BIDDEFORD — Jack McDonald likes to say he is a son of New England.

Raised in Braintree, Massachusetts, the oldest of 11 children, he attended Boston College, where he not only competed in track but coached it. Since then he has served as the assistant athletic director for marketing at BC, the athletic director at the University of Denver and Quinnipiac University, all NCAA Division I schools.

McDonald, 64, was recently hired as the athletic director at the University of New England, a Division III school that has announced plans to add football and women’s rugby to its lineup of six men’s and nine women’s sports.

He and his wife, Linda, will be moving into a home on Biddeford Pool in the fall.

The Portland Press Herald recently sat down with McDonald to discuss his plans for the Nor’easters.

You announced your retirement in October from Quinnipiac but five months later accepted the position here. What happened in those five months to change your mind?

Well I think we can sort of give credit to women’s rugby, that’s what gets an assist for the relationship between myself and the University of New England. There was an announcement that (UNE) announced plans for the addition of football and women’s rugby, and somehow that trickled out to all the women’s rugby world.

I saw that and sent an email (to offer advice). This was a Saturday morning and I think within 30 seconds President (Danielle) Ripich replied back and said, ‘We need your help, would you come make a visit?’ And I did in January. I fell in love at the time with the location, the ocean, the campus, the leadership and the athletic staff. But I was not thinking about applying for the job at the time.

UNE started its search not long after that … Well come March things are starting to come down, the retirement parties were starting to happen. I was getting a little nervous. When you’ve been in athletics as long as I have, people were telling me all the time if you’re going to retire, make sure you’re going to stay busy and other opportunities will happen.

Sure enough, in April we were in contact (with UNE) again. I made an official visit and my admiration for the university in April was equal to or greater than it was in January because the snow had melted. And here we are.

You come to UNE at a time when President Ripich has said she wants to add football and women’s rugby by 2017. Is this what you’re here for?

I think some of the greatest academic institutes in the world are probably the Ivy Leagues, Stanford, Boston College. And what’s unique to all of them is that they all have a lot of varsity sports. MIT, too. I’m not sure we can ever get to that level, but … when students are busy and productive outside the classroom, they’re even better inside the classroom.

I think the addition of sports upgrades, the academic reputation, it upgrades whatever enrollment goals there are. I think we had great success doing that at Quinnipiac and at Boston College. We haven’t had a time to discuss this since my arrival but clearly (adding) new programs is something I’m looking forward to.

What will it take to add the programs?

Well, for the senior leadership and trustee approval, of course. There are facilities, you know. You need an office and athletic trainer, and sports information support. I think those are the kinds of things that as you add sports, it’s not just add a sport and hire a coach. We need to have people who want the facilities and resources.

Likewise the athletic department and/or that coach need to attract students to participate in that program so that they’ll help enrollment or help the bottom line of the university. And they have to be good students. But I think facilities is probably one that leads the list.

Do you think UNE will have a new football program in two years?

Yes very much so … again, once you have some of the required resources, coaching, sports information, sports medicine, and once you hire a good coach, things should fall right in line.

You still need facilities.

We’ve already had meetings with vice president for facility management Bill Bola and nothing’s been decided outside of we need a plan. And seeing what I’ve seen with the excellent quality of the Alfond Forum and some of the new facilities, the academic buildings, clearly President Ripich and the trustees do it right.

So what’s the next step for football?

Well in the recruitment of a coach, you obviously want to get the best coach you possibly can and you will need some sort of master plan for football. You know, obviously a locker room and a weight room, and athletic training. This is (adding) upwards of 100 students.

As beautiful as everything is, there’s not a room hanging around that’s empty that has space for 100 football players. But that’s what ultimately I think President Ripich and her vice president, John Tumiel, have to discuss. His role is to assist the president and me to developing this master plan for football, master plan for women’s rugby and master plan for athletics.

What are the attributes you look for in a coach?

One is we want someone who’s going to run a good program. And that can be defined by a lot of people in different ways. A good program isn’t just wins and losses. It’s obviously academic success, it’s community service success.

The second thing is somebody where the student-athletes want to go to practice on Monday no matter what happened over the weekend. So that they are constantly being mentored and enriched by their coaches and their teammates.

You come from a Division I program. Are the challenges different at Division III?

I think that’s a yes and no answer. Every single student-athlete, every single coach and every single parent wants the best they can for their program and their son or daughter. So I’m very much used to what we need to do. I must say I would certainly have to learn more about the policies of Division III and how they differ from Division I.

The one thing I don’t need to learn about is the passion for athletics that everyone has. Clearly there’s no scholarship in Division III but there is financial aid and we have to follow those NCAA rules just like Division I has to follow the NCAA scholarship rules. And the university has been committed to doing that.

What do you like most about this athletic program?

Well, you’re only as good as your boss. And with President Ripich and John Tumiel, the leadership for me in the athletic program is tremendous. And having had a great president at Quinnipiac – I’ve probably received too much credit for what we did – but I couldn’t have done it without (John Lahey). In addition to (their) leadership, I’ve discovered in my two visits here that the athletic staff is equally tremendous.

Everything I experienced in a two-day visit in April is now amplified … they’re 10 times better now because I’ve seen everyone in action. I’ve already told the staff my first year is going to be learning names and families and chidren and student-athletes and schedules and maybe in the second year say, ‘OK, what do we need to make it a little better?’ But the basic components are there: leadership, good student-athletes and phenomenal athletic staff.”

So you plan on being here a little while then?

God willing.

How does your experience as an athlete and later as a coach help you as athletic director?

I think we all play and watch sports for that moment that’s maybe never happened before. I got real lucky as an athlete. I was a collegiate 4:07 miler and won a couple of (New England) championships. But when you say mile there’s only one thing everyone thinks about. That’s 4 minutes. And I got lucky in the Dartmouth Relays in 1976 and ran a 4-minute mile. It was a 4:00.9.

I know if you do good work, (have) a lot of luck, health, if people are loyal to you and you’re loyal to yourself you might have that shining day. As our men’s hockey team (at Quinnipiac) did in the Frozen Four. (Women’s basketball coach) Anthony Ewing won an NCAA game for UNE. If our coaches continue running a good program and giving the kids a good experience, if you stay loyal to your people and they stay loyal to you, they will have that day, maybe more than once. I refer to myself as a coach’s coach. I can sort of give them, hopefully I can, that guidance as a coach.

You still run every day?

I do, 3 to 4 miles a day. It’s not only a cleansing of my body but a cleansing of my brain. You get some really good thoughts when you can have 45 minutes uninterrupted every day.

Is there a timetable for the addition of the programs?

I have a meeting with President Ripich and John (in July). Clearly I’ve started to put my notes together, some items that we’ve talked about. But you don’t want to say or do anything without support and approval. The first thing would be to have a meeting and see what I can do. Although we do have a 2017 date we are working from I would think this summer we could come up with a plan, develop a master plan for football and athletics, post the (football coach’s) job and maybe have something we can show off. I think we’re going to have some phenomenal candidates.”

How quickly can (women’s rugby) start?

Probably quicker than football, but again you want to make sure you do that right.

 

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