PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Mike McDonald has been the head girls basketball coach at Archbishop Wood High School in Warminster since 2015. On his watch, the Vikings have been an elite program in Pennsylvania, winning three state titles.
Basketball has always been a huge part of McDonald's life, as he played in high school and college. Both his parents were coaches, and he talked about when the idea of coaching really appeared on his radar.
"I didn't think about coaching early on. Some people told me I could maybe make a good coach when I was in high school. One of my best friend's dad always recommended it to me. But I just wanted to play," he recalled.
"I loved playing and then I just got to a certain age where I realized I wasn't going to be able to continue playing and my mom was still the head coach at [Cardinal Dougherty High School]. So fresh out of college, maybe even in college, I used to go back and help her at practices when I could and that's kind of how I started into it."
McDonald's first state title as head coach came in his first full season at the helm at Wood in 2016. He remembered a special moment after winning the crown.
"We're on the bus going back to Wood, everybody kind of splits up, there's going to be a get together after that to celebrate. I kind of had to detour, I went somewhere else and met, who is now my fiancée, she was my girlfriend at the time, but I kind of met up with her, just to stop and have a breath," recounted McDonald.
"Because that was really the first time where I could kind of breathe, relax. It was just kind of final. We did it. That was it. I still remember the moment. I was like, 'I can't go celebrate yet, I kind of just need to have a moment by myself, away from everything,' and it was kind of an emotional thing. I'm getting emotional now just thinking about it again."
You can listen to the entire interview with Mike McDonald by checking out the latest episode, above, of the KYW Newsradio original podcast "1-on-1 with Matt Leon." For more, subscribe on the Audacy app or wherever you get your podcasts.