Photo courtesy of Daemen University Athletics
BY: WILL NUNN; CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, SPORTS EDITOR
St. Bonaventure University is finalizing a deal to hire Daemen University’s Mike MacDonald as the next men’s basketball head coach, per ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
MacDonald, a 1988 graduate of Bonaventure, has spent 27 years on the sidelines across all three NCAA divisions, winning a total of 461 games as a head coach.
In his 12 seasons at Daemen, MacDonald coached to a 232-84 record, and earned five NCAA Tournament berths. This season, the Wildcats went 33-2, including a perfect 16-0 in the East Coast Conference, before falling in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Division II Championship.
MacDonald is not without Division I experience, having spent nine seasons as the head coach at Canisius University between 1997-2006. He finished with a 108-153 record with the Golden Griffins, winning 20 games in a season just once.
MacDonald inherits a Bonaventure program that has been guided under the steady hand of Mark Schmidt for the past 19 seasons. Schmidt won 20 games seven times in his tenure and was named Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year twice.
MacDonald is set to return to his alma mater, becoming the 20th head coach in program history.
