By Thomas Albanese, QBSN Staff Writer

Jack McDonald has made a career out of a passion for athletics.  As Quinnipiac’s Director of Athletics and Recreation, McDonald turned the love of his own sport-driven past into the current, thriving climate of Bobcat athletics.

McDonald attended Archbishop Williams High School where he tried to participate in athletics as much as he could.

“My athletic career was the three greatest days of my life,” McDonald said. “After being cut in football, basketball, and baseball, I went out for the track and field team during my sophomore year since they don’t cut players.”

Track and field did for McDonald what it does for so many athletes that have the heart but maybe not the diverse skills needed in other sports.

“I know that if I made one of those teams, outside of track and field in high school, it would have never led me to get a full scholarship to attend Boston College.”

McDonald proved that he was worth every penny and he is still one of the greatest distance runners to ever wear the maroon and gold.

McDonald was the first in BC history to run a four-minute mile and won three New England Championships in the mile.

Just four years after graduation, BC offered him the men’s and women’s track and field head coach position.

McDonald enjoyed all his years being a coach, but he was not able to spend as much time with his family as he wanted. Then in 1987, Boston College promoted McDonald to Assistant Athletic Director of Marketing. McDonald ran the development, fundraising, concession and gift stands, game sales and other marketing tools at the school.

After holding the position for three years, McDonald left Boston College. Since the mile was such an important race in his life, it was only fitting that McDonald took his first job as an athletic director in The Mile-High City.

At the University of Denver, McDonald helped to build a new athletics building and changed the face of Denver’s athletic program by giving athletes the opportunity to play Division I.

When the chance to continue his career as an athletic director at a school in the Northeast came about, McDonald jumped at the opportunity.

McDonald’s next stop was at then, Quinnipiac College as the new athletic director in 1995. The potential transition to Division I for Quinnipiac, along with the beautiful campus, was a major draw for McDonald’s move to Hamden.

McDonald’s accomplishments at Quinnipiac are quite similar to his success at Denver.

In 2007, McDonald’s new basketball and hockey arena plans came to fruition at Quinnipiac’s nearby York Hill campus. The TD Banknorth Sports Center, as it was named in its inception, was the new home for the university’s men’s and women’s basketball and ice hockey teams. McDonald also helped facilitate the move to the Northeast Conference (NEC) in all its sports except for the ice hockey teams, which eventually made the move into the ECAC.

Through all of these transitions, McDonald stresses that it is all for the students donning the Quinnipiac jerseys.

“All of the day-to-day operations here are the most important things for all of the student athletes. They are my favorite part of the job in both a positive and negative way,” McDonald said.  “It’s positive because you are dealing with 450 student athletes everyday, and the negative part of that is that I am not their coach.”

“The experience that I had as a coach at Boston College really helped me to become a better athletic director throughout the years doing this work. Quinnipiac and I from day one have really fit in perfectly together,” he continued.

Quinnipiac has enjoyed plenty of success under McDonald at the Division I level, garnering 24 conference championships. In addition to the conference championships, Quinnipiac athletics has also seen 13 NCAA Tournament appearances with McDonald at the helm.

“All of the goals for each team at Quinnipiac is to make the NCAA Tournament after winning the conference. The success-failure part of this goal is to make the final four in the league, so we still have a long way to go,” McDonald said.

Billy Mecca, the Senior Associate Athletic Director at Quinnipiac for the past 15 years, has worked with McDonald since he arrived in Hamden as the new athletic director.

“It’s rare to be in a situation where you develop such a personal relationship with your boss, and I’ve been very blessed to watch first hand the incredible impact that Jack has had, not just on the athletic department, but the whole university,” Mecca said.

“I could not think of another guy to work for or work with than McDonald because of how much he really cares about making Quinnipiac’s athletic program into a great structure,” he continued.

McDonald attends as many athletic events on campus that he can, stressing athletes to work hard both athletically and in academics.

While still going strong, the thought of retirement for McDonald has risen, though the decision does not seem to be in the near future.

“I’m very fortunate in my health as I have an old body with a young mind, but in terms of retiring, I want to make sure that it is a year too early, more than a year too late,” McDonald said.

Moving forward, Quinnipiac’s leader in athletics looks to continue the long journey to help student athletes grow into the best men and women that they can be.