Wes Johnson reveals what he learned coaching under Jay Johnson at LSU

New Georgia head coach Wes Johnson has spent the past year learning from Jay Johnson at LSU. But Jay Johnson is not the only manager Wes Johnson has had the opportunity to learn from over the years.

When he coached with the Minnesota Twins, Johnson got to work under former AL Manager of the Year Rocco Baldelli. Johnson coached there for three-and-a-half seasons before taking the job with the Tigers last season.

Over that time, the Twins made the playoffs twice and won 100+ games in 2009.

The experiences with both coaches have clearly impacted Johnson. During his introductory press conference, the new head coach was asked about what he learned from Baldelli and Johnson. With Jay Johnson specifically, Wes Johnson highlighted his recruiting smarts.

“Jay’s recruiting aspect from the head coaching position is like nobody I’ve ever seen,” Johnson said. “And I’ve worked with obviously a couple of head coaches in our league as fellow colleagues and then turned into head coaches in this league. So learning the process of how Jay balances the recruiting and practice, so to speak, or player development is something that I’ll take away from him.”

Those aren’t the only notable coaches Johnson has worked with over the years.

He was the pitching coach for three-time SEC Coach of the Year Dave Van Horn at Arkansas for two seasons. Before John Cohen left the head coaching position at Mississippi State to take on the athletic director role, he had hired Johnson as his pitching coach and the two helped the Bulldogs to Super Regionals.

Johnson is taking over a Georgia team that finished 29-27 on the season and missed the NCAA Tournament. The program has only made the NCAA Tournament three times over the past decade. It has not made the College World Series since 2008 when it lost in the CWS Finals to Fresno State.

While the team wasn’t in the upper echelon of the SEC this season, the 51-year-old coach likes the roster he is starting with in Athens, Ga.

“The roster; everybody in the SEC’s got talent on rosters,” Johnson said. “It doesn’t matter where you finish or who you are. Everybody’s got talent. We’ve got talent here. We’re working through the roster right now. We have got some guys that the drafts gonna be a concern. We’ll see how that plays out. We’ll get through that. But yeah, the roster right now is in good shape. It’s fine.”