June 7, 2010
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The University of San Diego has promoted Jay Johnson to Associate Head Coach of the Torero baseball program it was announced today by Ky Snyder, USD Executive Director of Athletics, and head baseball coach Rich Hill.
"We are proud and excited to announce Jay has been promoted to the Associate Head Coach position. This is an awesome step for USD baseball, as it shows a commitment from our administration to keep us in the national spotlight and to raise the bar even higher," stated Hill. "Jay has been pivotal in our recent rise to the national level. He has been instrumental in garnering our national ranked recruiting class that is coming in, and all of our recruits can feel secure that USD baseball is committed to raising the bar even more."
"I am honored to be named Associate Head Coach at the University of San Diego," stated Johnson. "I am very thankful to all the great players we have had here that have made our program what it is today. I am excited for the opportunity to continue to work with Coach Hill, our administration, our current players; and our outstanding 2010 recruiting class to keep pushing our program to the highest possible level."
Johnson has helped lead the Toreros to three West Coast Conference championships in the last four years (2007, 2008, and 2010), including a record setting 19-2 mark in 2010, the best overall conference mark in a one-division format league in WCC history.
Johnson has been serving as USD's hitting coach since his arrival in 2006, and he 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 includes five AFLAC High School All Americans. In three of his first five seasons, the Toreros ranked first in the WCC in team hitting (2006, 2007, and 2009).
Under his guidance, the Toreros have produces three of the last four WCC Player's of the Year with Shane Buschini taking home the honor is 2007 and James Meador taking home the award in 2009 and 2010. Johnson also helped guide Josh Romanski to the WCC Freshman of the Year award in 2006 and he has also helped guide 32 Toreros to All-WCC honors in his five seasons.
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 All-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 Linsecum, David Price, and Justin Masterson.
