[1] McDonald previously served as an assistant coach at Syracuse, Arkansas, Miami, Minnesota, Western Michigan, Stanford, Northern Illinois, Ball State, and with the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL).
His brother, Brian McDonald-Ashford, played running back for 2 seasons at BYU before a knee injury ended his career.
He played both quarterback and running back in high school while also competing in sprints on the track team.
McDonald attended the University of Illinois, where he was a four-year letterman in football as a wide receiver and kickoff returner under head coaches Lou Tepper and Ron Turner.
[7] When Stanford's offensive coordinator Bill Cubit was hired as the head coach at Western Michigan Universityin 2005, he took McDonald with him.
[14] On January 15, 2013, MacDonald was officially named offensive coordinator under new head coach Scott Shafer.
[17] McDonald has also served as an NFL coaching intern during training camps with the New York Jets (2004, 2006), Chicago Bears (2005) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2007).