Oklahoma HC Skip Johnson on Sooners’ run to CWS Finals: ‘These guys have been through it all’
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Oklahoma head coach Skip Johnson sat in this exact spot 4 years ago, when he led the Sooners to the College World Series Finals against SEC rival Ole Miss in 2022.
The fairy tale script didn’t end so well for Oklahoma that June, as the Rebels outlasted the Sooners to win the national championship. Now, Johnson is back and so is Oklahoma, as the Sooners are once again 2 precious victories away from their first national title since 1994.
Johnson, a Texas native, has been chasing that national crown since he took over in Norman in 2018, and there have been a lot of victories during that time. His Sooners carry a 41-22 record into this weekend’s best-of-3 Championship Series finals against North Carolina (53-12-1), with the drama beginning with Game 1 on Saturday (3 p.m. ET, ESPN).
Oklahoma also captured college baseball’s national championship way back in 1951, 16 years before Johnson was born. Johnson has a highly impressive record of 308-197 during his time at OU, and he knows what it’s taken for this particular team to climb each obstacle and become 1 of the last 2 teams standing in Omaha.
“Really excited about the finals, there’s no doubt about that. These guys have been through it all. It’s really about our players,” Johnson told reporters during Friday’s pre-finals series press conference. “I need to talk about our coaches because they’ve done a great job of preparing these guys to do this.”
Naturally, it hasn’t been a totally smooth journey to the precipice of a national title, but here the Sooners are, with a chance to make Oklahoma history.
“We’ve been through a lot,” Johnson said. “Been hit in the mouth, played really good early in our year. Then we went through the SEC. I think the SEC really molded us for being prepared for where we’re at.”
Oklahoma is 2 victories away from its first national championship in 32 years, but North Carolina is standing in the way. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about the title odds for the last 2 teams standing in Omaha:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
