McDonald Named New Head Basketball Coach At Division III Cabrini

By Matt Leon

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Division III Cabrini College Cavaliers in Radnor stayed in the family when it came to hiring a new men's basketball coach with the promotion of assistant Tim McDonald to the post on Friday.

McDonald replaces Marcus Kahn, who left to become the head coach at the University of Mary Washington.

"It is beyond exciting for me," McDonald tells KYW Newsradio. "It's a tremendous opportunity for me, and I couldn't be happier to take the position at Cabrini."

A native of Barrington, New Jersey, McDonald is a graduate of Ursinus College and he got his master's degree at Drexel. He served the last four years as an assistant on Kahn's staff, and Cabrini reached the NCAA Tournament in each of those years.

"My four years with Marcus were a tremendous four years," McDonald says. "We had a lot of success on the floor and off the floor as well. What I learned from him over the past four years is basically how to grow in the profession, how to handle yourself day in and day out. Whether it be at practice or in game situations, basically how to stay poised under fire and make sure that you prepare for just about every situation that you may see on or off the floor. If you do that, good things will happen."

Cabrini has emerged as one of the top Division III programs in the nation. They advanced to the national championship game in 2012. Over the last five seasons, they have gone an incredible 131-19, winning five straight Colonial States Athletic Conference titles and making five straight NCAA Tournaments.

As far as style of play, McDonald says don't expect much to change with the Cavaliers.

"Me and Marcus meshed really well together; we both have very similar coaching philosophies," McDonald says. "So the up-tempo style that we've had the last couple of years, definitely I plan to keep that in place. It's a fun brand of basketball, I think it's a system the guys enjoy playing in, and it's also enjoyable to watch. So we're definitely going to keep that in place."

McDonald says the first game of the 2014-15 season can't get here soon enough.

"No it cannot," McDonald says. "November 17th we open up at home vs. Eastern (University), our across the street rival. So I can't wait for that to get started."

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