He is best known for his time as a college athlete playing football, basketball, and baseball for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and is generally considered the best all-around college athlete to attend the University of North Carolina.

[3] Monk McDonald's father, Angus Morris Sr., was the founder of the Southern Real Estate Company and was a chairman on the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners.

[1] McDonald also won the first Patterson Medal, the most prestigious award for student-athletes at the University of North Carolina, for his collegiate career in 1924.

Beside McDonald, there were several other talented players on the 1923–24 team, including senior Cartwright Carmichael, who was the first North Carolina All-American in any sport, and Jack Cobb, who would later be named to the All-American team and would later have his number retired at North Carolina.

[12] The local news reported that hundreds of students at North Carolina "waited in the streets in front of telegraph offices and cafes" for news about the game and after the victory students "went wild" and set a bonfire on the athletic field.

[13] Even though McDonald has just graduated from North Carolina and had started to attend medical school full-time, he became the next head coach after Shepard's departure.

[2] McDonald was the first former player to become head coach of the North Carolina men's basketball team; Matt Doherty would be the second.

[15] Although the team would lose another four games, North Carolina went through the regular season unbeaten when playing at its home arena, the Tin Can.

[15] That season McDonald's team also managed to win the Southern Conference regular season for the second year in a row and win the Southern Conference Tournament beating Tulane University in the finals, which McDonald did not attend due to his medical studies.

Conference tournament champion McDonald gave up coaching after one year and instead focused on attending medical school.

[3] After the war, McDonald resumed a urology practice in Charlotte and worked with the Crowell Clinic until his retirement in 1969.