Skip Johnson Reacts To Oklahoma Baseball's CWS National Title

OMAHA, Neb. - Skip Johnson stood at the podium after Oklahoma won its third national championship in program history, and you could hear the emotion in his voice.

The Sooners had just beaten North Carolina 13-2 in Game 3 of the College World Series final to claim the title, their first since 1994.

What started as a team picked to finish 14th in the SEC ended with them taking the crown in Omaha.

Here’s what Skip had to say: “Yeah, really excited about the finals. There’s no doubt about that. These guys have been through it all. It’s really about our players.”He kept coming back to that theme — it’s about the players. Not him, not the coaches, not the program. The guys who fought through a brutal SEC schedule, got hit in the mouth multiple times, and still found a way to win when nobody outside that locker room believed in them.

Skip continued: “I need to talk about our coaches because they’ve done a great job preparing our guys to do this. We’ve been through a lot. I think Trey (Gambill) said it best yesterday. We’ve been hit in the mouth, played really good early in our year, and then we went through the SEC. The SEC really molded us to be prepared for where we’re at.”

That’s one of the coolest parts of this story.

This team wasn’t supposed to be here. They were 14-16 in conference play. They got bounced early in the SEC Tournament. But that gauntlet prepared them.

Every tough weekend in the SEC turned into fuel for Omaha. They upset Georgia Tech on their home field, swept Kansas in a Super Regional, took down Alabama and Georgia in Omaha, and then finished it off against North Carolina. That’s a murderers’ row of quality opponents.

Skip also spoke about culture and what it takes to build something like this: “We ask them questions all the time. We spend a lot of time trying to find out their character... We bring them in and we ask them questions... We make them make their beds and they send me pictures of beds being made. It’s stuff like that we’re just trying to get those guys to be attentive and detailed... It’s pretty remarkable what we try to do in our world today. The SEC molded us... those guys continued to grind it out and pick each other up. And it shows you what kind of character they have when they became selfless. That was what’s really special.”

That’s Skip Johnson.

He talks about making beds and attention to detail because those little things build the foundation for winning big games in June. He’s been saying it for years, and now everyone gets to see the results.

He gave a lot of credit to his coaching staff too: “Good coaching. Good coaching. I mean, what Russell and Reggie did to game-plan, and Bonneau helping me and Todd Butler in the back helping us... from our strength coach to our trainer... Our job as coaches is to get those guys to excuses and teach them something that’s going to be with them the rest of their life. You got to show them how much you care before you show them how much you know. That’s what our coaches do. And that’s living proof of it, winning the national championship.”

This championship is validation for the entire staff and the culture they’ve built.

Skip also mentioned how much he appreciated the fan support and the family atmosphere around the program. He called OU a “family owned business,” and you could tell he meant it.

This run will go down as one of the most improbable in recent memory. A team that finished 11th in the SEC and had to fight just to make the tournament ended up winning it all in Omaha.

They did it with freshman pitchers stepping up, seniors like Dayton Tockey delivering in big moments, and a group that genuinely believed in each other when things got tough.

For Skip Johnson, this is his first national title as a head coach, and it came in his ninth season at the helm. He earned his 300th Division I win earlier in the tournament, and now he gets to add a championship to his résumé.

This one is going to feel good for a long time in Norman. The players believed, the coaches prepared them, and the fans showed up.

Now they get to bring the trophy home.