Louis Johnson

Christopher Newport has seen much success in track and field over the years, and Louis Johnson was a part of it for more than a quarter century. Johnson assisted the Track & Field from 1987 when he joined former coach Vince Brown as a volunteer assistant until 2012 when he retired, including a year as the interim Head Coach following Coach Brown's retirement. In that time he coached 15 national champions in the sprints and 400-meter relay. In 1990 he had the distinction of becoming the first sprint coach to have his athletes win 55 meter titles for both men and women at the same NCAA championships. Sheila Trice won in 7.07 and Ed Milling in 6.42.

In 2008, Johnson was named the NCAA South/Southeast Region Men's Assistant Coach of the Year. The award recognized yet another year of outstanding sprinting by the Blue & Silver. The men's 4x100m Relay repeatedly broke the School Record -- ultimatly hitting 40.78 at Nationals. The sprinters also set records in the Indoor and Outdoor 200m, Outdoor 400m, and Outdoor 4x200m Relay. Five others made the All-Time Lists.

Coach Johnson has and continues to work with a small stable of post-collegiate athletes including Esteban Guzman who placed 5th at the USATF Indoor Championships in 2011 and Ronald Bennett who represented Honduras in the 2012 London Olympics.

Johnson began his track career in the 1960s, and although his career was cut short by injuries, he remained in competition in later years in the U.S. Air Force and as a member of the Newport News, Va., Police Force, representing the department in several Law Enforcement Olympics. He also represented the United States at the PanAm Masters Games in Toronto, winning silver medals in the 110 hurdles and 100 meters and a gold medal in the 400 meter relay. He also took the same medals in the same events in the International Law Enforcement Olympics in Sydney, Australia.

Johnson started his coaching career in 1985 at Menchville H.S. in Newport News working with highly-acclaimed coaches Charlie Nuttycombe and Doug Dickinson. During his 21 years at CNU he has worked with over 300 All-Americans, adding five more at the 2007 Outdoor Championships. He currently serves as the Commissioner of the Mason-Dixon Conference, the oldest Track & Field conference in the country. Johnson is a USA Track & Field Level 2 Coach in the Sprints/Hurdles/Relays as well as the Jumps and is a Level 1 Instructor. He has completed a study on the different phases of the sprint start and designed a program specifically to break down a sprint race in cycles, from the reaction time to the last stride of the race. Using this information he was able to lower two of his female sprinters times from 12.48 to 11.95 before the finals of the 2002 NCAA Championships. He is a father of two, and a grandfather of four.