Alma Mater: Syracuse University '92
Season as Head Coach (Women): 8th (T&F), 7th (XC)NCAA Men's Cross Country National Championships: 1 (2007, cross country)
NCAA Men's Track & Field National Champions: 1 (Krisztian Majdik, TJ, 2004 indoors)
NCAA Men's All-Americans: 43 (37 at NYU, 6 at Seton Hall)
NCAA Women's All-Americans: 4
UAA Men's Cross Country Championships: 4 (2006-09)
Best Men's NCAA Track Championship Finish: t-10th (2004 & 2007 indoor)
Best Women's NCAA Track Championship Finish: 43rd (2011 indoor)
Men's Coach of the Year Honors: USTFCCCA Cross Country National (1, 2007); USTFCCCA Cross Country Atlantic Region (3; 2006-07, 2012); UAA Cross Country (4; 2006-09)
Women's Coach of the Year Honors: UAA Cross Country (2009); USTFCCCA Cross Country Atlantic Region (2013)
Nick McDonough is in his seventh full year as Head Coach of the New York University women's cross country team and eighth season at the helm of the track & field program. He inherited the reins midway through the 2008 indoor track season.
Already entrenched as one of the finest men’s coaches in the nation, McDonough is now in his 17th season as Head Coach of the NYU men’s squads. Having started with that program prior to the 1998-99 season, McDonough led the Violets to the 2007 NCAA Division III Men’s Cross Country Championship and has worked to elevate his women’s teams to similarly lofty heights.
In 2013-14, McDonough led the women to one of the most successful years in team history. During the cross country season, NYU won the NCAA Atlantic Region Championship, equaled its best-ever finish with a second-place showing at the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championship, and finished a best-ever sixth at the NCAA Division III Championship in its fifth consecutive appearance. Senior Emily Cousens and sophomore Lily Corsaro became NYU’s first cross country All-Americans under McDonough and he was recognized as the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Atlantic Region Women’s Coach of the Year.
McDonough’s track and field team also had a successful year. During the indoor season, women’s school records were broken in four events: the 500m (junior Caroline Spring, 1:17.46), the 3,000m (Cousens, 9:41.11), the pole vault (sophomore Ilana Brown, 3.30m) and the 4x800m relay (9:29.26). The Violets finished fourth at the UAA Indoor Championships, their best showing in 10 years. Cousens won the mile for the second straight year, senior Hannah Borenstein won the 5,000m title and the foursome of Corsaro, Spring, Cousens, and senior Katie Calder won the distance medley relay.
The outdoor season produced similar highlights, led by Cousens’ qualifying for the NCAA Championship in the 1,500m. It marked the sixth consecutive year in which McDonough produced an NCAA qualifier. His squad broke four records during the outdoor season, as well: pole vault (Brown, 3.20m), 800m (sophomore Sarah Sisk, 2:14.48), 4x400m relay (9:22.81), and sprint medley relay (4:11.53). The UAA Outdoor Championships saw the Violets place fourth as well, as Cousens captured the 1,500m title for the second consecutive year.
Cousens completed her four-year career under McDonough’s by being named NYU’s Senior Athlete of the Year.
In 2012-13, NYU equaled its best-ever UAA Cross Country finish by placing second. The team also produced a third-place result at the NCAA Atlantic Region Championship and finished 22nd at the NCAA Championship.
McDonough’s track and field teams also saw increased success in 2013, as an astounding 14 school records were shattered throughout the indoor and outdoor campaigns (nine of which still stand entering the 2015 season). NYU finished fifth at the UAA Indoor Championships, which featured a first-place performance by Cousens in the mile. The indoor season was highlighted by the Violets’ best-ever second-place team finish at the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Championships, which included record-setting performances in the 4x200m (1:44.90) and in the 4x400m relay (3:57.23).
Kristina Harris (60m, 7.87) and Spring (500m, 1:18.58) set individual team records during the 2013 indoor season, as did Cousens, who set the pace in the 3,000m with a time of 9:53.31. A new 4x800m record was also set (9:43.21).
Outdoors, the record-breaking trend continued. At the Raleigh Relays five more marks fell, including four relays. Each of the 12 Violets who competed contributed to at least one school record being broken. The sprint medley relay team of Harris, Drew Washington, Spring, and Alyssa Binczyk (4:13.15), the 4x200m group of Harris, Guo, Spring, and Washington (1:45.50), and the 4x1,500m squad of Binczyk, Cousens, Corsaro, and Georgina Norton (19:17.83) all established records. Kirsten Keller's 10,000m mark of 35:13.21 at the event also represented a new NYU record. Additionally, the quartet of Binczyk, Corsaro, Calder, and Norton ran a 4x800m record time of 9:21.28 at the ECAC Championships.
McDonough’s squad hosted the 2013 UAA Outdoor Championships and finished fifth. Keller won the 10,000m and Cousens captured gold in two events, the 1,500m and the 5,000m (school-record 16:59.35). She added another school record in the 3,000m (9:55.46) at the TCNJ Invitational, while Brown set a new mark for the pole vault (3.05m) at the Matthew Vassar Twilight Meet.
McDonough produced two qualifiers for the NCAA Outdoor Championships, as Keller participated in the 10,000m championship for the second time. Cousens, who had qualified for the 1,500m, was unable to participate due to injury. However, for her excellent performance throughout all three seasons, Cousens was honored by NYU as its Female Scholar Athlete of the Year.
In 2011, McDonough’s women’s cross country squad qualified for the NCAA Championship and posted a second-place finish at the UAA Championship as Maeve Evans and Paige Zelinsky earned First Team All-UAA honors.
During the 2012 track & field seasons, the two-time All-American Evans qualified for both the indoor (5,000 meters) and outdoor (1,500 meters) NCAA Championships. Indoors, Laura Santoski won the mile at the Metro Coaches Invitational and Zelinsky captured the ECAC 3,000m Championship. Evans established six individual team records during her four-year career and was part of three relay records.
Also in 2012, two of McDonough’s indoor relay teams, the distance medley (12:10.72) and sprint medley (4:25.41), established school records. Individually, Binczyk broke the indoor 800-meter mark (2:17.11).
In addition to winning the NCAA National Championship in 2007, McDonough’s men’s cross country teams have won four UAA Championships (2006-09) and three NCAA Division III Atlantic Region titles (2006-07, 2012).
For his efforts, McDonough received NCAA Division III Atlantic Region Cross Country Coach of the Year honors twice (2006-07) and UAA Cross Country Staff of the Year honors (2006-09). He also earned U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association National Coach of the Year accolades following the team's national championship.
McDonough came to NYU after six years as an assistant coach at Seton Hall University. While there, he coached numerous Big East Conference champions, six IC4A champions, an American record-setting distance medley relay team in 1994, and six NCAA Division I All-Americans, including two in cross country.
Additionally, McDonough has varied experience as a race manager and director, working on races such as the NYC Gotham Cup, as well as serving as president of the New York Metropolitan Coaches Association since 2004.
A 1993 graduate of Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Science degree in political science, McDonough brought extensive professional and personal experience to the NYU program. As an athlete, he helped lead the Syracuse cross country program for four years and was named captain as a senior. On the track, he was a member of the Orange's 1992 Big East Championship team, anchoring the relay that clinched the meet.
As a high school runner at Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft, NJ, McDonough was part of a winning DMR team at the Penn Relays and competed at the prestigious Fifth Avenue Mile in New York City. He continues to train and can usually be found running with the team.
A native of Point Pleasant, NJ, McDonough resides in Interlaken, NJ.
McDonough’s All-Americans
Cross Country
Year Place
Emily Cousens 2013 35th
Lily Corsaro 2013 34th
Track & Field
Year Event Place Indoor/Outdoor
Maeve Evans 2010 Mile Eighth Indoor
Maeve Evans 2011 5,000m Fifth Indoor
