By Journal Sports Staff
MARQUETTE — Assistant coach Ben Johnson of the Northern Michigan University golf teams has been promoted to associate head coach of those same Wildcat teams.
The university announced earlier this month that Johnson was promoted by Northern head coach Eric Johnson.
“Ben is a phenomenal coach that has done great things to grow the program in a short time,” Eric Johnson said in an NMU Sports Information news release. “This is very well deserved.”
Ben Johnson enters his second season with NMU after he became the teams’ assistant coach last August.
Primarily working with the women’s team, Ben Johnson oversaw the women capture their fifth team tournament victory in program history last season, along with capturing two runner-up finishes and guiding Maya Hunter as an individual golfer to this spring’s NCAA Division II Tournament, where she finished in a tie for 19th place.
“I am honored and excited for this opportunity,” Ben Johnson said. “I’m looking forward to getting this season started.”
Johnson is not only a Northern graduate after being a four-year member of the NMU men’s golf team, but he is now general manager of the NMU Golf Course in Chocolay Township.
He also has coaching experience at the high school varsity level with the Marquette Senior High School golf teams, along with stints behind the bench with the MSHS junior varsity hockey and various Marquette Junior Hockey youth teams.
The NMU women’s team has two meets listed for this fall. There is a trip to the Champions for Women’s Classic in Columbus, Ohio, on Sept. 16-17 and the Warrior Invitational hosted by Wayne State in downstate Washington in the far north Detroit suburbs on Sept. 23-24.
The Wildcat men have four meets on their slate for the fall — the Al Watrous Invitational hosted by Saginaw Valley State in Saginaw on Sept. 7-8, the Bulldog Classic hosted by Ferris State in Big Rapids on Sept. 16-17, the Motor City Shakedown hosted by Wayne State in Dearborn on Sept. 30-Oct. 1, and the Flyer Intercollegiate hosted by Lewis University in Lemont, Illinois, on Oct. 7-8.
Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.