Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois has announced the hiring of Mario McDonald as a new assistant coach with the program. This is the start of McDonald’s coaching career after swimming five years on the varsity at Big Ten rivals Ohio State.
McDonald was a three-time NCAA Championship qualifier. In 2023 as a junior and 2024 as a senior, he swam as a member of Ohio State relays, while in 2025 he broke through to qualify individually in the 50 and 100 freestyles. He placed 62nd and 41st in those events, respectively, at the meet.
A sprinter by trade, McDonald graduated from Ohio State with lifetime bests of 18.97 in the 50 free and 42.48 in the 100 free. His time in the 50 free ranks him 4th all-time in program history behind only Matt Klinge (18.78), U.S. Olympian Hunter Armstrong (18.93), and Daniel Baltes (18.96). Three of those four swam their best times last season.
McDonald was a five-time OSU Scholar-Athlete, four-time Academic All-Big Ten recipient, a 2023 and 2025 Big Ten Distinguished Scholar, and a five-time CSCAA Honorable Mention All-American on relays.
The Northwestern men scored 29 points in the 50 free and 17 points in the 100 free at last year’s Big Ten Championships. Those 46 combined points ranked them tied-for-5th among Big Ten programs at the meet, which is better than their 7th place overall performance.
The women’s team punched above their weight class in the sprints as well. They scored 53 Big Ten points, which was 6th out of 14 teams – they placed 9th overall as a team.
McDonald joins a staff led by head coach Rachel Stratton-Mills. Returning assistants include Margaret Howe, Jacob Siar, and Eddie Larios.
McDonald replaces Joe Bonk, another former top-end NCAA sprinter, who spent one season as an assistant at Northwestern.
“We’re excited to welcome Mario to our staff,” Stratton-Mills said. “Coming off an accomplished career in the Big Ten, he brings a firsthand understanding of what it takes to succeed at the highest level of our conference. His perspective, energy, and passion for the sport will be a great asset as we continue to elevate our program.”
He earned his M.S. in Kinesiology at Ohio State.
Wow, if the negativity of these comments was portrayed by any of the other candidates for the job, no wonder NU went with Mario. Most long time club coaches would never want to take the salary or the moves that come with being a starting level assistant college coach. Coaching experience is great, but already knowing the workings of a B1G team, personally having experienced NCAA’s, having his master’s degree, and offering positivity to the team are important & you can’t discount that. Congratulations & best of luck to Mario!
As someone how started out as a club coach and then became a D1 assistant in his 30’s, let me ask the club coaches in the comment two questions.
Are you willing to take a pay cut, move your family wherever you need to, work 50 hours a week in the office on the deck PLUS the amount of time you have to dedicate for recruiting, deal with University bureaucracy, and be ready to lose that job if the head leaves/is fired after your first year on the job?
The answer to any of those is “no”, then take a step back from criticizing how other people run their programs and the decisions they make.
Currently get paid for 25 hours a week while working 50
So yes
You just described the reality for a lot of club coaches—long hours on deck and in the office, recruiting year-round, navigating boards, parent politics, and USA Swimming bureaucracy, and dealing with the instability of contracts that can disappear if enrollment dips or a board changes direction. The difference? Many club coaches do it without the benefits, scholarships to offer, or institutional backing that college programs have. Taking a pay cut or moving isn’t the barrier—it’s that too many D1 jobs are filled based on connections first, qualifications second. So maybe the “step back” should go to those pretending club coaches don’t already live the grind every day.
Everybody should remember that, a few seasons back, coaching staffs could only have so many paid members. A position like the one Mario is filling may have previously existed only for a graduate or volunteer assistant. These roles usually focus more on the day-to-day operations like meals, setting up/breaking down practice, etc. Now that it’s a paid position, he’s probably getting less than $40k.
To all of these “expert” and “20-year veteran” club coaches out there, do you really want to try to live in Chicago on $40k just to have minimal influence over the overall training scheme of the program and do what you would probably consider menial tasks?
If you really cared about breaking into the college ranks,… Read more »
That’s a pretty dismissive take that ignores the real issue.
It’s not that people aren’t “looking hard enough” — it’s that schools keep saying experience matters and then pass over proven, veteran coaches for cheaper, less-experienced hires. Plenty of club coaches have applied to those Miami, Cornell, Bates, and Fordham jobs — and got told they don’t have “college experience,” which is just a convenient way to keep them out.
I’ve applied for over 200 open positions over the last decade. Less each year as the result is the same, just as swimws has eluded to
Speaking from my experience, I was a D1 volunteer assistant for an SEC school. Every opening for D1 I applied for. Every opening from the NCAA market. I sent emails to the head coaches with my resume attached. Guess how many interviews I had in those years of applying? 1. The job I ended up with was at a mid major that my friend called ahead for me. Experience doesn’t matter.
And people wonder why USA swimming is struggling. Hiring a bunch of yes men and using the good ol boy network has led to our downfall.
Lets look at Head Coach Rachel Stratton-Mills’ past. A club coach in California and New York before she got the gig at ASU. More years as a club coach than her expirence in the college enviroment. Her employemt of staff is her choice. Probally got a glowing recomendation from Bill at OSU. Now, she has to educate, mentor and guide this young coach. Time will tell. Gook luck to all.
Life isn’t fair. Time to realize that and work harder for everyone complaining that they deserve college job!
I don’t think the issue is working harder
Hard work in the pool doesn’t equal coaching experience—plenty of proven coaches get passed over for people who haven’t earned it.
Maybe work harder networking then
💯 everyone crying around. “But I coached club for 484783 years.” Ok and? Maybe you ask the 100 or whatever college coaches that turned you down for jobs why they didn’t hire you? Maybe you are a better club coach?
So much entitlement it’s ridiculous
Funny how “experience matters” turns into “you’re just a club coach” the second someone qualified applies—sounds less like entitlement and more like insecurity.
As politely as I can say and ask this I am. If you have seriously applied for 200 jobs and all were no’s or nothings, have you taken a step back to figure out what the problem is or sent your resume out to head coaches and asked them? Maybe something is missing.
Every job I’ve ever gotten has been somewhat in part to who I knew. This is no different. The OSU knows this kid, knows what it takes to be a good asst coach, and believes he can do it. Pretty simple.
There could be better candidates out there but because of the relationship he has with the staff, I can see why they choose him.
And remember just because he doesn’t have much experience doesn’t mean he won’t be really good.
I wonder what would happen if we applied “just because he doesn’t have much experience doesn’t mean he won’t be really good” to our recruiting for college teams.
I’ve been TOLD by coaches during interviews they won’t hire me because I have “too much” experience (as a current collegiate coach).
They want people who won’t rock the boat.
As a current club coach who has 20 seasons experience as a head club coach and head high school coach (17 total years coaching), former d1 all conference swimmer, who has coached several all Americans, let me just say it’s disheartening everytime I see someone jump into collegiate coaching when I know there are hundreds more like me who have had that be one of their biggest coaching goals, but keep getting turned down.
Nothing against Mario, but this sucks for those of us in this camp. I know at this point, it’s never happening, and when I realize that my career trajectory is basically dead flat where it is, the depression that comes from the reality of “do… Read more »
you have exprience, connections, understanding about your rights …. etc. etc… you know
People don’t like hearing it, but the reality is that being a club coach is just not the track to being a D1 head coach. I worked with one of the most accomplished club coaches in the country, who had coached a world champion and Olympic medalist, and he struck out on multiple D1 job interviews before ultimately taking a club job that paid significantly more than any of them.
I have been a club coach for 15 years myself, because I love the process of developing kids from pre-competitive swimmers to college athletes. But If I had serious goals of coaching D1 college swimming down the road, then I wouldn’t be coaching club.
That’s a good point to make, but this is about being an ASSISTANT coach. Assistant college coaching jobs should be positions that club coaches can step into and (re)learn how college coaching world works.
Yes, but a job like this is ultimately taken to get on the track to being a college head coach. I guess a coach with 10+ years of club experience could step into a position like this and do fine, but why would they want to?
It doesn’t pay well, the hours are insane, and you have to move if you don’t already live near the campus. This isn’t a job you get after paying your dues for ten years, it’s a job you get TO pay your dues.
If you’re a halfway decent coach, then you’re already able to get a much better club job. If you have 10+ years of experience and this is a still… Read more »
Bingo
Because of the things being a college coach brings. If you already don’t get paid well as a club head coach due to city ownership, the pay argument means nothing
Typically better benefits, pathway to being a college head coach.
I think you are comparing two very different jobs here. Yes they are both coaching but between a head club coach and an assistant college coach there are barely any similarities
Is college coaching really that big of a deal? You make it sound like the holy grail.
Except for high end positions in Power 4 conferences, most college coaches (including the head coaches) are paid substantially less than successful club coaches, and have far less control about a lot of things than club coaches. The AD, compliance, school policies, recruiting, team travel and name-your-next-thing are not fun. And don’t forget diving, with their own recruiting, scheduling, etc.
The two true “upgrades” (if you can call them that) for college coaching over club are:
Facility – usually unlimited access, though not always better
Parents – mostly out of your hair (emphasis on “mostly”)
Sure, medical and/or retirement benefits may be… Read more »
I don’t see clubs dropping head coaches for lack of swimmer performance like other sports. If clubs were aggressive at hiring proven coaches, I think you would see the sport be elevated. Coaches would be coaching to get kids faster
I’ll go into more depth as to why I feel this way (hopefully this isn’t rambling on)
Coming out of college swimming, looking back I was somewhat misled by my then college coach. He told me that if I could go and show that I could quickly develop kids into D1/2/3 athletes, that would be somewhat lucrative for a college head coach to bring me on staff.
I took a head coaching job for $14/hr that was part time. No benefits, capped at 25 hours per week (I spend double that running the thing), team owned by the local city because that’s the only way you can get pool access. But I was hungry enough to work towards the… Read more »