
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It was a fantastic 2022 season for Oklahoma baseball, and a great deal of the credit for that belong with head coach Skip Johnson.

Johnson, in his fifth season at the helm of Sooners baseball, led Oklahoma to a 45-24 record and a runner-up finish in the Men’s College World Series, and this week he was named Central Region Coach of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association.

The Sooners were 18-12 through April 12, but after that time they caught fire, finishing out the remainder of the season with a record of 27-12, including making an 11th appearance in the MCWS.

Oklahoma was projected by the Big 12 coaches to finish sixth in the conference standings in the annual conference preseason poll. Instead, the Sooners finished in a three-way tie for second place. won the Big 12 Championship and became only the second Big 12 school to advance to the MCWS championship series since Texas accomplished that feat in 2009.

The second-place finish in the Big 12 was the highest by OU in Johnson’s five seasons as head coach. Before arriving in Norman, Johnson was an assistant for 10 years at Texas.

OU spent the final six weeks of the season, including the entire postseason, on the road, compiling a 14-5 record over that span.

In his five seasons at Oklahoma, the Sooners have gone 157-103 (.602). The team’s 45 wins this season are the most by a Sooner team since winning 50 games in 2010.

In addition to Johnson’s postseason honor, three Sooner players earned All-America status. Sophomore shortstop Peyton Graham has been named a first-team All-American, and pitchers Jake Bennett and Trevin Michael second-team All-Americans.

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