St. Bonaventure, the program that hired ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski as its general manager in 2024, is finalizing a deal to hire another outside-the-box candidate as its next head coach: Mike MacDonald, the coach at Division II Daemen.
A source briefed on the decision confirmed that MacDonald, 59, will be announced this week as St. Bonaventure’s next head coach after a 12-year run at Daemen, where he was 61-3 over the past two years. MacDonald was on John Beilein’s staff at Canisius and replaced Beilein as head coach in 1997, compiling a 108-153 record across nine seasons. ESPN first reported MacDonald’s hiring.
MacDonald replaces Mark Schmidt, who has retired after 19 seasons, a school-record 341 victories and three NCAA Tournament appearances at St. Bonaventure. Schmidt’s departure marked a reset for a program that hired Wojnarowski in hopes of becoming more competitive in the era of name, image and likeness. This year’s team started 11-2 but stumbled to a 4-14 finish in the Atlantic 10, prompting the school to part ways with Schmidt with a year remaining on his contract.
The decision angered fans who felt Schmidt deserved a more celebratory exit. In a March 17 open letter, athletic director Bob Beretta acknowledged the controversy and said the school was at an “inflection point.”
“We know that in order to attain our mission of building on the supreme legacy Mark Schmidt has built across two incredible decades as our head coach, we must identify the right leader to leverage all of these assets, maximize every resource and lean into the fabric of what makes St. Bonaventure so special — the rabid and undying passion and loyalty of each of you,” Beretta wrote.
St. Bonaventure pursued a different model by pairing MacDonald, a relatively low-profile coach, with Wojnarowski, a well-connected figure in NBA circles. MacDonald is expected to be among the lowest-paid coaches in the Atlantic 10, which could allow St. Bonaventure to spend more money on its roster.
Division II coaches are in the spotlight thanks to the success of Iowa’s Ben McCollum, who won four national championships at Northwest Missouri State and has the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Elite Eight in his first season. Josh Schertz, who led Saint Louis to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, also spent 13 seasons as a head coach in Division II before making the leap to Division I.
MacDonald had only two winning seasons in nine years at Canisius but built a dominant program at Daemen, located in Amherst, N.Y. This year’s team finished 33-2 and lost in the Elite Eight.