By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — After an extensive search, the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team has their next head coach in Mike MacDonald, per Pete Thamel and other reliable sources.
MacDonald, who comes with 29 years’ worth of experience as a men’s college basketball head coach, is set to make it official with the Bonnies on March 31 after having been at Div. II Daemen University since the 2014-15 season.
Reportedly, the Bonnies were intrigued by the idea of a Div. II hire following the recent successes of former Div. II coaches Josh Shertz, who just signed an extension at Saint Louis after leading the Billikens to an A10 regular season title and the NCAA Tournament, and Ben McCollum, who reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament with Iowa this year.
MacDonald, a ‘88 Bona alumnus, has not only been the one of the winningest head coaches in all of Div. II, amassing a 61-3 record over the last two seasons, but has led Daemen to the second-best win percentage of any NCAA basketball team over the last two years (95.3%). Only Div. II Nova Southeastern has a better percentage. Duke sits just behind Daemen in the category.
Those wins carried all the more value for those involved in the head coaching search considering MacDonald was able to achieve this success amidst the ever-ruthless transfer portal/NIL era. In fact, MacDonald turned Daemen into a juggernaut at the Div. II level with only five full scholarships at his disposal.
Since the portal/NIL era began (2021-22), MacDonald has amassed a record of 126-29, an 81.3% win rate. He is also the only coach in history to have recorded 100+ wins at every level (Div. I, II, III).
Being a graduate of the university, along with his evaluation, development and retention, elite offensive and defensive metrics and strong ties to the local and regional community, made him the right man for the job in the eyes of the decision makers.
There is no current set date or time for a press conference, but one will be set in the coming days, per sources.
More stats on MacDonald:
– 522-312 (62.7%) in 29 years of coaching.
– 12 straight seasons of 19+ wins (excluding COVID year)
– 9 straight seasons of 20+ wins
– Retained 13 of 14 eligible players from Daemen’s 2024-25 team (28-1, 16-0 in conference) en route to another unbeaten conference season and East Regional Championship this season.
– In 2024-25 Daemen spent 3 weeks at No. 1 in the AP Poll
– Since 24-25, MacDonald is 7-1 vs. ranked opponents, 18-3 vs. NCAA Tournament teams and 4-2 in the NCAA Tournament.
– Has coached three ECC Player of the Year winners, one of which (Andrew Sischo) being a three-time winner and an All-American.
– Top 5 nationally in points per possession allowed (0.92)
– Top 21 in points per possession (last two seasons)
– Top 70 in assists rate (three straight years.
– 149-73 at Div. III Medaille College (2006-2014) where he was a 4x CoY led the turnaround of the program into a consistent contender
– 108-153 at Div. I Canisius College (1997-2006) where he is top three in program history in wins and was named BCANY Co-CoY after a 20-win season in 2000-01
