One look at Bill McDonald’s resume was enough to convince the hiring committee he was the right man to guide the Lakehead Thunderwolves hockey ship.
On Wednesday the club made it official, snagging the 60-year-old McDonald, named coach of the year in three different leagues in a career spanning more than a quarter of a century, away from the Central Hockey League’s Allen Americans.
He’s spent the past four seasons in Allen, the first two as an associate coach and most recently as director of player personnel working alongside former NHLers Craig Ludwig and Ed Belfour. McDonald will also assume general manager duties for the Thunderwolves.
“Obviously it`s kind of a whirlwind," McDonald said, reached by phone in the Dallas suburb he now calls home.
“It came up all of a sudden in the last week or last three or four days. But I'm very honoured to be selected to go there ... and try to do something with that team and push them a little farther. I know they`ve got a great organization there.“
Though set to start the CHL playoffs Thursday night, McDonald said he's already on the recruiting trail, hoping to encourage Americans rookie Justin Kirsch, a three-time 20-goal scorer with the Western Hockey League's Moose Jaw Warriors, to follow him to Thunder Bay.
McDonald said he's kept a close eye on the Thunderwolves program for recruiting purposes of his own, said he plans to forge a team built on speed, with a much more disciplined approach to the game.
"They'll probably have to play more as a team together," he said. "That's my style. I`m known as kind of a hard ass, but on the other hand I seem to gain the respect of my players."
McDonald’s a winner, said Warden, who played for McDonald on the Thunder Bay Thunderhawks and Thunder Bay Senators in the city’s Colonial Hockey League championship era in the early 1990s.
“He put together an excellent resume, has a career of winning, a career of producing good young citizens and has done a good job in the development of hockey players. He’s also done a good job of taking a program and making sure that program is successful,” said Warden, Lakehead’s athletic director.
“I think Bill McDonald is a great fit.”
His CHL experience, which includes a 1997 trophy with the Fort Worth Fire – with a roster that included Thunder Bay stalwarts Terry Menard, Todd Howarth and Vern Ray – should help in the recruiting department, Warden added.
“It is very much the same hockey player,” Warden said. “So two things: one is the hockey player, when you’re recruiting him, you know what you need to do to recruit that player. The other thing is you know how to handle that hockey player. You’re familiar with that type of hockey player, that level of hockey player.
“And that was certainly a key factor in our decision making.”
McDonald, who was signed to a multi-year deal – terms were not disclosed – replaced interim coach Mike Busniuk, who led the Wolves to a 14-8-2 mark after subbing in for the fired Joel Scherban, forced out after a player revolt.
But Busniuk’s lengthy American Hockey League resume didn’t help in the post-season, where the Thunderwolves were unceremoniously dumped in two straight by eventual division champion Waterloo.
Warden thanked Busniuk and assistant coach Jeremy Adduono for stepping into a difficult situation, calling them class acts.
But when push came to shove the hiring committee decided to go a different route.
“Our team needed someone like Bill, someone who has the experience in the dressing room and behind the bench, and someone who has the ability to handle hockey players in the way that we expect and has the ability to make a hockey team play the way we want the team to play,” said Warden, who said the decision on McDonald’s part happened in a hurry.
Warden said McDonald brings with him a level of accountability that is needed at Fort William Gardens.
“He has a way of being a players’ coach, but also has a way of creating a culture of accountability that we need.”
It will be up to McDonald to choose his assistant coaches and make any player personnel decisions for the Wolves.
McDonald began his coaching career in 1987 with the Thunder Bay Twins senior team. He took over the Thunder Bay Thunder Hawks in 1991-92, leading the team to a Colonial Hockey League championship in his inaugural season.
He won two more titles with the renamed Thunder Bay Senators in 1994 and 1995 before heading to the Central Hockey League and the Fort Worth Fire. He also coached the Dayton Bombers of the ECHL from 2007 to 2009.
