Women's Tennis
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- cjohnson4@liberty.edu
Chris Johnson has been the Liberty Men’s tennis head coach since August of 2006. Johnson reached the 100-win mark in 2016 and has 110 career wins, making him the winningest men's tennis coach in program history. Johnson took over sole responsibility of the men's team in 2012 after coaching both the Flames and Lady Flames for six years.
In the previous three years, Johnson has led the Flames to a 48-42 overall record, including an 18-15 record in Big South action. Johnson led Liberty to a 11-11 overall mark in the 2015-16 season. In addition, the Flames finished conference play with a 4-4 record. Under Johnson’s direction, Sam Matheson was named the Big South Player of the Year as a junior, while he and Eddie Gutierrez were both Big South All-Conference singles players. In addition, Matheson and senior Egon Samaai were named to the Big South All-Conference doubles team. Prior to his senior season, Matheson announced that he was turning professional and has since begun his career in Vietnam.
In the fall of 2016, Johnson accepted the position as chair of the ITA Atlantic Regional Committee after being named to the ITA Regional Committee in the fall of 2015.
Johnson came to Liberty being very familiar with its tennis history, as he was a four-year letterwinner for the Flames men's tennis team from 1990-94, and also served as an assistant coach during the 1995 season. Johnson's passion for Liberty and tennis has led to a host of new accolades for each program. Among those accolades are Johnson's Big South Coach of the Year awards. In 2008, Johnson was named the Big South Women's Tennis Coach of the Year, and he was later named Big South Men's Tennis Coach of the Year in 2015. Johnson is one of only three coaches ever to have been named both Big South Men and Women's Tennis Coach of the Year.
Johnson has coached 74 postseason award winners during his first 10 years with Liberty, between both the men’s and women’s tennis programs. Among the 74 honorees, Johnson has coached three Big South Players of the Year, three Big South Freshmen of the Year, 37 all-conference honorees, 16 all-academic award winners and four Big South Scholar Athlete of the Year winners. In addition, Johnson has also coached one VaSID Rookie of the Year, six VaSID all-state members and five VaSID all-academic honorees.
Johnson has now led Liberty to eight consecutive double-digit win seasons. In 2013, Johnson coached the doubles tandem of Shea Thomas and Jorge Azuero to the program's first-ever ITA Atlantic Region championship, defeating No. 17 ranked Andreas Bjerrehus and Amerigo Contini of Virginia Tech. The regional title earned Thomas and Azuero a berth in the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships in Flushing, N.Y. In their first match in Flushing, Thomas and Azuero upset No. 18 David O'Hare and Joe Salisbury of Memphis. Thanks to their success in the fall, Thomas and Azuero climbed to as high as No. 19 in the ITA national doubles rankings.
Johnson finished his playing career at Liberty with 31 singles victories, while posting a 34-32 mark playing at #1 and #2 doubles. Johnson finished both his junior and senior seasons with 10 singles victories, while completing his final year of competition with a 12-10 doubles record.
Johnson helped the Flames post a combined 32-38 record during his four-year career. Liberty was competing in just its third season at the NCAA Division I level during Johnson's freshman year (1991), and he was a member of Liberty's first-ever tennis team to compete in the Big South Conference in 1992. During his playing career, Johnson was honored as a member of the Big South Presidential Honor Roll.
Johnson, a native of Hickory, N.C., his wife Audrey and the couple's three children, Landon, Ashleigh and Alyssa, live in Forest, Va.
