Jeff Johnson talks about induction into NJCAA Hall of Fame

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) -Chipola head coach and A.D. Jeff Johnson is now a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association Hall of Fame. That induction coming at the end of last month. And it’s certainly a worthy honor of the Bristol native who’s guided Chipola baseball the last 26 seasons. In that span his teams have won 959 games, 14 Panhandle Conference championships, and three National championships. He’s been named the NJCAA Coach of the Year three times. In talking to him about the Hall of Fame honor, Jeff told me he takes a lot of other folks into the Hall with him!

“No, no doubt. When you look back at all the great assistant coaches who have worked with you and put in the time to get you to the point, the work ethic, and everything that happens with all that, that are huge for you. And then you talk about all the players. You have to have great players to win. And we’ve been fortunate to have those guys, we’ve had twenty big leaguers here. Not only those guys, but the great players who went on to the business sector of the world and been successful there as well. So you know it takes that. And then you look at the administrative end of it, having the resources to be successful.”

And just talking about the Hall, and the feeling of “arriving” there certainly stirs up plenty of memories for coach Johnson.,

“Yeah it does Scott, you know being here 26 years at Chipola, and you know we’ve had some success here. Very proud of what we’ve done. As I said it’s been 26 years here, it tells you one thing, you’ve been somewhere for a long time, for that to happen. You know to have some success and three national championships, and be recognized for the success, is a great honor for us.”

The coach says these days he’s busy with recruiting, working to fill out the roster for another run next year.