St. Bonaventure only needed to look an hour away to find its next men’s basketball coach.
The Bonnies reached an agreement with Daemen University coach Mike MacDonald Monday, a month after announcing longtime coach Mark Schmidt was retiring. MacDonald graduated from St. Bonaventure in 1988.
In 29 seasons as a head coach, MacDonald has gone 522-86 in stints with Canisius University, Medaille and Daemen. MacDonald is the only coach in NCAA history with over 100 wins apiece at the Division I, II and III levels.
MacDonald got his first job as a graduate assistant for Canisius in 1988 and was promoted to full-time assistant in 1990. He was retained when John Beilein replaced Marty Marbach as head coach in 1992.
When Beilein left for Richmond in 1997, MacDonald was promoted to head coach. He spent nine seasons at the helm, going 108-153. After going 37-35 in the MAAC during his first four seasons, the Golden Griffins went 30-60 over his final five years before being replaced by Tom Parrotta, who went 30-78 during conference play over six seasons.
Medaille hired MacDonald in 2006 and went 149-73 in eight seasons, reaching the NCAA Division III Tournament three times. His first season at Medaille (11-14) was the last he finished below .500.
In 2014, Daemen hired MacDonald and won the USCAA Division I national championship in his first season before guiding the Wildcats through a transition to NCAA Division II the following year. Under MacDonald, Daemen went 265-86, with six NCAA Tournament appearances and a pair of Elite Eight berths, including this season.
Over the last two seasons, MacDonald’s teams went 61-3, with two losses coming in the tournament. Daemen finished the regular season unbeaten in 2025 and held a double-digit lead on Lander (South Carolina) before losing 77-74 in the Elite Eight this season.
The man MacDonald is replacing, Schmidt, went 340-255 in 19 seasons with St. Bonaventure. The Bonnies made three NCAA Tournaments under Schmidt, winning a First Four game in 2018. The Bonnies also went to the CBI in 2011 and three NITs, including a semifinal run in 2022.
But since reaching the NIT semifinals, St. Bonaventure hasn’t finished higher than seventh in the Atlantic 10. And there were high expectations for the Bonnies after alumnus Adrian Wojnarowski scrapped the three-year balance of $20 million on his ESPN contract to become the program’s general manager ahead of the 2024-25 season.
Wojnarowski also helped Schmidt land Joe Grahovac, one of the top junior college players in the country. The 6-foot-10 center averaged just 4.5 points and three rebounds, starting 14 of 34 games, last season as the Bonnies floundered.
St. Bonavanture finished 17-17 and 4-14 in the Atlantic 10, tying for last place. Schmidt led the Bonnies to a pair of wins in the A-10 tournament after it was announced he wouldn’t return the following season, but it was his worst conference finish since his first season in 2008.
Schmidt finished his career as the winningest coach in program history.