After a poor first year, McKay led the team to a third-place conference finish in his second season.

That successful season helped launch forward Danny Granger to an NBA career.

McKay then took a job at Liberty University, where he took the Flames to Big South Conference semifinals in back-to-back years.

His second-year, with the help of Seth Curry, McKay led the LU to a Division I school-record 23 wins[3] and a bid to the inaugural CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.

[4] After the season ended, Curry transferred to Duke University, and McKay's longtime friend Tony Bennett was hired as head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers.

[2] En route to a school-record 28 wins, McKay's Flames defeated the storied UCLA Bruins on their home court in Los Angeles by 15 points, prompting the immediate firing of UCLA head coach Steve Alford in December 2018, before the Pac-12 Conference season even began.