North Carolina Central University Athletics

Vashion Johnson enters his fourth season as head coach of the NC Central softball program in 2019-20. Johnson returned to the North Carolina Central University softball program for the third time, this time as head coach, in September of 2016.

For a second straight season Johnson guided the Lady Eagles to a record-setting campaign in the spring of 2019. NCCU won an NCAA Division I era best 23 games, including its best record in MEAC play at 10-5. The Lady Eagles won two games in the MEAC Championship, including a win against the top seed from the Northern Division to finish fourth in the postseason tournament. Johnson coached four All-MEAC award winners (another program record). 

Johnson's impact on the program became prevalent in 2018, leading the Lady Eagles to their most successful season in the program's DI era at the time with 20 wins. NCCU posted its first winning MEAC record (8-7) that season and made its best run at the MEAC Tournament, finishing third. He coaches two All-MEAC honorees, including transfer pitcher Courtney Mirabella, who broke nearly every NCCU modern-era pitching record in 2018. 
 
Johnson, who served as an assistant softball coach for NCCU on two occasions, returns to the Triangle after winning a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) softball championship as an assistant coach at Florida A&M University in 2016. He previously served as an assistant coach for the Lady Eagles from 2014-15 and as a volunteer from 2000-01.
 
Johnson has eight years of NCAA head coaching experience in his tenure at Slippery Rock University from 2004-11. Under Johnson, The Rock broke over 42 school records and he is the program’s all-time wins leader with a 184-156 career record. Johnson guided SRU to the NCAA tournament in 2008 and had a total of five winning seasons.
 
After Slippery Rock, Johnson returned to NCCU and was part of the Eagles’ coaching staff that set the program’s Division I era record for wins with 18 in his last season. He then left to FAMU and won a MEAC title in his only year with the Rattlers.
 
In addition, the veteran coach of 17 years has been in collegiate dugouts at Presbyterian College (2013), Montreat College (2012) and North Carolina A&T State University (2002); as well as high school head coaching experience at Harvest Baptist High School and local Immaculata Catholic High School.
 
Johnson received a Bachelor of Arts degree in African American history and political science from Morris College in 2000, where he was a four-time All-Eastern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference performer on the baseball team and broke the school record for career home runs. He went on to earn his MBA in international business in 2011 from Salem International University.
 
Johnson also served in the U.S. Marines and is a Desert Storm veteran. He received an honorable discharge from the Marines in 1996 after serving in ground support hydraulics for GSE and Cobras.
 
While in the U.S. Marines, Johnson received a Good Conduct medal, Rifle Sharpshooter badge, National Defense Service medal, Navy and Marine Overseas Service ribbon, Navy Sea Service Deployment ribbon, Humanitarian Service medal, Armed Forced Service medal and the Armed Forces Expeditionary medal.
 
Johnson is a member of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association and Black Coaches' Association. Johnson and his wife Natalie, who is an NCCU graduate, have two daughters, Lovie and Devin, and one son, Beau.