Cole Johnson enters his third season as a Leatherneck men's soccer assistant coach after spending three seasons as an assistant at Lincoln College.
In 2014, Johnson assisted in guiding the Purple and Gold to their fourth consecutive Summit League Championship game. Western fell to Denver 3-1 and ended the season 9-7-3 overall and 3-2-1 in The Summit League in a four-way tie for first.
During the 2013 season, Johnson helped coach the Leathernecks to the Summit League Championship game where the Purple and Gold fell to Denver 1-0. Western ended the season with a record of 6-13 overall 3-3 in the conference with three All-Summit League selections  in Husref Jupic (First Team), Erick Bloom (Second Team), and Diego Lopez (Second Team). Lopez was also named to the All-Newcomer team while goalie Yves Dietrich was named to the Academic All-Summit League team.Â
While at Lincoln, Johnson helped the team to a pair of Central District championships and top-five national finishes.
After dropping the opening game at the 2010 nationals, the Lynx won the next two games by a combined 6-1 score to clinch fifth-place.
In 2011, Lincoln again lost its first game at nationals, but won its first consolation game and tied in the fifth-place game.
Over Johnson's three years, the Lynx had a combined record of 48-11-6.
He also helped coach four All-Americans, two conference Players of the Year, 11 All-Conference honorees and nine All-Region players in his three seasons.
Johnson spent time playing at Western Illinois under his father, head coach Dr. Eric Johnson, before moving on to Garden City Community College where he graduated in 2007.
At WIU, Cole becomes a member of his father's coaching staff for the first time, assisting a team which one of his younger brothers, Maclean Johnson, also plays on.
