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Profile of Jay Johnson: Tecolote's Baseball Academy Director
Jay Johnson, is entering his third season with the Toreros. During his first season at USD, he was instrumental in helping guide USD back into the postseason, while assisting head coach Rich Hill will all aspects of the game.
Johnson serves as USD's hitting coach and also takes on the roll of associate recruiting coordinator. He helped recruit USD's 2008 class, which was ranked the national best Baseball America. In his first season, the Toreros ranked first in the WCC in team hitting overall (.310) as well as in conference games (.329). Under his guidence, Josh Romanski was tabbed as the WCC Freshman of the Year and USD defeated four first-round draft picks.
Johnson helped guide the Toreros to a program-best 43-18 overall record in 2007, as well as a program-best No. 4 national rankng and a No. 8 national seed in the NCAA Tournament. With his guidence, the Toreros produced the WCC Player of the Year in Shane Buschini, who led the conference in hitting, and helped eight players ern first-team All-WCC honors. Also under his guidence, the team defeated 10 pitchers on the Roger Clemens Award watch list, en route to again leading the WCC in hitting (.314 overall and .335 in WCC games).
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 3rd 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-Southern 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. As a collegiate underclassman, Johnson played at Shasta Junior College. As a prep athlete at Oroville High School, Johnson was a First Team All-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.
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