Branden McDonald begins his first season as a member of the NIU men's basketball staff in 2021-22.
McDonald comes to NIU following four seasons at Towson, where he helped the Tigers to an 18-win season in 2017-18 and a 19-win campaign in 2019-20. During the 2019-20 season, McDonald helped mentor five Tigers that were named to the All-CAA Team, the most of any school in the conference, as Towson finished third in the conference.
In his first season in 2017-18, McDonald helped the Tigers to a 10-1 start, the best during its Division I history, as they received votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll for the second time in program history and climbed as high as fourth in the Mid-Major Top 25.
Prior to his time at Towson, McDonald spent two seasons at Manhattan working under Steve Masiello. McDonald began his collegiate coaching tenure as a graduate assistant at Pittsburgh after coaching at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Md. and with the Team Takeover AAU program. McDonald played collegiately at Virginia Union University.
