Coming out of a historic season for Wisconsin women’s hockey, you can’t talk about the legendary Badgers program without highlighting the man at the helm: Mark Johnson.
Johnson became Wisconsin women’s hockey head coach in 2002, but NCAA hockey was nothing new to him even then. As a former Badger, Johnson tore through Division I hockey, bringing home a national title and named WCHA Rookie of the Year in 1977.
Johnson got himself placed as an inductee in the 1999 International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame alongside many other accolades and honors in the state of Wisconsin and hockey world. After playing on the U.S. “Miracle-On-Ice” 1980 Olympics team and embarking on an 11-year NHL stint, he took on coaching.
He worked with the former United Hockey League’s Madison Monsters as head coach in the 1995-96 season. Alongside a couple high school teams, Johnson also coached in the 2000 World Championship and the 2002 International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship in Sweden.
But Johnson’s return to his alma mater began in 1996 as an assistant coach with the men’s hockey team. In 2002, Johnson took over as head coach of the Wisconsin women’s hockey team.
Johnson’s work to become the winningest head coach in NCAA women’s hockey history began.
The Badgers women’s ice hockey team was established in 1999 and only three years old when Johnson took the reins, trying to build a program worth supporting. He was in it for the long haul, ready to build a stable and reputable team.
The team missed the Frozen Four in 2003 and 2004, as they were still finding their footing and competing with teams that had already made names for themselves. Then, in 2005, Johnson took Wisconsin to the national quarterfinals. A 4-3 loss to Dartmouth sent the Badgers home early, but something was brewing in Madison — and Mark Johnson knew it.
An incredible 36-4-1 record in the 2005-06 season brought the Badgers to the finish line. They beat Mercyhurst in the quarterfinals in double overtime and shut out St. Lawrence 1-0 in the semifinals. A border battle that ended in a 3-0 victory against Minnesota brought the first women’s hockey trophy to Wisconsin, and another for Johnson.
Johnson didn’t let up after that historic win. He brought another victory to the Badgers with a stellar team in 2007 for back-to-back championship titles, keeping consistent with his powerful approach to the game.
Johnson’s race to catch up to the likes of Minnesota-Duluth and Minnesota became clear, and a loss to Minnesota-Duluth in the 2008 championship final solidified it. A hungry pack of Badgers rolled the Bulldogs 5-1 in the 2009 semifinals and took their third national title that year.
Johnson stayed consistent in strong recruiting and built teams that wanted to win. The Badgers really were a complete team season after season as their head coach kept bringing in elite play-makers, crafting star-studded lines and depth to the line-ups.
From 2001 to 2010, Minnesota, Minnesota-Duluth and Wisconsin were the only teams to win a national championship. Johnson was starting to be one of the greatest coaches in women’s hockey, and he won again in 2011 for a fourth national title with the Wisconsin Badgers.
Clarkson popped up into the mix in 2014 and won three titles in five years, but that didn’t necessarily slow down Wisconsin as much as Minnesota did at the time, sending Wisconsin home early three semifinals in a row.
Wisconsin beat Clarkson in the semifinals and took home its fifth national title in 2019. Victories in 2021, 2023 and 2024-25 brought the count of national titles to a historic high of eight trophies and glory to an already decorated head coach.
Johnson’s coaching style was built on years of collegiate, Olympic and professional hockey that has secured him 667 wins and eight national championship titles. He has also become the winningest coach in collegiate women’s hockey history and the winningest coach in terms of national titles between men’s and women’s hockey.
Known to be calm and collected, players can learn from a head coach with the honors and awards to prove it, and Wisconsin is proud to have Mark Johnson and the program he’s helped craft.
