East Union's McDonald retires from coaching, stays on as AD
Jul. 27—Coach Tim McDonald figuratively hung up his whistle as a full-time basketball coach, but he will remain in his position as East Union's athletic director.
McDonald was involved in coaching for 20 years with nearly all of those coming at his alma mater, East Union.
"I started at Myrtle, Mississippi with Elvis Thomas for my first two years," McDonald said. "I assisted Elvis in 1993 and 94.
"I bought a home back here near where I was born, couldn't justify the driving and all, so I stepped out of the schooling business for a few years. I moved into my first year coaching here in 2004-05."
McDonald had a busy schedule upon his return to coaching as he led both the Lady Urchin and Urchin basketball teams in junior high and varsity.
"Whew, I walked into the office and said 'I love you boys, but if y'all want me to hang around here long, you've got to find a girls basketball coach.'"
Starting in 2008 and continuing until the spring of 2022, McDonlad was in charge of boys basketball for high school and junior high while the Urchins utilized other coached to handle the girls programs.
One of McDonald's more memorable teams was the very first team that he coached at East Union.
"I had no idea what I was doing, had a good post guy, had a good point guard, had a couple of good athletes and if I'd had a clue as to what I was doing, I think we maybe could have gotten to Jackson," McDonald said. "We got beat by West Lowndes in about the second round of North Half.
"It was a pretty good team, but I was just trying to figure out what was going on and we had some tools, had some pieces there that won a lot of ballgames. I would have really loved to have gotten down to Jackson that year, they deserved it and we just didn't get there."
McDonald has lots of memories of all those players that he had the opportunity to coach, but a handful come to mind as a bit more memorable for their time on the hardwood as Epic Urchins.
"You get close to kids and occasionally, you get some kids that really love the game, you know," McDonald said. "I think of Bo Nobles, Gareth Pannell and Dustin Hall. Dustin would run through that wall if I asked him to and you don't get those types very often.
Of course, my son (Ty McDonald), gotta mention him, he was a pretty skilled guy. I thought he was a much better all-around player than he was a scorer. Everybody thought he was a scorer, but I thought he was a more complete player."
McDonald reflected on what he thought he would miss the most from all his years manning the hardwood sidelines for the Urchins.
"It's game night and you know you get excited, I'm probably going to miss that," he said. "Now those three hour practices where you're hollering and screaming, I can't do that anymore. I've gotten too old and can't drive them like that anymore and I will not miss that.
"It's game night and when everything goes right and it's executed, you get the effort and you get the win, there will be some of those missed."
McDonald sees this career move as one that will help in his responsibilities as the East Union athletic director as the school has a wealth of sports as a 2A classification.
"It's going to give me more time for sure to concentrate on the other aspect and all the other goings on around here," he said. "We've got a lot of sports and a lot of things that have to be taken care of, but time-wise, it's definitely going to be an asset to me, not being gone 4-5 nights a week."
McDonald says his wife is extremely excited about the move.
McDonald shared how special his time at East Union had been especially since he attended school there as well.
"It's where I graduated from, I love it here," he said. "I tell some people that there's a few of us that bleed Brown and Gold, there's not many, but there's a few of us. I hope I'm one of them."
