Washington & Jefferson College Athletics

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Ian McDonald (Davis & Elkins '86) enters his 35th season as the head men's soccer coach at Washington & Jefferson College in 2025. McDonald’s career record stands at 294-266-52 (.523) after the completion of the 2024 season. He is tied for the sixth longest tenured active head coach in NCAA Division III Men's Soccer.

McDonald's 30th season guiding the Presidents was certainly a successful one, as W&J captured its second straight PAC Tournament title. At the conclusion of the season, McDonald was named PAC Coach of the Year for a sixth time. The conference title was the fifth for McDonald at W&J. Freshman Jayden Da led the league in points (17) and assists (5) and was named both the PAC Player of the Year and the PAC Newcomer of the Year. W&J finished the spring season ranked No. 10 in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 National Poll. McDonald was honored as W&J's Jack Rea Athletic Staff Member of the Year Award following 2020-21. The award is presented annually to the most outstanding athletics staff member each year. 

The Presidents claimed the 2019 Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) regular season and tournament championships and earned their third NCAA Tournament appearance in program history. The Red and Black boasted the number-one scoring offense in the PAC and established a new single-season scoring record with 53 goals. The Presidents had eight All-PAC performers and McDonald was named the league’s coach of the year for the fifth time. Junior midfielder Alvaro Viadas collected PAC Newcomer of the Year laurels. 

McDonald led the Presidents to a runner-up finish in the 2013 PAC regular season and postseason tournament. W&J placed six student-athletes on the PAC all-conference teams and earned a bid to the ECAC Tournament.

McDonald passed a major milestone when he earned his 200th career coaching victory on Sept. 27, 2012 when W&J downed Franciscan 2-1. 

The veteran coach has helped W&J claim five Presidents' Athletic Conference Championships (2003, 2004, 2007, 2019, 2020-21).  The Presidents have competed in nine of the last 16 PAC Tournament Championship matches.

W&J has made nine postseason appearances (3 NCAA, 6 ECAC) in history, all of which have come under McDonald's leadership.

McDonald has coached the only two ESPN/CoSIDA Academic All-Americans in men's soccer history in Chris Rihn '96 and Sean Maddock '11. Rihn, a member of the W&J Athletics Hall of Fame, was a two-time Academic All-American Third Team honoree (1994, 1995). Maddock earned second-team laurels after the 2010 season.

In 2007, W&J earned the PAC's first-ever automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament and hosted a first-round NCAA match for the first time in school history.  McDonald guided W&J to its first-ever NCAA Tournament at-large bid in 2005 and the team set a school record for wins following a 15-6 season. 

In 2003, Washington & Jefferson captured its first-ever PAC Championship.  McDonald is a five-time PAC Coach of the Year, earning the honor in 1994, 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2019.

McDonald has helped the Presidents reach the ECAC Tournament six times (1995, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2013). In 2004, W&J advanced to the ECAC semifinals before falling to Swarthmore.

A former pro player with the Pittsburgh Stingers of the Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL), McDonald also played in one of the top amateur leagues in northern England from 1976 through 1981.

McDonald is a 1986 graduate of Davis & Elkins College where he was named a NCAA Division II First Team All-American, an All-South Regional All-American, a 1985 West Virginia All-Conference Selection, and was D&E’s 1983 Player’s Player of the Year selection.  He was named the 1985 WVIAC MVP and was selected to the Budweiser Indoor Senior Bowl All-East Team in 1986.

McDonald was selected to the Davis & Elkins All-Time Best 11 Team for men's soccer, spanning the years of 1961 to 2009. 

After college, McDonald worked as an assistant soccer coach at East Stroudsburg University and came to W&J in 1991 as the head men’s soccer coach. In 1994, he signed with the Pittsburgh Stingers of the Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL), a professional soccer team, in their inaugural season.

A native of Newcastle, England, McDonald has been coaching soccer at different levels for over three decades. He is a past member of the PA West Olympic Development coaching staff and holds a NSCAA Advanced Coaching Diploma and USSF Certification. He earned a bachelor’s in health and physical education from Davis & Elkins and a master’s degree in education from East Stroudsburg.