Tim McDonough is in his fifth season as the lead assistant coach at Northern Illinois and serves as the program[apos]s recruiting coordinator and hitting instructor.
Under McDonough[apos]s tutelage, first baseman Scott Simon became the NIU career hit leader at the end of the 2006 season. Simon, who has also garnered national attention, enters 2007 as a member of the Wallace Award List (National Player of the Year) for the second straight year. In addition to setting the school hit record with 245, Simon became the first Huskie to earn two MAC Player of the Week awards during the same month by achieving the feat last March.
In 2006, McDonough helped outfielder Brian Toner improve his batting average over 130 points from the previous season on his way to a first-team All-MAC selection. The duo of Simon and Toner hit .383 and .382, respectively, in the MAC.
As a recruiter, the tireless work ethic exhibited by McDonough[apos]s resulted in consecutive nationally-ranked recruiting classes that earned recognition from Collegiate Baseball.
McDonough[apos]s 2006 class was lauded by the publication as the No. 60 class nationally and featured five players from the state of Illinois, all ranked among the Land of Lincoln[apos]s Top 50 [quote]Cream of the Crop[quote] by the Illinois High School Coaches Association. The group ranked second among Mid-American Conference classes and above Minnesota, San Jose State, and Missouri State.
The talented group surpassed the previous season[apos]s No. 70 class ranking when Collegiate Baseball recognized NIU[apos]s 2005 newcomers alongside national powers UCLA, Texas Tech, Central Florida and Baylor. It was the first time in over a decade that the Huskies earned such prestigious accolades for its baseball recruiting.
Thanks to McDonough, the Huskie program is now recognized as a [quote]Baseball Hot Bed[quote] after successful recruiting and having sent 14 players on to professional baseball since 2003. Over the past four years, five Huskies have been selected in the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft, including McDonough prodigies Rob Marconi and Mike Santoro in 2004, and Joe Mazzuca in 2003.
McDonough made an immediate impact on the Huskie hitters during his first season at NIU. The 2003 squad set numerous season hitting records, including hits (625), home runs (70) and runs scored (408). As a team, NIU hit .315, with seven players hitting better than .300. In year two under McDonough, the 2004 Huskies tied a school record with 21 triples and posted the second-highest marks in school annals in many offensive categories.
Under McDonough, several NIU players have earned numerous individual accolades. During the 2006 summer league season, Simon earned Central Illinois Collegiate League MVP honors while Stevens was named the league[apos]s tournament MVP after leading his team to a championship victory. Stevens also was lauded by Baseball America as the No. 3 pro prospect in the CICL.
In 2005, Jeremy Busch became the first Huskie position player in 25 seasons to earn first-team All-MAC honors after hitting .340. The previous year, Simon was named a Summer All-America by Baseball America.
In 2003 under McDonough, Simon was a Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-America and second-team All-MAC honoree and Mike Santoro set a school record with 15 home runs.
McDonough[apos]s relationship with head coach Ed Mathey began more than a decade ago when the Bridgeview native came in to play at North Central College. A standout infielder, McDonough earned first-team All-CCIW honors in 1994 when the Cardinals captured their first conference crown. In 1995, McDonough garnered a first-team nod while being named the CCIW Player of the Year and winning the league[apos]s Triple Crown. His successful season was capped with recognition as a Division III All-American by the American Baseball Coaches Association.
After graduating from NCC with a bachelor of arts degree in speech/broadcast communications in 1995, McDonough stayed in Naperville, working as an assistant coach under Mathey. In his first year as an assistant, North Central captured its second College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin championship under Mathey with a 26-17 record. Two years later, the Cardinals were back on top with another CCIW title, completing the season at 28-15-1 with a second-place finish at the NCAA Central Regional and a No. 15 ranking in the final Collegiate Baseball poll.
In between serving as an assistant at North Central and being reunited with Mathey at NIU, McDonough served as an assistant coach at Kishwaukee Community College under Mike Davenport. KCC[apos]s 2002 team posted a 41-16 record and had six players selected in the 2002 MLB Amateur Draft, half of whom were infielders coached by McDonough.
A 1991 graduate of Burbank[apos]s St. Laurence High School, McDonough pulled double coaching duties from 1998-2002, working as head coach for the Prairie Gravel Baseball Club, a summer league team out of Chicago. His squad won three-consecutive Metro-College Summer Baseball League championships while sending 20 players to the professional baseball draft.
In recent years, McDonough has made several appearances as a featured speaker and clinician at camps and clinics throughout the Chicagoland area.
THE MCDONOUGH FILE
Coaching:
2003-present - Assistant Coach, Northern Illinois
2001-2002 - Assistant Coach, Kishwaukee Community College
1998-2002 - Head Coach, Prairie Gravel (Summer)
1995-1999 - Assistant Coach, North Central College
Education:
B.A., Speech/Communications.
North Central College, 1995.
