After winning the starting spot in the Iowa Hawkeye lineup, McDonough achieved 23 dual victories as a team, including a record of 11-0 on his home mat at Carver–Hawkeye Arena.

McDonough ended his season by winning the NCAA title over fellow freshman Andrew Long, of Iowa State.

McDonough returned for his sophomore season at 125 pounds and went 27-2 on the year, with one of those losses coming from Brandon Precin of Northwestern in a dual.

McDonough returned to the top of the 125 pound weight class as a junior when he defeated Nico Megaludis in the NCAA finals 4-1, which also was his 100th career victory in college.

The injury McDonough sustained in his senior year of college prevented him from getting back on the mat initially, but when he did he debuted at 61 kilograms at the Dave Schultz tournament.

[5] In Hungary McDonough earned a bronze medal for Team USA,[6] losing only to eventual champion Fumitaka Morishita of Japan.

[9] In April, McDonough picked up a 6-2 victory over 2013 World Team member Angel Escobedo[10] at the AGON Wrestling Championships, which moved him up the National rankings to #2[11] behind teammate Tony Ramos.