McLennan adds assistant baseball coach, dance director

The McLennan Community College baseball and dance programs have named new assistants to their coaching staff.

Tyler Johnson will join head coach Mitch Thompson's baseball staff as assistant coach this fall. Johnson comes to McLennan from Blinn College where he served as an assistant coach for a year. At Blinn, Johnson worked with catchers, outfielders and hitters while coaching first base on game days. Johnson spent the 2017 season as an intern for player development in the Texas Rangers organization. He was assigned to the Hickory (North Carolina) Crawdads and spent some time as a bullpen catcher in addition to his intern duties. His previous coaching experience includes summer baseball camps at the University of Texas at Austin and three years as a summer coach for the Frozen Ropes organization in McKinney. While with the Frozen Ropes, Johnson helped lead teams to the Connie Mack World Series.

As a player, Johnson began his collegiate career at Navarro College where he was a two-time academic all-conference selection, a team captain and helped lead the Bulldogs to a conference championship in 2015. He transferred to Concordia University and earned academic all-conference honors both seasons with the Tornados. He was named to the President's List at Navarro and was on the Dean's List for four semesters at Concordia.

Johnson earned an associate degree from Navarro in 2015, graduating magna cum laude. He received a bachelor's degree in business administration/management from Concordia in 2017, graduating summa cum laude. He is the son of Skip Johnson, the head baseball coach for the University of Oklahoma.

Former MCC Dance Company member Ashlee Hendrex returns to the program as an assistant director. Hendrex was a member of the MCC squad that claimed back-to-back NDA National Championships in 2009 and 2010, and she was a 2010 NDA All-American. She transferred to Sam Houston State University and was a three-year member of the Orange Pride Dance Team. During her time with the squad, the Orange Pride won three consecutive NDA National Championships. She served as the team captain for a year, was the Rookie of the Year in 2012 and was a two-time Veteran of the Year. Hendrex received a bachelor's degree in kinesiology from Sam Houston in 2013 and a paralegal certificate from the University of Houston in 2014. She has spent the last three years as a paralegal for Fernelius Simon, PLLC and was a choreographer with HTE Dance Company for a year.