It’s not a regular occurrence that an athletic department has—at its disposal, right in its own backyard—the type of coach and person Wisconsin women’s hockey head coach Mark Johnson currently is and has become since taking over the program in 2002 after his stint with the men’s hockey program. The Wisconsin athletic department had that luxury, and the women’s hockey program has not been the same since.
When he met with the athletic board to discuss the prospective program opening, Johnson simply presented his plan for success, and the board would have been foolish to turn it down.
“I got interviewed by five or six different people [at the time] on a committee that was in charge of [the hiring],” Johnson said. “I talked about my philosophy and what I could do with the program … I was able to convince them that if they were going to hire me, I would provide some of the things that I talked about in the interview process. When I did get the job, some of the things that I did talk about I needed to follow through on.”
From that point on, the rest is history. With Johnson at the helm, Wisconsin has won four NCAA national championships, four WCHA playoff titles and four regular season titles. In the process, Johnson has coached 16 All-Americans, 80 Academic All-WCHA selections and four Patty Kazmaier Award winners, an accolade given to the most outstanding player in NCAA Division I women’s ice hockey. Johnson’s most notable accomplishment to date is his 200th career WCHA win, which was achieved over the weekend in a 5-1 victory against St. Cloud State.
Senior forward and team captain Brianna Decker put into perspective her coach’s recent monumental achievement after practice Tuesday.
“I think that’s unbelievable—it shows a lot,” she said. “He’s a great coach and everyone has a lot of respect for him. He teaches out there and I think that’s how he’s had teams be successful in front of him … He is an awesome coach, and I’m going to miss him a lot.”
Decker has been one of many outstanding hockey players during Johnson’s tenure, and his instructions really aided in Decker’s development early on as a player, vaulting her to her current All-American status.
“He gave me opportunities—I think that’s huge. My sophomore year I had opportunities to play with Hilary Knight and Meghan Duggan, and those opportunities made me have to step up and play a bigger role,” Decker said. “I think that made my level of hockey increase throughout the years.”
Johnson has had All-American after All-American like Decker funnel through his program, which has played an instrumental role in helping the program achieve success. So while some might think Johnson has altered his coaching style throughout the years to adapt to his current teams, Wisconsin assistant coach Jackie Friesen has had a first-hand experience of Johnson staying even-keeled as a coach, as she was a four-year letter winner for him from 2001-’05.
“Overall, it’s just a positive atmosphere and I think that’s carried the last 12 years he’s been coaching,” Friesen said. “It’s been the same when I was a player; he’s the same coach now that I’m a coach. Obviously, you grow in different areas, but overall in that regard he’s the same and it’s been great.”
Furthermore, Friesen alluded to several key ingredients that have led to Johnson’s success, including the way he conducts himself on the ice.
“I don’t think you can put it down as to one thing that makes him successful … He brings a lot to the game. For one, his demeanor—he’s a calm, collective coach. He’s not a yeller and a screamer,” Friesen said. “He gets right down to business and for the most part, he is really encouraging and I think the players feed off of that. He’s always positive, too, and it’s really important to have a positive coach, especially coaching females.”
No matter what sport, whenever a program achieves the amount of success that Johnson’s teams have, lucrative job offers will arise. In fact, the Penn State men’s hockey team was reportedly interested in 2011 in making Johnson the Nittany Lions’ first head coach in program history, according to Andy Baggot of the Wisconsin State Journal. Throughout the process, though, Johnson’s commitment to the Wisconsin women’s program did not waver.
“As I mentioned in the interview process, I think the program needed stability,” Johnson said. “If I was going to leave early on in the process, I was probably going against my word.”
Loyalty can go a far way in the collegiate coaching profession, and it’s paid off for Johnson.
