George McDonald (born May 10, 1976) (also known as George McDonald-Ashford) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach. He currently is the wide receivers coach for the

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

team. McDonald previously served as an assistant coach at

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

Western Michigan West Michigan and Western Michigan are terms for an arbitrary region in the U.S. state of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Most narrowly it refers to the Grand Rapids- Muskegon-Holland area, and more broadly to most of the region along the Lower Pen ...

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by t ...

, Ball State, and with the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). McDonald is well-regarded for his ability to

recruit __NOTOC__ Recruit can refer to: Military * Military recruitment * Recruit training, in the military * '' Rekrut'' (English: Recruit), a military recruit or low rank in German-speaking countries * Seaman recruit Books *''Le Réquisitionnaire'' (E ...

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...

and his native

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Family

McDonald is married to Heather ormerly Andersonand they have a son Roman McDonald born April 2015 and Maverick born February 2020. McDonald, the son of Juanita McDonald and George Ashford, used the hyphenated name of McDonald-Ashford during his playing career. His brother, Brian McDonald-Ashford, played running back for 2 seasons at

BYU Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day S ...

before a knee injury ended his career.

Playing career

McDonald attended

Buena Park High School Buena Park High School (BPHS) is a public high school located at 8833 Academy Drive in Buena Park, Orange County, California, USA. History Buena Park High School opened its doors with 508 students on September 11, 1956, as the third school in t ...

Buena Park, California Buena Park (''Buena'', Spanish for "Good") is a city in Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census its population was 84,034. It is the location of several tourist attractions, namely Knott's Berry Farm. It is about 12 mi ...

. He played both quarterback and running back in high school while also competing in sprints on the track team. He was named the

Freeway League The Freeway League is a high school athletic league that is part of the CIF Southern Section. Members are Fullerton Joint Union High School District Fullerton Joint Union High School District (FJUHSD), founded in 1893 is a school district in Ora ...

's conference Player of the Year as a senior in 1993. McDonald attended the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

, where he was a four-year

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

in football as a wide receiver and kickoff returner under head coaches

Lou Tepper Lou Tepper (born September 7, 1945) is a former American football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1991 to 1996, the Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, from 2000 to 2005, and In ...

and Ron Turner. He completed his Illinois football career with 57 receptions for 589 yards and 4 touchdowns, and returned 57 kickoffs for 1,276 yards (22.4 avg). McDonald also ran

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

his freshman and senior years, earning All-

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

honors his senior year, and set an Illinois record with a time of 6.75 in the

60 metres 60 metres, or 60-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At outdoor venues it is a rare distance, at least for senior at ...

. McDonald earned his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in Health Administration and Planning from Illinois in 1999.

Coaching career

McDonald began his coaching career as an assistant coach at

Bucknell University Bucknell University is a private liberal arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, Freeman College of Management, and the College of Engineering. ...

Ball State University Ball State University (Ball State, State or BSU) is a public university, public research university in Muncie, Indiana. It has two satellite facilities in Fishers, Indiana, Fishers and Indianapolis. On July 25, 1917, the Ball brothers, indust ...

Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois. It was founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895, by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld as part of an expansion of the state's system ...

, and

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

from 1999 to 2004. When Stanford's offensive coordinator

Bill Cubit William John Cubit (; born October 14, 1953) is an American football coach and former player. Cubit was the head football coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, first on an interim basis in the 2015 season and then promoted t ...

was hired as the head coach at

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the training of teachers ...

in 2005, he took McDonald with him. McDonald served as WMU's offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach from 2005 to 2006, and helped turn around a Broncos offense that was poorly ranked before his arrival. McDonald notably recruited WMU standouts

Louis Delmas Louis Delmas (; born April 12, 1987) is a former American football safety. He was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the second round of the 2009 NFL Draft. He played college football at Western Michigan. He was also a member of the Miami Dolphins. ...

and

E.J. Biggers Edjaun Sinclair "E. J." Biggers (born June 13, 1987) is a former American football cornerback that played in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Western Michigan University, and was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccanee ...

, both from

North Miami Beach High School North Miami Beach Senior High School (NMB High School) is a secondary school located at 1247 NE 167 Street in North Miami Beach, Florida, United States. Its current principal is Randy Milliken. NMB High School was built in 1971 as an overcrowding ...

in North Miami Beach, Florida. McDonald departed WMU to coach wide receivers coach at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

in 2007, stating that it was in the best interest of his career to work at a BCS university. He served as an assistant under head coach and fellow Illinois alum

Tim Brewster Tim Brewster (born October 13, 1960) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the tight ends coach for the University of Colorado. He also served as the tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator for the North Carolina ...

for the 2007 and 2008 seasons. On February 11, 2009, the

hired McDonald as offensive quality control coach under new head coach

Eric Mangini Eric Anthony Mangini (born January 19, 1971) is a former American football coach and current television sports analyst. Mangini had been with the San Francisco 49ers since 2013 and served as the team's tight ends coach for two seasons before b ...

. On May 8, 2009, the

promoted McDonald from offensive quality control coach to wide receivers coach. McDonald was hired by the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

as the wide receivers coach under head coach Al Golden on January 11, 2011. The next season, McDonald picked up the additional title of passing game coordinator. December 19, 2012, McDonald was named the receivers coach at Arkansas under new head

Bret Bielema Bret Arnold Bielema (; born January 13, 1970) is currently the head American football coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Bielema served as the head football coach at of the University of Wisconsin–Madison from 2006 to 2012 ...

. However, McDonald resigned from Arkansas when the position of offensive coordinator opened at Syracuse. On January 15, 2013, MacDonald was officially named offensive coordinator under new head coach

Scott Shafer Scott Shafer (born January 6, 1967) is an American football coach and former player. He currently serves as the defensive coordinator for the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders. He previously served as the head coach at Syracuse University u ...

. Shafer and McDonald had previously served on the same coaching staffs at Western Michigan and Northern Illinois. On October 6, 2014, McDonald was demoted from offensive coordinator and assistant head coach to wide receivers coach. He was replaced as offensive coordinator by quarterbacks coach Tim Lester. On January 6, 2015, McDonald was named the wide receivers coach at

NC State North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The university ...

under head coach

Dave Doeren David William Doeren (born December 3, 1971) is an American football coach who is currently the head football coach at North Carolina State University, a position he has held since the 2013 season. Doeren previously served as the head football ...

. On January 21, 2020, McDonald was named the wide receivers coach at

under head coach

. McDonald has also served as an NFL coaching intern during training camps with the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

(2004, 2006),

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

(2005) and

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

(2007).

References

External links

NC State profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:McDonald, George 1976 births Living people American football wide receivers Arkansas Razorbacks football coaches Ball State Cardinals football coaches Cleveland Browns coaches Illinois Fighting Illini football players Miami Hurricanes football coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches NC State Wolfpack football coaches Northern Illinois Huskies football coaches Syracuse Orange football coaches Stanford Cardinal football coaches Western Michigan Broncos football coaches College men's track and field athletes in the United States Sportspeople from Fort Wayne, Indiana Players of American football from Orange County, California African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football Players of American football from Fort Wayne, Indiana