McDonald joined the Tornado staff in October of 2021 following a stint at Ohio University. In his first year in Bristol, McDonald helped the Tornado to an eighth place Conference Carolinas finish in 2021-22.

Year-by-Year Season Recaps

2023-24: King made history in 2023-24, winning their first Conference Carolinas tournament game in the Jason Gillespie era. After finishing the regular season with a 10-19 overall record, the Tornado earned the nine seed in the Atlantic Casualty Conference Carolinas tournament, beating eight-seed Young Harris 97-79. Mikhail Pocknett, in addition to being named All-Conference Carolinas, was named the Conference Carolinas Freshman of the Year. Amarius Beasley was named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District team for the second consecutive season.

2022-23: The Tornado finished 7-22 overall while going 6-14 in Conference Carolinas play. King qualified for the Conference Carolinas Men's Basketball Championship, falling to Francis Marion in the first round. Michael Mays was selected second team All-Conference Carolinas and eclipsed the 1,000-career point mark. Jaylen Bernard and Amarius Beasley garnered College Sports Communicators Academic All-District honors.

2021-22: King opened the season on a high note with wins over regional rivals UVA Wise and Carson-Newman. However, the Tornado struggled to find consistency throughout a season filled with narrow defeats. King closed with back-to-back home victories to finish eighth in the Conference Carolinas standings with a record of 11-13. The Tornado dropped the Conference Carolinas Men's Basketball Championship first round game to Francis Marion at Mount Olive to end the season with a 14-15 record. Michael Mays led the league in three-point field goals and three-point field goal percentage as he was selected third team All-Conference Carolinas. The Tornado ranked near the top of the league in scoring and field goal percentage. On the defensive end, King led the league in opponent three-point field goal percentage and ranked second in steals per game.

Prior to King

McDonald spent the last two years at Ohio where he helped coordinate the Bobcats’ travel and other logistics. One of McDonald’s main duties was scouting and film, creating and cutting film that helped the Bobcats prepare. In his second season with the Bobcats, Ohio won the Mid-American Conference (MAC) championship and defeated the defending national champions, University of Virginia in the NCAA Tournament. McDonald worked with Jason Preston who was selected in the 2021 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers.

Over the summer of 2021, McDonald was selected as the head coach for Identity Hoops International. He coached a team of NCAA Division II and NAIA players on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic. Prior to the trip, McDonald helped with the fundraising efforts. While in the Dominican Republic, the team finished 3-2, and upon the conclusion of competition helped with community service projects that including painting a church and conducting a basketball clinic.

From 2014-17, McDonald served as the director of basketball operations at Western Carolina University. His duties with the Catamounts included creating newsletters for alumni as well as scouting and film editing. He also scheduled all the travel for road trips. While at Western Carolina, he helped coach 2,000-point scorer Trey Sumler.

Personal

McDonald graduated from Western Carolina in 2016 with a degree in sport management and minor in coaching. Prior to that, he was a sergeant in the United State Marine Corps for eight years.