North Carolina State University Athletics
Beyond the Game Plan: George McDonald
8/19/2019 8:31:00 AM | Football
By Chad Wylie, Special Contributor
RALEIGH, N.C. -Â George McDonald would tell you one of the biggest influences on his coaching style was the birth of his son. Roman is now four-years-old, but when he was born, it caused McDonald to see his college players in a slightly different light.
"When I'm coaching a kid, and I'm getting on him, I think about what it would be like to see someone coaching my son in that way," McDonald said. "That has made me act more how I really want to be as a father. I can still coach hard, but I coach them like I would coach Roman. When people see me coaching their son, I want them to be comfortable with what they're seeing."
McDonald has coached eight NFL players, including Travis Benjamin, Eric Decker and Alex Smith and NFL rookies Kelvin Harmon and Jakobi Meyers, and has coached in eight bowl games. He coordinates the Wolfpack's recruiting program and was a four-year letterman at a Power 5 college program as a player. But his accomplishments and accolades never distracted him from what is most important about coaching – the personal relationships he makes daily with young men.
"To coach a player the way I coach them, it has to be more than football," McDonald said. "You have to trust that whatever I'm telling you, it's the best to get you to where you want to go. They must know that it's more than football, and when you show them that, they will trust you. I always try to talk about things other than football. I try to talk to them about their parents, girlfriends, anything other than football."
McDonald was born in Fort Worth, Indiana, but considers California his home, after moving there soon after being born. Growing up in an athletic family, with a brother who played football at BYU and sister who ran track at Cal State, McDonald found a way to play both sports at the collegiate level.
At Buena Park High School, McDonald starred at running back, but upon graduation did not receive interest from USC or UCLA, the programs closest to home. Instead he chose Illinois, where the running back depth chart was so deep, he transitioned to playing wide receiver. McDonald also ran track for the Fighting Illini, breaking the school record in the 60-meter dash.
Among the highlights of his playing career, which include scoring a touchdown against Michigan State on his senior day, McDonald most fondly remembers the people who surrounded him.
"I was around a lot of really good guys who showed me how to work and enjoy the process of working," McDonald said. "I was fortunate to be around these people because they set the foundation for who I was for the rest of my life."
After beginning his coaching career soon after graduation, at Ball State in 2000, McDonald has coached in the ACC, Big Ten and Pack 12. But he credits his time as wide receivers' coach with the NFL's Cleveland Browns in 2009-2010 as changing his view of the players he coached.
"What I learned is how to respect the player," McDonald said. "In the NFL, you are dealing with grown men who are getting paid to play football, and they don't need you to babysit them. The biggest thing I pulled from it was the communication factor of how to talk to grown men. Now I talk to my players as if they are grown men as well."
Always conscious of the impact he can have, McDonald has never allowed football to interfere with his main goal of influencing young men as more than just players.
"I love helping kids be prepared to have really good lives," McDonald said. "It's no different from my son. I want to help him be successful in the same way my dad did for me. I hate seeing guys leave here without maximizing the opportunities that are presented to them. I tell my players, 'I don't want you calling me when you are 30 telling me that you wish I had pushed you harder."
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RALEIGH, N.C. -Â George McDonald would tell you one of the biggest influences on his coaching style was the birth of his son. Roman is now four-years-old, but when he was born, it caused McDonald to see his college players in a slightly different light.
"When I'm coaching a kid, and I'm getting on him, I think about what it would be like to see someone coaching my son in that way," McDonald said. "That has made me act more how I really want to be as a father. I can still coach hard, but I coach them like I would coach Roman. When people see me coaching their son, I want them to be comfortable with what they're seeing."
McDonald has coached eight NFL players, including Travis Benjamin, Eric Decker and Alex Smith and NFL rookies Kelvin Harmon and Jakobi Meyers, and has coached in eight bowl games. He coordinates the Wolfpack's recruiting program and was a four-year letterman at a Power 5 college program as a player. But his accomplishments and accolades never distracted him from what is most important about coaching – the personal relationships he makes daily with young men.
"To coach a player the way I coach them, it has to be more than football," McDonald said. "You have to trust that whatever I'm telling you, it's the best to get you to where you want to go. They must know that it's more than football, and when you show them that, they will trust you. I always try to talk about things other than football. I try to talk to them about their parents, girlfriends, anything other than football."
McDonald was born in Fort Worth, Indiana, but considers California his home, after moving there soon after being born. Growing up in an athletic family, with a brother who played football at BYU and sister who ran track at Cal State, McDonald found a way to play both sports at the collegiate level.
At Buena Park High School, McDonald starred at running back, but upon graduation did not receive interest from USC or UCLA, the programs closest to home. Instead he chose Illinois, where the running back depth chart was so deep, he transitioned to playing wide receiver. McDonald also ran track for the Fighting Illini, breaking the school record in the 60-meter dash.
Among the highlights of his playing career, which include scoring a touchdown against Michigan State on his senior day, McDonald most fondly remembers the people who surrounded him.
"I was around a lot of really good guys who showed me how to work and enjoy the process of working," McDonald said. "I was fortunate to be around these people because they set the foundation for who I was for the rest of my life."
After beginning his coaching career soon after graduation, at Ball State in 2000, McDonald has coached in the ACC, Big Ten and Pack 12. But he credits his time as wide receivers' coach with the NFL's Cleveland Browns in 2009-2010 as changing his view of the players he coached.
"What I learned is how to respect the player," McDonald said. "In the NFL, you are dealing with grown men who are getting paid to play football, and they don't need you to babysit them. The biggest thing I pulled from it was the communication factor of how to talk to grown men. Now I talk to my players as if they are grown men as well."
Always conscious of the impact he can have, McDonald has never allowed football to interfere with his main goal of influencing young men as more than just players.
"I love helping kids be prepared to have really good lives," McDonald said. "It's no different from my son. I want to help him be successful in the same way my dad did for me. I hate seeing guys leave here without maximizing the opportunities that are presented to them. I tell my players, 'I don't want you calling me when you are 30 telling me that you wish I had pushed you harder."
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Players Mentioned
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