Photo courtesy of gobonnies.com
BY: WILL NUNN; CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, SPORTS EDITOR
On Wednesday, St. Bonaventure University officially introduced Mike MacDonald as the 20th head coach in the history of the men’s basketball program. MacDonald takes over at the helm after the retirement of the program’s all-time wins leader Mark Schmidt.
A 1988 graduate of Bonaventure, MacDonald has spent 29 years patrolling collegiate sidelines as a head coach. He is the only head coach to rack up at least 100 victories in all three divisions of NCAA basketball.
In his most recent stint, a 12-year tenure at Daemen University, “Coach Mac” led the Wildcats to two East Coast Conference tournament championships and six NCAA Tournament appearances, including a trip to the Elite Eight in the 2025-26 season.
This success made his departure from Daemen a challenging decision, but MacDonald’s justification came from a simple repeated refrain: “because it’s Bonaventure.”
“It was really difficult to leave [Daemen],” said MacDonald. “We had it rolling, and we had a really good group of people. But, you know what? Because it’s Bonaventure.”
The search for the next Bonaventure basketball head coach was an arduous task for the administration, but from the beginning, all roads led to Mike MacDonald.
“This was a very diverse and thorough search,” said Bonaventure Vice President and Director of Athletics Bob Beretta. “We interviewed over 20 candidates. We talked to head coaches, assistant coaches. We talked to a lot of highly, highly, highly talented candidates. When I called someone to check on a reference, on more than one occasion, that person said ‘you got a guy right up the road that you really need to consider.”
“Throughout the search, we met with so many accomplished candidates,” said Dr. Jeff Gingerich, university president. “From the very beginning, Mike stood apart. Each time I spoke with Mike, I came away more impressed, not only with his basketball mind, but with his character, his humility and his deep understanding of what makes Bonaventure so special.”
MacDonald’s journey home to Bonaventure was an odyssey. He began his coaching career at Canisius, where he coached to a 108-153 record over nine seasons with the Golden Griffins from 1997-2006.
From 2006-2014, MacDonald coached at Division III Medaille University, where he became the school’s all-time leader in wins with 149. He credits his time there with helping him hone his coaching skillset.
“I’ve kind of coached backwards in some way,” MacDonald said. “I was a Division I head coach at 30 and I was let go when I was 40. I went down to Division III, which I thought was great for me because I could work on coaching, and that’s how you become a better coach, is by coaching.”
As he climbs the ranks back to Division I, MacDonald feels as though he has something to prove.
“20 years ago, they told me I wasn’t good enough to coach at Division I, and I’d like to differ,” said MacDonald. “I’m competitive still, and I want to try and prove that I can. I think I’m a way better coach now then I was 20 years ago from the experiences that I went through.”
In today’s age of collegiate athletics, the proliferation of NIL and the transfer portal has plagued programs who do not have the resources to keep up. For St. Bonaventure, these issues have been well-documented.
MacDonald understands the gravity of these issues at hand as he enters this new position, and plans to attack them astutely.
“We have to be smart,” said MacDonald. “We have money we can spend on people, so we’re gonna make sure we spend it wisely because our margin of error is less. Just because you have a lot of money doesn’t mean you’re going to win. You have to spend it wisely and make sure you make good decisions.
The easy way out, as MacDonald acknowledges, is staring Bonaventure in the face. The Bonnies will not back away from the daunting challenges that modern college basketball presents, but it will take more than just the new regime to compete with the biggest brands in the sport.
“We have teams who are paying close to $10 million in their payroll for men’s basketball,” said MacDonald. “It would be easy to just throw up your hands and give up. But we won’t, because it’s our future. We have to be creative. We will need a collaborative effort from the alumni, fans, students, everybody, for us to be successful.”
MacDonald believes that his model of success that he found at Daemen will work at the Division I level, despite the advent of NIL.
“I know this whole NIL thing has changed a lot,” said MacDonald. “But our goal is to try to recreate what we did at Daemen. To find a group of young men who can be selfless and want to play for the greater good.”
Within the first 24 hours of its opening on April 7, over 1,500 players entered the transfer portal. Four St. Bonaventure players–including three starters–are currently seeking new homes.
MacDonald had a knack for retaining talent at Daemen. 13 of 14 eligible players returned to Daemen after the team went 28-1 and fell in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in the 2024-25 season. He believes this comes down to the familial feeling that his teams had.
“I think the key is creating an environment where people want to be,” said MacDonald. “The grass is not always greener, so you have to have a spot where people enjoy playing with each other and they realize they can achieve what they want to achieve.”
MacDonald believes this is achievable in the enchanted mountains due to the passion and commitment of the Bonaventure faithful.
“People care,” said MacDonald. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a non-conference game in December, people care. If it’s a coaching search, people care. That’s what makes this place special. There are a lot of people who care about St. Bonaventure and want to see St. Bonaventure succeed, and we will work very hard to make this place successful.”
MacDonald has begun to build the staff he will be surrounded by on the sidelines. Per ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Bonaventure is set to hire veteran coaches Akbar Waheed, Clive Bentwick and Nick Fruscio as assistant coaches.
The aim for MacDonald was to build a supporting cast that not only brings experience and a love for the sport, but relationships in all areas of the game.
“We wanted people with connections,” said MacDonald. “Connections in the high school ranks, connections within the transfer portal. We also need guys who love to teach and love the game and are great connectors.”
Schematically, MacDonald gave no insight as to what he will deploy on the court. He plans to preach the same connectivity and selflessness that brought him to great success at Daemen.
“We want to be unselfish both offensively and defensively,” said MacDonald. “We want to play together, we want to be very tough and very connected on both ends of the floor.”
Returning to Bonaventure was once a pipe dream for Mike MacDonald. After his tenure at Canisius ended, it was a long road back to the Division I ranks. But sometimes, dreams do come true.
“It’s very humbling,” MacDonald said. “It’s something I never thought would happen in my life. By the grace of God, things kind of work out. It’s been a whirlwind of the last 10 days, but it’s a whirlwind that I’m very appreciative and very lucky and very thankful for.”
