Longtime head women's soccer coach Chris Johnson joined the IU Indianapolis administrative staff in January 2025 after 22 seasons on the Jaguars sidelines. The Indianapolis-native spent more than 30 years as a collegiate head coach and closed as the IU Indy program's all-time wins leader (160). He took over a program in its infancy in 2003 and established a recognizable name, taking the Jaguars to two NCAA Tournaments and coaching a collection of All-Region, Scholar All-Region, All-League and All-District performers. He was a three-time league Coach of the Year, as chosen by his peers.
His 2009 Jaguars totaled a school record 17 wins and captured a second straight Summit League regular season co-championship. From there, Johnson’s team rolled to wins over North Dakota State and South Dakota State in The Summit League Tournament to earn the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament berth. For his achievements, he earned his third Summit League Coach of the Year Award and became the first head coach in league history to win back-to-back honors in the process. The Jags rattled off a school record 12 straight wins at one point, ranking second only to Stanford’s win streak for the longest in the country.
His second NCAA Tournament team came in 2017, led by both a potent offense and a tough defense. That team amassed a 14-6-3 mark and 6-2-1 Horizon League record and then rallied past Northern Kentucky in the semifinals round of the league tournament. The Jags then played top-seeded Milwaukee to a scoreless draw and advancing in penalty kicks, 4-3.
In addition to on-field success, Johnson's program always performed remarkably well in the classroom and routinely ranked among the department's best in community service hours and university-wide Top 100 Student selections.
Prior to coming to IUPUI, Johnson spent nine years building the women’s soccer program at the University of Indianapolis. As the first coach in school history, Johnson compiled an 81-79-2 record, including a 13-5-1 mark in 2001. That season, his Greyhounds reached the No. 24 spot in the NCAA Division II polls on Oct. 1. Johnson also put the program in the polls on Sept. 16, 1997 after defeating two nationally ranked teams. He helped his teams improve from 1-8-0 in their initial campaign in 1994 to 12-7-0 by 1996.
Johnson spent one season as an assistant coach with the Greyhounds’ men’s soccer program in 1993 and also worked for the Indianapolis Public Schools in the Business Magnet Program at Northwest High School for three years.
Collegiately, Johnson was a four-year letterwinner at St. Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Indiana. While there, he helped the team to its first-ever winning season, first national ranking and first trip to the conference finals. He served as team captain as a senior and graduated from SJC with a degree in accounting in May 1991.
He and his wife, Andrea, have two children - Quinn and Maren - and reside in Indianapolis.
