Johnson adds two assistants, including a familiar face

New Georgia baseball coach Wes Johnson has added two assistants to his staff, and one is a familiar name.

UGASports has confirmed a report by Kendall Rogers of D1Baseball.com that Brock Bennett will remain on staff. An Atlanta native, Bennett first joined the staff of former head coach Scott Stricklin, serving as the team’s first base coach.

Popular among Bulldog players, Bennett told UGASports in a telephone interview Thursday night that his phone has been “blowing up” with messages from current players, happy that he’s going to remain on staff.

‘I think there’s a bit of a relief,’ Bennett said. “They’ve been texting and calling me; they’re excited. I wouldn’t say it’s relaxing, but for them, I think it’s nice to know that there’s going to be a familiar face.”

Bennett joins former Mississippi State player and Kentucky assistant/recruiting coordinator Will Coggin, who has been with the Wildcats since the 2020 season. Prior to working at Kentucky, Coggin served as an assistant coach/recruiting coordinator at Mississippi State.

“He’s a good one,” Bennett said of Coggin. “He’s been in the league a while; he’s done a really good job. He builds programs, gets players, has a great hitting mind, and does a good job. All his players really like him. He’s well respected in the industry and works really hard.”

Bennett, who will coach Georgia’s catchers along with helping Coggin with Bulldog hitters, said the opportunity to coach with Johnson literally came out of the blue.

“A couple of weeks ago, we cleaned everything out, and started the process of selling the house,” Bennett said. “Three days ago, Wes reached out and offered me the job today. It happened quickly.”

Bennett said he had a couple of jobs in the works and was trying to decide which one to make a move on. Johnson’s offer to remain at Georgia changed everything.

“When something happens like that, the first thing you think about is, what am I going to do next, where am I going to coach, what am I going to do? Bennett said. “But he called me and asked if I’d be interested in coming back. Obviously, the No. 1 goal from there was once the thought crossed my mind, I realized how bad I wanted to be in Athens and be back at Georgia.”