Right from the get-go, Chris Johnson and Falcons volleyball clicked.
In six years at the Seattle Pacific reins, Johnson has built a 112-53 record, won three GNAC championships, qualified four times for the NCAA Division II tournament, and played for the 2010 West Regional championship. His overall record includes a school-best 26-3 in 2010, a year in which he also picked up his 100th collegiate coaching victory -- all with the Falcons.
In fact, he is not only getting to coach his favorite sport at a high level, he’s getting to do it close to home. Johnson grew up in Bellevue and is a graduate of Interlake High School. He earned his bachelor’s degree in art from Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Calif., and also played volleyball there for three years. Altogether, Johnson has five years of playing experience at the collegiate club level.
In 2004, Johnson joined the SPU program under then-head coach Kellie Ryan, and took over as head coach the following season. Prior to that, he had gone from player to coaching aide at Westmont, filling that role for three seasons.
Like coaches everywhere, Johnson emphasizes hard work and patience – among other things – to his Seattle Pacific players. Having guided the Falcons to four NCAA appearances, Johnson has them aiming even higher for 2011. The GNAC title once again is up for grabs, and the conference, thanks in part to Johnson's team, gained some added respect in 2010 by earning three of the eight berths in the NCAA West Regionals.
It was in Johnson’s inaugural season at the helm in 2005 that SPU won its first Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship, returned to the NCAA tournament for the first time in four years, and attained its then highest national ranking, finishing at No. 18. That was bettered significantly in 2010 when the Falcons finished No. 13 in the final rankings
In 2006, Johnson guided the Falcons through the GNAC schedule undefeated on the way to the 24-3 finish (.889), which at that time was a school record.
But the program's silver anniversary in 2010 was the one during which the record books were rewritten. Johnson's team won its first 16 matches (the previous best start was 7-0), went 14-2 in the GNAC, was the No. 2 seed for the West Regionals, and won the first NCAA postseason matches in school history, beating Cal State Los Angeles in the first round and conference rival Western Washington in the semifinals. When it was all over, SPU had gone 26-3 for an .897 winning percentage.
Johnson, just the third head coach in the first 24 years of the program, was named the GNAC Co-Coach of the Year in 2005, 2006, and again in 2010.
To e-mail Coach Johnson: vbchris@spu.edu