ST. PAUL, Minn. – Macalester College Director of Athletics Donnie Brooks has announced that Mary Johnston will be the head volleyball coach at Macalester. Johnston has been the head coach at Franklin (Ind.) College for the past 11 seasons and was named the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year following the 2020-21 campaign. She will start at Macalester on July 15.

"We are thrilled to add an experienced and successful coach such as Mary to our coaching staff," Brooks said. "Throughout the hiring process, Mary's focus on the entire student-athlete set her apart and made her the best fit for this program moving forward. She is a proven program-builder, and we are excited to see where her leadership will take our volleyball team."

"The mission of Macalester College and the opportunity to work with the athletic staff and students are really what drew me to Macalester," Johnston said. "I want to thank Donnie Brooks and the search committee for the opportunity to lead the Macalester volleyball program, and I am excited to get started and work with the student-athletes and staff."

This past season, Johnston guided the Grizzlies to a 10-6 record overall and a 7-2 mark in the HCAC. The seven league wins are the most since 2002 and earned the team its highest seed (third) in the HCAC Tournament since 2002. During the season, Franklin received its first national ranking in the program's history and was ranked as high as 17th. Highlights on the court included a 3-0 upset victory over No. 3 Transylvania. Five Grizzlies were named All-HCAC, while one was chosen the conference's Defensive Player of the Year.

Johnston turned around a Grizzlies program that had won a combined seven matches in the two seasons prior to her arrival at Franklin. After steady improvement over her first four seasons, Johnston led her team to back-to-back appearances in the semifinals of the HCAC Tournament in 2014 and 2015. Her career record at Franklin is 130-173, including 111-108 over the last eight seasons.

Johnston's teams at Franklin also improved academically, raising its team grade-point average from 2.85 in 2009 to 3.47 this past academic year. The Grizzlies also have earned the AVCA Team Academic Award in each of the past five years. In addition to her role as volleyball coach, Johnston served as Assistant Director of Athletics and Senior Woman Administrator, representing Franklin at NCAA and HCAC meetings. She also was the advisor for the Grizzlies' Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

Prior to her time at Franklin, Johnston was an assistant coach and athletics administrator at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J., for two seasons. She also coached the volleyball and softball teams at SUNY Canton in 2007-08 and was selected the Sunrise Conference Volleyball Coach of the Year after leading the team to an undefeated league record and a berth in the national tournament.

Johnston attended Medaille College in Buffalo, N.Y., where she played both volleyball and softball and earned All-North Eastern Athletic Conference honors in both sports. She graduated from Medaille in 2005 with a degree in sports management, and later earned a Master of Science in Education degree in higher education administration from Old Dominion University in 2007.

Macalester opens the 2021 season on Sept. 1 at Crown College in St. Bonifacius, Minn.