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The St. Bonaventure basketball program has a new leader. Mike MacDonald has been hired as head coach to replace Mark Schmidt.
Schmidt retired after the 2025-26 season, though there was drama surrounding his exit. Was he asked to leave?
Some believe that GM Adrian Wojnarowski forced his departure due to a clashing of styles. The former NBA insider has notable ties to the incoming hire.
St. Bonaventure basketball hired within the family.
St. Bonaventure men’s basketball is proud to welcome its 20th head coach, Mike MacDonald! 🐺🏀
A 1988 alumnus of St. Bonaventure, MacDonald returns to the Enchanted Mountains to lead his alma mater in a new era of college basketball. pic.twitter.com/LzYa9CLhnp
— Bonnies Men’s Basketball (@BonniesMBB) March 31, 2026
MacDonald is an alumnus, having graduated from the university in 1988. He’s seen incredible success at the D2 and D3 levels, most recently with Daemen University in Amherst, New York.
With the Wildcats, he went 265-86 over 12 seasons. That includes a 61-3 mark over the last two years. Now, he returns to Division I.
MacDonald previously coached at Canisius from 1997-2006. He went 108-153 with no NCAA Tournament appearances. It remains his only stop in which he boasts a losing record.
No other coach in college basketball history has won more than 100 games at the D1, D2, and D3 levels. He will next be tasked with getting St. Bonaventure basketball back to the Big Dance.
The Bonnies saw spurts of success under previous coach Mark Schmidt, who roamed the sidelines from 2007-2026. He made three March Madness fields while leading the program to seven 20-win seasons.
His retirement was announced after 19th year at the helm. That exit was extremely controversial.
Did Adrian Wojnarowski make the call?
Eric Firkel of the Olean Star believes so. He cited a severed relationship in his reasoning.
December 28, 2025 was the last time that Adrian Wojnarowski spoke to Mark Schmidt. Following a dispute, where Woj interjected himself into practices, Woj just stopped talking to the Coach. The next time they spoke was almost 60 days and the entire A-10 schedule later, when Woj and Athletic Director Robert Beretta told Schmidt he would be relieved of his duties at the end of the season.
Wojnarowski was hired as GM ahead of the 2024 campaign. He plays a large role in recruiting and roster management. Firkel says Schmidt refused to play Woj-recruited team members.
Multiple St. Bonaventure sources, on background, reported that the relationship between Schmidt and Wojnarowski deteriorated considerably over the past year. According to sources, Woj did not recruit certain players that Schmidt wanted to target, and he brought in players that did not fit Schmidt’s system. Then as the season wore on, Woj took issue with Schmidt not giving players that he had a big hand in recruiting enough minutes.
St. Bonaventure officially announced Schmidt’s departure as a retirement. Some of his former players disagreed.
Tyler Relph played for the program between 2005-2008. He led the nation in free throw shooting as a senior. The guard was critical of his alma mater’s potential shadiness. It further fueled speculation of a forced exit.
“Coach Schmidt you deserved better,” he wrote on X. “You changed so many lives and for that, WE as True Bonnies are so Thankful. Wish I could be there to send you off, but some people just don’t know what the words ‘Respect’ are anymore.”
Regardless of the opinion, Mark Schmidt is gone. Mike MacDonald will be brought in at a much lower price.
He is expected to be one of the lowest paid coaches in the A-10. That will allow for more NIL money to be spent on Wojnarowski’s recruiting efforts.
Schmidt made roughly $1.5 million per year leading the Bonnies. The expectation is that Schmidt’s replacement will make half (and maybe even less than that) of that salary…
Wojnarowski didn’t have final say on the St. Bonaventure roster under Schmidt but played a very active role in recruiting the team as well as managing the team’s spending and fundraising for more NIL/revenue share dollars. It’s unclear if, in replacing Schmidt, Wojnarowski will take over full roster control.
Wojnarowski and MacDonald are longtime friends according to WIBV4 of Buffalo. The GM pushed to get the basketball coach to St. Bonaventure.
That relationship would suggest they’ll be aligned when it comes to recruiting and roster management. Adrian Wojnarowski has a pawn in his masterplan to turn the program around, and he got him for cheap in comparison to his predecessor.