The Viking baseball program has been reborn under Luke Johnson and his coaching staff. The sixth-year head coach has guided his club from the bottom slot in the league to a team that is competitive with the best the nation has to offer. They are one of the few teams in the nation that have a five-year track record of consistent improvement. During that time the Vikings have garnered national attention in the NCAA, beaten teams ranked in the top 25 nationally, played winning baseball against scholarship opponents, defeated NCAA Division I competitors, shared the CCIW regular-season conference title in 2011, and played competitively in the CCIW Tournament. Additionally Johnson has had 20 players named to the All-CCIW squad, nine players voted to the Rawlings/ABCA All Central Region team, and had 13 players sign contracts with NCAA/MLB affiliated summer leagues.
How do these players stack up to the all time greats at North Park? During the short time of Johnson’s watch, an amazing 45 players have seen their names etched in the Viking record books. Seventy slots are held by Johnson’s players for career records, along with 65 slots in the single season book. The 2007 North Park University Male Sportsperson of the Year and the 2010 Male Athlete of the Year awards were also given to Viking baseball players. Professionally, Johnson's tenure has seen three MLB draft picks and one free agent signing. For his efforts, Johnson earned the CCIW Coach of the Year award in his first season as a head college baseball coach (2006).
The accolades for his teams aren’t strictly baseball related, however. The Vikings have also seen an equally impressive elevation in their academic performance. Their team grade point average has steadily risen to consistently over a 3.0. This hard work has culminated with 39 Academic All-CCIW team members, two prestigious CCIW Jack Swartz academic award winners, and a still more impressive four ESPN/CoSIDA Academic All-District selections.
“Our focus is simple to articulate and tough to do. We want to create and maintain an environment that values success on every level. I think this mentality has clearly become a source of pride for our program. It’s exciting to watch results-oriented thinking take hold. Philosophically, that’s what our approach boils down to,” states Johnson.
Johnson’s background in the CCIW is something he can lean on to get the job done. He served four seasons as an assistant at conference rivals Elmhurst College (2002) and North Central College (2003-2005).
In his three years at North Central and one year at Elmhurst, Johnson served as the hitting coach. As an assistant he helped produce four All-CCIW first team players, four All-CCIW second team players, three Rawlings/ABCA All-Central Region members, one CCIW batting champion, and four CCIW offensive statistical leaders. At Elmhurst, he also helped develop one future All-American position player who went on to sign with the San Francisco Giants.
“We want our guys leaving here as better players, and I think our track record shows that they are. If our players reflect anything from this staff, they work, they demand a lot from each other, and they play the game hard. I know our guys appreciate the work that our staff puts into teaching the game. We coach our guys the way we wanted to be coached, with intensity, enthusiasm, and attention to detail. As long as we keep getting better results in this system, our players should have all the confidence in the world in their own abilities, work habits, and the program. The great thing is that our players have an overriding feeling that they have just scratched the surface of what they can accomplish,” Johnson said.
A Mendota, Ill., native, Johnson has also held coaching positions with two elite baseball organizations. In 2005 and 2006, Johnson held positions with USA Baseball as a Trials Coach for the Youth National Team. The National Team trials process whittles the best prospects in the nation down from roughly 5,000 at the Junior Olympic Tournament, to a Trials Team of 36, to 18 players who represent the nation at the world championship. The 2006 National Team went on to win the Gold medal over the likes of Cuba, Venezuela, and Mexico in the COPABE/Pan Am Championships. In 2004 he served as an assistant for the Holyoke Giants of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. The NECBL is an NCAA-sanctioned, wood-bat college summer league that receives funding from Major League Baseball in order to identify and develop amateur talent.
As a player at Elmhurst, Johnson was the former NCAA record holder for consecutive times reaching base safely (all divisions), earned both All-CCIW First Team and Rawlings/ABCA All-Central Region honors as an outfielder, as well as a two-time Verizon/CoSIDA Academic All-Region honors as a student. Johnson still holds places in the career record book in a number of Elmhurst career and single season offensive categories.
Johnson earned a BA in secondary physical education and health from Elmhurst, and a master's in leadership studies from North Central. He resides in Addison with his wife, Kelli, and their son, Jacob.
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