In just a year’s time, Jay Johnson has taken Wildcats a long way

LAFAYETTE, La. — A year ago Tuesday, Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne announced the hiring of Jay Johnson as the Wildcats’ baseball coach.

The program hasn’t been the same since.

In a year’s time, Johnson has revitalized Arizona baseball. For the first time since 2012, when they won the College World Series, the Wildcats are in the postseason and playing in a Super Regional. The UA will face No. 6 national seed Mississippi State in a best-of-three series starting Friday in Starkville, Mississippi.

Johnson’s first acts as coach included contacting every returning and incoming player to reassure them that Tucson was the place to be to play college baseball.

“He told me that this was going to be the best baseball experience of my life — that the baseball part was going to be taken care of, and it was going to be fun. Those words could not be any truer,” said junior shortstop Louis Boyd, who’s in his first year at Arizona after transferring from Cochise College.

“He’s a great coach to play for. I couldn’t imagine wanting to play for anybody else but him. I was a little thrown off by the coaching change, as I’m sure a lot of people were, especially coming in my first year. And I couldn’t be happier.”

Johnson would rather not talk about himself, shifting the credit to his players and the narrative to the next game on the schedule. But before departing from the scene of Arizona’s dramatic comeback triumph in the Lafayette Regional and heading to Starkville, Johnson took a few minutes to discuss Year 1 with the Star.

You’ve been on the job for a year. Have you taken any time to reflect on your first year at Arizona?

A: “First off, being here has been probably one of the greatest blessings in my life. I don’t think this is the time to dwell on how far we’ve come (or) how fast. I’m proud of it. At the same time, we’re ready to attack this opportunity, and that’s all I’m allowing myself to think about.

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“It was kind of strange last night. It was almost like, ‘Wow, the game’s really over.’ It was so pitch-to-pitch and not looking up. I felt that from our staff. We impressed that upon our players. And they were rewarded for that.”

How has the experience compared to what you were expecting?

A: “I don’t know that I had any expectation of what it would be like, other than it would be a challenge. I love that. I embrace it. There’s 16 teams in the country still playing college baseball as of today. It’s pretty exciting that Arizona is one of them. I’m very happy for these players to get to experience this.”

When you’re picked to finish ninth in the Pac-12 and haven’t made the tournament since 2012 — and then you do and you advance — people will say you’re ahead of schedule. Do you agree with that? Did you have a schedule?

A: “No. I want to win a national championship worse than I want to breathe. I believe the University of Arizona provides that opportunity. With that being said, it is extremely difficult. You’re looking at teams that win the national championship in our sport (and) don’t make the postseason the next year. And in Arizona’s case, the next three years. That’s just a testament to how many good coaches, good players and good programs are out there.

“We will continue to try to take care of details on a daily basis as good as we possibly can. I have a lot of peace of mind knowing that everybody in our program does that on a daily basis.”

You said you’re only thinking about Mississippi State and the next game right now. But what’s your vision for this program moving forward?

A: “I think we’re living it out right now, and that’s cool. It’s great for a couple reasons. No. 1, the players that are in the program right now really deserve this. The way they’ve revealed their character to our coaching staff is one of the most gratifying experiences I’ve had in my life. It’s good (for) where we want to take it.

“It’s not easy. There are so many components of it: the draft, the competition, the outside distractions. It’s really, as boring as it sounds, a one-pitch, one-day-at-a-time mentality. I really believe in that. And I believe if we can stick to that, we can have future success. But it’s pretty fun to see that in a one-year time frame, that committing to that, some remarkable things have been achieved.”