Darryl McDonald
Encyclopedia
Darryl McDonald is a retired American
-Australia
n professional basketball
player who last played for the Melbourne Tigers
in Australia
's National Basketball League
. Known as "D-Mac," he attended Texas A&M University
and formerly played with the now defunct NBL teams the North Melbourne Giants
, Victoria Titans
and Victoria Giants.
McDonald has played in over 485 NBL games, and was a starting member of the teams which won the 1994, ,2006, and 2008 NBL Championships, and has twice been named the NBL All-Star Game MVP. In 2011, he was the interim Coach for the Melbourne Tigers, and he is currently the 1sts Basketball Coach at Wesley College, Melbourne
and the Head Coach for the Hawthorn Magic Boys under 16s program. His team has reached the Grand Final of the Victorian Junior Basketball League 1.
and growing up on the streets of Harlem
, McDonald learned to play basketball on the tough New York playground courts such as the famous Rucker Park
. Known as "Mr. Excitement" and "D-Mac: The Playground King.", he battled against New York playground legends such as The Terminator, Master Rob and Pookie Wilson as well as future NBA
stars Rod Strickland
and Mario 'The Jedi' Elie
.
after his graduation from high school. After hearing about the young point guard, Texas A&M coach Shelby Metcalf
travelled to Harlem in 1985 to see McDonald play on the playgrounds. Thoroughly impressed, Metcalf began recruiting McDonald to come to Texas and play for the Aggies. Fortunately for Metcalf, McDonald had already decided to leave New York. His neighborhood in Harlem was very dangerous, and McDonald's brother had in fact been shot and killed by robbers in early 1985. After agreeing to attend Texas A&M, McDonald spent the first few days of his stay in College Station in his dorm room, convinced that the number of gun racks he saw on pickup trucks throughout town meant the area was as dangerous as the place he had left.
His early years in Texas were frustrating as Metcalf tried to change's McDonald's style of play. McDonald was a "creative and flashy" player who liked playing to the crowd. With superb instincts, McDonald had a knack for stealing the ball but had difficulty playing straight-up defence. Metcalf finally agreed to allow McDonald to play as he saw fit, with good results. In 1987, McDonald led the Aggies to the Southwest Conference Tournament Championship, despite the fact that the Aggies entered the tournament as the No. 8 seed after losing nine of their last eleven conference games. For his performance, McDonald was named the tournament MVP. Their victory earned the team an automatic bid to the 1987 NCAA Tournament
, Metcalf's final tournament appearance, and the last for the Aggies until 2006. The Aggies played a tough game against Duke
but ultimately lost their first-round game, exiting the tournament.
where he played for the Oklahoma City Cavalry and the Sioux Falls Skyforce
.
A chance encounter led D-Mac's career Down Under
. Brett Brown, at the time coach of the North Melbourne Giants, was watching a tape of a CBA game to scout a different player. As soon as he saw D-Mac, he knew that was the player he wanted.
In McDonald's first year in the league in 1994, he led the Giants to the championship and was named the runner-up NBL Most Valuable Player and the runner-up NBL Best Defensive player. For each of his first three years (1994–1997), McDonald led the league in assists and steals, winning the NBL Good Hands Award each year, and was again named runner-up NBL Most Value Player in 1997. From 1995-1997 he played in the NBL All Star-Game, becoming the MVP of the 1996 game. McDonald was named to the All-NBL First Team from 1994–1996 and to the All-NBL Second team in 1997.
McDonald continued to remain with his team when they merged into the Victoria Titans in 1999 under coach Brian Goorjian
, and then becoming a member of the Victoria Giants after the Titans folded in 2002. Despite finishing second in the NBL in assists in 2002 and 2003, and being the NBL leader in steals in 2001 and 2003, McDonald was sacked by the Giants after the 2003 season as they decided to move in a younger direction.
The Melbourne Tigers quickly picked him up, and he served as a backup to Andrew Gaze
and Lanard Copeland
for two seasons, earning NBL Best Sixth Man honors in 2004. The 2005-06 season saw McDonald return to the starting lineup, and his play saw many sporting commentators wonder how his 42 year old body was able to sustain his elite level of play and athleticism. McDonald helped lead the Tigers to the 2006 championship, outclassing many of his younger opponents along the way, including starting Australian Boomers point guard CJ Bruton. He was named among the finalist for the NBL's 25th Anniversary Team, finishing 17th in the final voting, and was named to the 2006 NBL Aussie All-Star Team, where he was named the MVP.
McDonald signed a contract extension to lead the Tigers past his 44th birthday. His contract also gives him the opportunity to coach a Melbourne Tigers developmental team in the offseason. Despite his age, he was still one of the quickest and most explosive players in the NBL, but rarely played a full game due to his age and limited stamina. He retired after Game 5 of the 2007/08 Grand Final Series.
McDonald once appeared on Judge Judy to debate a custody hearing for one of his children. The case was held shortly after his season finished in Australia, with McDonald just making it to the trial.
His oldest son, Derrick, who plays for the Melbourne Tigers Big V (VBL) team, and was able to make the Tigers' roster as a developmental player in the 2006-07 season. D-Mac was able to share court time with him throughout the season, starting with the pre-season competition, the Singapore Cup, and leading into the Grand Final series. This was widely regarded as a first in professional basketball.
In 2007 Darryl began coaching the Wesley College
1sts basketball team. This was the beginning of an amazing season in which Wesley College were a surprise package in the APS competition, finishing on top with 7 wins 1 loss moving into the final 3 games. McDonald continued coaching the Wesley 1sts in 2008 and 2009, and is currently back for another season in 2010.
Currently, Darryl is involved with basketball coaching at AUBD, a basketball program run by NBA veteran Sedale Threatt
and his son Sedale Threatt Jr.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n professional basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
player who last played for the Melbourne Tigers
Melbourne Tigers
The Melbourne Tigers are Australia's oldest and most respected basketball team, established circa 1931 in a local church hall League. Entering the National Basketball League in 1984, they are now the only Melbourne team, after the South Dragons withdrew from the league.The Melbourne Tigers are the...
in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
's National Basketball League
National Basketball League (Australia)
The National Basketball League, also known as the iiNet NBL Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in Australasia....
. Known as "D-Mac," he attended Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...
and formerly played with the now defunct NBL teams the North Melbourne Giants
North Melbourne Giants
The North Melbourne Giants were an Australian basketball team, that played in Melbourne, Victoria, in the National Basketball League.-History :The team was formed in 1980 as the Coburg Giants and were renamed in 1987 as the North Melbourne Giants...
, Victoria Titans
Victoria Titans
The Victoria Titans were an Australian basketball team, that played in Melbourne, Victoria, in the National Basketball League. The team was the result of a merger of two Melbourne clubs for the inaugural NBL summer season of 1998/99...
and Victoria Giants.
McDonald has played in over 485 NBL games, and was a starting member of the teams which won the 1994, ,2006, and 2008 NBL Championships, and has twice been named the NBL All-Star Game MVP. In 2011, he was the interim Coach for the Melbourne Tigers, and he is currently the 1sts Basketball Coach at Wesley College, Melbourne
Wesley College, Melbourne
Wesley College, Melbourne is an independent, co-educational, Christian day school in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1866, the college is a school of the Uniting Church in Australia. Wesley is the largest school in Australia by enrolment, with 3,511 students and 564 full-time staff...
and the Head Coach for the Hawthorn Magic Boys under 16s program. His team has reached the Grand Final of the Victorian Junior Basketball League 1.
Early years
Born in New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and growing up on the streets of Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
, McDonald learned to play basketball on the tough New York playground courts such as the famous Rucker Park
Rucker Park
Rucker Park is a basketball court in the Harlem neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located at 155th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard across the street from the former Polo Grounds site...
. Known as "Mr. Excitement" and "D-Mac: The Playground King.", he battled against New York playground legends such as The Terminator, Master Rob and Pookie Wilson as well as future NBA
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
stars Rod Strickland
Rod Strickland
Rodney "Rod" Strickland is a retired American professional basketball player and currently in an administrative role for the University of Kentucky basketball team under head coach John Calipari. Strickland was formerly the director of basketball operations at the University of Memphis...
and Mario 'The Jedi' Elie
Mario Elie
Mario Antoine Elie is an American former professional basketball player and coach. Currently, he works as an assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings.-Early life and career:...
.
College
McDonald played basketball for Westchester Community CollegeWestchester Community College
Westchester Community College is a public, two-year community college in Valhalla, New York, sponsored by Westchester County, New York, and the State University of New York . The college is one of 30 community colleges affiliated with SUNY....
after his graduation from high school. After hearing about the young point guard, Texas A&M coach Shelby Metcalf
Shelby Metcalf
Shelby Metcalf was the head coach of the Texas A&M Aggies men's basketball team for 27 seasons, from 1963 to 1990. He won more games than any other coach in the former Southwest Conference...
travelled to Harlem in 1985 to see McDonald play on the playgrounds. Thoroughly impressed, Metcalf began recruiting McDonald to come to Texas and play for the Aggies. Fortunately for Metcalf, McDonald had already decided to leave New York. His neighborhood in Harlem was very dangerous, and McDonald's brother had in fact been shot and killed by robbers in early 1985. After agreeing to attend Texas A&M, McDonald spent the first few days of his stay in College Station in his dorm room, convinced that the number of gun racks he saw on pickup trucks throughout town meant the area was as dangerous as the place he had left.
His early years in Texas were frustrating as Metcalf tried to change's McDonald's style of play. McDonald was a "creative and flashy" player who liked playing to the crowd. With superb instincts, McDonald had a knack for stealing the ball but had difficulty playing straight-up defence. Metcalf finally agreed to allow McDonald to play as he saw fit, with good results. In 1987, McDonald led the Aggies to the Southwest Conference Tournament Championship, despite the fact that the Aggies entered the tournament as the No. 8 seed after losing nine of their last eleven conference games. For his performance, McDonald was named the tournament MVP. Their victory earned the team an automatic bid to the 1987 NCAA Tournament
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...
, Metcalf's final tournament appearance, and the last for the Aggies until 2006. The Aggies played a tough game against Duke
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
but ultimately lost their first-round game, exiting the tournament.
Professional
After graduating from Texas A&M, McDonald spent several years playing in the relative obscurity of the Canadian NBL, where he was named an All-Star in 1993 while playing to Cape Breton, and the CBAContinental Basketball Association
The Continental Basketball Association was a professional men's basketball league in the United States, which has been on hiatus since the 2009 season.- History :...
where he played for the Oklahoma City Cavalry and the Sioux Falls Skyforce
Sioux Falls Skyforce
The Sioux Falls Skyforce is a professional basketball team that plays in the NBA Development League. They are based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States. The team plays at the Sioux Falls Arena. The Skyforce began in the CBA in 1989...
.
A chance encounter led D-Mac's career Down Under
Down Under
The term Down Under is a colloquialism which is variously construed either to refer to Australia and New Zealand, or Australia alone. The term comes from the fact that these countries are located in the southern hemisphere, below many other countries on the globe.The persistence of the media use of...
. Brett Brown, at the time coach of the North Melbourne Giants, was watching a tape of a CBA game to scout a different player. As soon as he saw D-Mac, he knew that was the player he wanted.
In McDonald's first year in the league in 1994, he led the Giants to the championship and was named the runner-up NBL Most Valuable Player and the runner-up NBL Best Defensive player. For each of his first three years (1994–1997), McDonald led the league in assists and steals, winning the NBL Good Hands Award each year, and was again named runner-up NBL Most Value Player in 1997. From 1995-1997 he played in the NBL All Star-Game, becoming the MVP of the 1996 game. McDonald was named to the All-NBL First Team from 1994–1996 and to the All-NBL Second team in 1997.
McDonald continued to remain with his team when they merged into the Victoria Titans in 1999 under coach Brian Goorjian
Brian Goorjian
Brian Goorjian is an American-Australian basketball coach. He is the most successful coach in Australian basketball history...
, and then becoming a member of the Victoria Giants after the Titans folded in 2002. Despite finishing second in the NBL in assists in 2002 and 2003, and being the NBL leader in steals in 2001 and 2003, McDonald was sacked by the Giants after the 2003 season as they decided to move in a younger direction.
The Melbourne Tigers quickly picked him up, and he served as a backup to Andrew Gaze
Andrew Gaze
Andrew Barry Casson Gaze is Australia's best known basketball player, and one of its most successful. He is considered as the greatest player in the history of the NBL....
and Lanard Copeland
Lanard Copeland
Lanard Copeland is a retired American-born Australian professional basketball player. He played in the NBL from 1992-2008....
for two seasons, earning NBL Best Sixth Man honors in 2004. The 2005-06 season saw McDonald return to the starting lineup, and his play saw many sporting commentators wonder how his 42 year old body was able to sustain his elite level of play and athleticism. McDonald helped lead the Tigers to the 2006 championship, outclassing many of his younger opponents along the way, including starting Australian Boomers point guard CJ Bruton. He was named among the finalist for the NBL's 25th Anniversary Team, finishing 17th in the final voting, and was named to the 2006 NBL Aussie All-Star Team, where he was named the MVP.
McDonald signed a contract extension to lead the Tigers past his 44th birthday. His contract also gives him the opportunity to coach a Melbourne Tigers developmental team in the offseason. Despite his age, he was still one of the quickest and most explosive players in the NBL, but rarely played a full game due to his age and limited stamina. He retired after Game 5 of the 2007/08 Grand Final Series.
Personal life
McDonald now has dual American/Australian citizenship. He has seven children, all of whose names start with D, who were born between 1980 and 2004. Although four of his children live in the United States, McDonald, his partner Tania, and the other children live in Melbourne.McDonald once appeared on Judge Judy to debate a custody hearing for one of his children. The case was held shortly after his season finished in Australia, with McDonald just making it to the trial.
His oldest son, Derrick, who plays for the Melbourne Tigers Big V (VBL) team, and was able to make the Tigers' roster as a developmental player in the 2006-07 season. D-Mac was able to share court time with him throughout the season, starting with the pre-season competition, the Singapore Cup, and leading into the Grand Final series. This was widely regarded as a first in professional basketball.
In 2007 Darryl began coaching the Wesley College
Wesley College, Melbourne
Wesley College, Melbourne is an independent, co-educational, Christian day school in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1866, the college is a school of the Uniting Church in Australia. Wesley is the largest school in Australia by enrolment, with 3,511 students and 564 full-time staff...
1sts basketball team. This was the beginning of an amazing season in which Wesley College were a surprise package in the APS competition, finishing on top with 7 wins 1 loss moving into the final 3 games. McDonald continued coaching the Wesley 1sts in 2008 and 2009, and is currently back for another season in 2010.
Currently, Darryl is involved with basketball coaching at AUBD, a basketball program run by NBA veteran Sedale Threatt
Sedale Threatt
Sedale Eugene Threatt is a retired American basketball player in the NBA. He played college basketball at the West Virginia Institute of Technology from 1979 to 1983...
and his son Sedale Threatt Jr.