Skip Johnson staying at OU after premature reports of his departure

Chaos is a ladder, but the Oklahoma baseball program won’t find itself affected by the most consequential such ladder in college baseball.

After former Texas A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle's controversial departure for the University of Texas, the Aggies responded by kicking the tires with Skip Johnson. But Johnson won't be going back home to the Lone Star State, despite an inaccurate report Friday that he was in line to succeed Schlossnagle at A&M. D1Baseball's Kendall Rogers refuted that report in a tweet Friday afternoon.

Although Johnson did meet with the Aggie brass about the vacancy, he wasn’t offered the job. He’ll be returning for an eighth season at the helm of the Oklahoma baseball program and is expected to sign a contract extension, per another report from Rogers Saturday afternoon.

At Oklahoma, the 57-year-old Johnson has compiled with a career record of 229-153, having led the Sooners to four NCAA regional appearances in his seven years on the job. Johnson's 2022 squad memorably caught fire late in the season and made a run to the College World Series final, finishing as the national runner-up after falling to Ole Miss in the championship series.

Johnson has deep roots in Texas, which lent plenty of uncertainty as to whether he'd stay at Oklahoma if offered the A&M job. He's originally from the DFW area and played collegiately at both North Texas and UTRGV (previously known as Texas-Pan American). He served as head coach at Navarro College from 1994-2006 before a decade as an assistant at Texas. He joined OU's staff prior to the 2017 season as an assistant to Pete Hughes, and was promoted to the head coaching position after Hughes' dismissal in June 2017.

Johnson is coming off a season in which he led Oklahoma to a 40-21 record and a No. 9 national seed in the NCAA tournament. Despite earning the right to host a regional for the first time since 2010, the Sooners advanced no further, as UConn pulled off an upset of OU in the regional final.

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