Athletics Directory
Nick McDonough
Men’s Cross Country, Track
Head Coach
Telephone: 998-2051
Email: npm1@nyu.edu
The 2006-07 cross country and track & field seasons represented Nicholas McDonough's ninth as head coach at New York University, and arguably the best in team history.
NYU cemented its position among the upper echelon of Division III cross country programs in 2006. The Violets finished as National Runner-up at the NCAA Championship and won their first-ever University Athletic Association (UAA) and NCAA Division III Atlantic Region crowns. Also, McDonough produced a program-record four All-Americans as senior Jon Phillips (13th place), junior Hany Abdallah (14th), sophomore Jesse Schneider (22nd), and junior Ryan Williams (29th) were each among the top-35 national finishers.
Thus, it was no surprise when McDonough was selected Division III Atlantic Region Coach of the Year.
The success story continued for McDonough’s athletes in the winter and spring, as the Violets tied their all-time best with a 10th-place finish at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships. The Violets boasted six All-Americans in three events: Phillips (2nd, 5,000 meters), the distance medley relay (5th: sophomore Bernier Lauredan, Jr., seniors James McCarthy and Dan Napiecek, Williams), and Abdallah (6th, 5,000m).
During the spring, McDonough led NYU to a 27th-place finish at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Abdallah took home two All-America certificates (4th, 10,000m; 6th, 5,000m), while Williams earned All-American status in the 5,000m (7th place). Abdallah and Willliams became the first Violets to earn All-America status in all three seasons (cross country, indoor and outdoor).
McDonough’s teams also produced outstanding results in their classrooms, as the cross country, indoor and outdoor track & field teams featured 48 UAA All-Academic honorees.
In 2005, McDonough’s cross country squad finished third at the Atlantic Regional and at the UAA Championship. Abdallah won the individual title at the UAA and went on to earn All-America honors with his ninth-place finish at the NCAA Championship.
During the 2004-05 season, McDonough helped guide Andrew Tonniges to two UAA victories (5,000m, mile) and to the Most Outstanding Performer award at the UAA Indoor Championships.
In 2003-04 the team flourished under McDonough. He led the Violets to a best-ever 10th-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships and produced NYU’s first national champion in 35 years, as Krisztian Majdik won the triple jump with a school-record leap of 15.00m (49’2-1/2”). Majdik also earned All-America honors in the long jump with a fourth-place finish. The Violets produced a fourth-place finish at the UAA Indoor Championships and earned a berth to the NCAA Cross Country Championship for the first time since becoming a Division III program in 1982.
McDonough came to NYU after six years as an assistant coach at Seton Hall University. While there, he coached numerous Big East Conference champions, six IC4A champions, an American record-setting distance medley relay team in 1994, and six NCAA Division I All-Americans, including two in cross country. In 1999, McDonough produced NYU's first Division III cross country All-American, Moti Margolin. Additionally, McDonough has varied experience as a race manager and director, working on races such as the NYC Gotham Cup, as well as the Spring Lake Five and the George Sheehan 10k Classic, which are two of the top-50 road races in the U.S.
A 1992 graduate of Syracuse University with a bachelor's degree in political science, McDonough brought extensive professional and personal experience to the NYU program. As an athlete, he helped lead the Syracuse cross country program for four years and was named captain as a senior. On the track, he was a member of the Orangemen's 1992 Big East Championship team, anchoring the relay that clinched the meet.
As a high school runner at Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft, New Jersey, McDonough was part of a winning DMR at the Penn Relays and competed at the prestigious Fifth Avenue Mile in New York City. He continues to train and can usually be found running with the team.
A native of Point Pleasant, NJ, McDonough resides in Interlaken, NJ.