College coaching veteran John McDonell joined the Georgia State staff in April 2016 as a senior offensive analyst after four seasons as the offensive line coach at Tulane.
His 30-plus years in coaching have included stops at Washington State, Stanford, Notre Dame and Purdue. He previously worked with GSU head coach Trent Miles at Stanford (2001) and Notre Dame (2002-04), and he was on the same Washington State staff with receivers coach Tim Lappano from 1989-92.
In his tenure at Tulane, McDonell helped the Green Wave to a bowl berth in 2013, one of 10 bowl trips during his career.
McDonell (pronounced MAC-dun-ell) began his college coaching career at Weber State, where he spent five years (1984-88), highlighted by a conference title and No. 10 national ranking in Division I-AA in 1987.
From there, he went on to a 12-year stint under Mike Price at Washington State, and he helped the Cougars to three bowl berths, including the 1997 Rose Bowl.
In 2001, McDonell moved to Stanford, where he also coached in 2005, with a three-year stop at Notre Dame in between. He then coached at Purdue (2006-08), Bowling Green (2009), Memphis (2010) and Idaho (2011).
Among the offensive linemen he has helped develop are Rimington Trophy finalist and first-round NFL draft pick Jeff Faine at Notre Dame, another first-round selection at Purdue in Dustin Keller, and All-American Eric Heitmann at Stanford.
McDonell earned his bachelor's degree in social science in 1981 from Carroll College, where he was a three-time all-conference player and an NAIA All-American as a senior. He was inducted into the Carroll College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994.
A native of Spokane, Wash., he and his wife Mindy have one son, Michael, and one daughter, Megan.
