Mike McRae is a Canadian

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

coach who is currently the head baseball coach at the

College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III ...

. He was formerly an assistant coach at

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virgini ...

and head coach of the

Canisius Golden Griffins The Canisius College Golden Griffins are composed of 16 teams representing Canisius College in intercollegiate athletics. These teams include men's and women's basketball, cross country, track, lacrosse, soccer, and swimming and diving. Men's spo ...

. McRae was Canisius's head coach from the start of the 2005 season to the end of the 2017 season. Under McRae in 2013, Canisius advanced to its first NCAA tournament. Before becoming the head coach at Canisius, he was the head coach at Niagara from 2002–2004, and an assistant at several

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division I programs from 1996–2001. McRae attended

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

Colby College Colby College is a private liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine. It was founded in 1813 as the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, then renamed Waterville College after the city where it resides. The donations of Christian philant ...

in Waterville, Maine. He played four seasons of baseball and one season of ice hockey for the Mules.

Coaching career

Division I assistant

After starting a

club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a '' Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

baseball team at

Brock University Brock University is a public research university in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. It is the only university in Canada in a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, at the centre of Canada's Niagara Peninsula on the Niagara Escarpment. The university bear ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada and coaching it for the 1995 season, McRae got his first

coaching job as an assistant at Niagara. He coached there from 1996–1997, and Niagara won a MAAC North Division championship in his second season. In 1998, he was an assistant at Winthrop in

Rock Hill, South Carolina Rock Hill is the largest city in York County, South Carolina and the fifth-largest city in the state. It is also the fourth-largest city of the Charlotte metropolitan area, behind Charlotte, Concord, and Gastonia (all located in North Carolina, ...

, before returning to the northeast to become an assistant at

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

from 1999–2001.

Niagara

On July 3, 2001, McRae was named head coach at Niagara, where he attended

graduate school Postgraduate or graduate education refers to Academic degree, academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by higher education, post-secondary students who have earned an Undergraduate education, un ...

. In comments on his reasons for accepting the job, McRae said, "One, my aspirations to become a head coach, and there aren't that many Division I openings that come up each year. Also, it's near home and it gives me a chance to see friends and family again. And my wife is from that area as well." McRae was the head coach at Niagara for three seasons (2002–2004). In his first season, the team finished in 8th place in the MAAC. In both his second and third, Niagara qualified for the MAAC tournament by finishing the regular season in the top four of the conference. Both teams won 16 conference games, then a program record. In 2003, McRae was named the MAAC Coach of the Year.

Canisius

Following the 2004 season, McRae became the head coach at Canisius. In the three seasons prior to McRae's hiring (2002–2004), Canisius's record was 12–119. In his first two seasons, Canisius finished with a sub-.500 conference

winning percentage In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...

and did not qualify for the postseason. In 2007, the team finished fourth in the MAAC to qualify for the program's first MAAC tournament since 1994. It went 0–2 in the tournament. In 2008, Canisius went 41–13 and finished tied for first in the MAAC. The team finished third at the MAAC Tournament, but got the program's first postseason win, 16–7 over

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

in an elimination game. McRae won his second MAAC Coach of the Year Award. After finishing second in 2009, the team won the MAAC outright in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. The team lost in the MAAC championship game, and McRae won his third MAAC Coach of the Year Award. Canisius qualified for the 2011 and 2012 MAAC Tournaments, and it lost in the championship round again in 2012. It started the tournament with two wins, but lost two extra-inning games to Manhattan in the championship round. In the 2013 season, McRae's team set a program record for wins by going 42–17. McRae won his 300th game as a head coach on March 16, when Canisius defeated

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, 16–8. The team finished tied for third in the MAAC to qualify for its seventh consecutive MAAC Tournament. As the third seed in the tournament, Canisius started off 2–0 by defeating second-seeded Marist, 2–1, and first-seeded Rider, 18–7. In the championship round, the team defeated fourth-seeded

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

, 12–11, to advance to the 2013 NCAA tournament. Canisius was seeded fourth in the Chapel Hill Regional, hosted by #1 national seed

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. The team went 0–2 in the regional, losing 6–3 to North Carolina in the opening game and 14–6 to second-seeded Florida Atlantic in an elimination game. In 2014, Canisius finished the season 40–16 and won the MAAC regular season title. In the MAAC Tournament, the team won its first two games but lost twice to

in the championship round. Seven of McRae's players at Canisius have been selected in the

Major League Baseball Draft The first-year player draft is the primary mechanism of Major League Baseball (MLB) for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. The draft order is determined based on a lo ...

, most recently Garrett Cortright in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

. Sean Jamieson, taken in the 17th round in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, is Canisius's highest overall pick under McRae.

VCU

McRae was named an assistant baseball coach at

on September 1, 2017.

William & Mary

McRae was named as the 53rd head coach in William & Mary's history by athletic director

Brian Mann Brian Mann (born May 7, 1980) is the head athletic director at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Mann was formerly the senior associate athletic director and chief development officer at the University of California. He ...

on the afternoon of October 27, 2021.

Personal life

McRae has two teenage children, Madison and Mason. He was married for 20 years to his wife, Michelle (McDonald) McRae, before her death on September 5, 2015.

Head coaching record

Below is a table of McRae's records as an

head baseball coach.

References

External links

VCU profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:McRae, Mike Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Baseball people from Ontario Canisius Golden Griffins baseball coaches Colby Mules baseball players Maine Black Bears baseball coaches Niagara Purple Eagles baseball coaches Niagara University alumni Sportspeople from Niagara Falls, Ontario VCU Rams baseball coaches William & Mary Tribe baseball coaches Winthrop Eagles baseball coaches