McDonald comes to JSU as a successful former semi-professional beach volleyball player for more than 20 years, with more than 16 years of coaching experience in addition to he playing career. He's tutored a variety of athletic levels from youth, club, collegiate and professional in both beach and indoor.
A member of the University of Louisville's club team in 1994, McDonald played for the USVBA Club Team until 2000. As a semi-professional beach player from 1995-2014, he registered over 75 open tournament titles across 15 states. He competed in qualifier events for the AVP Tour, the U.S. premier beach volleyball league, in Louisville, Cincinnati, Ft. Lauderdale and Chicago.
He won Derby Double Open titles in 2003, 2005, 2006, 2010 and 2014 at Baxter Jacks in Louisville, Ky., site of one of the premier beach volleyball complex's in the country where McDonald served as a private beach coach since 2000.
He was an indoor assistant at Southeast Indiana University in 2016, where the Grenadiers improved from their previous season's record to finish 23-14 and 12-4 in River States Conference matches.
McDonald graduated from Louisville with a B.S. in Health and Human Performance. He also completed the USA Volleyball's Beach Coaching Accreditation Program (1 and 2) in 2017 and 2018 at the first two NCAA beach volleyball national championships in Gulf Shores, Ala.
