Mike McDonald Announces Coming Season Will Be His Last

Effingham High School football coach Mike McDonald confirmed Friday that the coming football season will be his last.

Coach Mac let his players know of his decision Thursday night. He has submitted his resignation as coach and expects the Unit 40 school board will act on the decision at their August board meeting. He said, "I wanted it out before the season started."

It had been expected McDonald would remain as coach at least through the 2015 season, since he is retiring as a teacher after the 2015-16 school year. When asked why he felt it was time to retire after this coming season, Coach mentioned several factors. One is his mother's health and not being able to take time off for her without feeling guilty about missing things related to football. Another is his wife, Gena, not having to be a football widow anymore. Gena McDonald is also a teacher at EHS and has helped behind the scenes in various ways. The commitment to football is another key for Coach Mac. He said, "I expect myself to be at everything the kids are expected to attend."

McDonald said he's also not in agreement with the changes the IHSA has made in football regarding acclimatization, changes he says have made things a lot tougher. He also said, "it's just time for somebody younger to take over the program and hopefully take it to the next level."

One thing McDonald is pleased about is that his son, Andy, will return this season as an assistant coach. The coach said, "it's something I'd talked with the administration about and that (Andy returning) made it easier". He's pleased that other former players such as Curran McNeely, Aaron Adams and Kyle Garland are working with the program, and that more teachers in the high school building are getting involved in the football program again. He noted the addition of Derek Logue as an assistant coach is a positive one, saying Logue is a good young coach.

Coach Mac's final season will be his 23rd as varsity coach. It'll be his 33rd year in the football program; the 34th if you count his work with the program as a student teacher and coach. He reminded that he worked with the freshman program assisting Monty Nohren.

As to memories, McDonald said he'd rather wait until after the season. He said, "hopefully, we'll make some more memories this season."