Staff Profile

Nationality

As a professional player, McDonald played one season in the North American Soccer League in 1973 with the Toronto Metros. He also played three games for the Cleveland Force during the 1979-1980 Major Indoor Soccer League season. McDonald played for Toronto Hungaria, Toronto Macedonia and London City FC of the Canadian National Soccer League.

McDonald earned four caps for the Canada Men’s National Soccer Team in 1973 and 1974. He played in four straight internationals for Canada in their back four – in 1973, on October 7th in a 2-0 away win over Luxemburg; November 10th in a 1-5 away lose and November 12th in a 1-0 away win over Haiti both played in Port-au-Prince; and on April 14, 1974 in a 0-0 away draw to Bermuda in Hamilton. He also played for the Canadian Pan American Games Soccer Team in Mexico. McDonald went on to earn an additional 3 caps with the Canada National Soccer Team at the 1973 CONCACAF Championship in Mexico.

After retiring as a player, McDonald entered into coaching. He became the Director of Coaching for the Maple Leaf Soccer Club in Scarborough, Ontario from 1985 to 1988. He then moved to the United States to become the Senior State Coach for Indiana from 1988 to 1991. In 1992, McDonald became the first Director of Coaching for the Center Grove Soccer Club in Greenwood, Indiana and held that position until 2008. He also served as the Region 2 Senior Head Coach of twelve states in the Midwest from 1992 to 1994. In 1993 he was the Assistant Coach at the US Olympic Sports Festival. That year, he also successfully coached the Indianapolis Inferno to the 1992 U.S. Open Cup Semifinal. He was the Director of Coaching for the Inferno from 1989 to 1994. In 1994, McDonald was appointed the Head Coach for the US Olympic Sports Festival but club commitments kept him from the post. In 2003, as a guest of Sir Alex Ferguson, McDonald was brought in to observe and discuss the Manchester United training sessions for the First Team, Reserve and Youth squads at the Carrington Training Center. In that same year, McDonald was also a guest of John Greig of the Glasgow Rangers to observe and discuss the training of their First Team, Reserve and Youth squads. The following year he was also a guest of the Glasgow Celtic for three weeks participating with the First Team, Reserve and Youth squads. He also observed Hibernian and Motherwell of the Scottish Premier League and Southhampton of the English Premier League the following year. He was then hired by Terry Butcher from Motherwell as the North American scout.

Jimmy McDonald joined Celtic FC Florida (formerly, Gulf Coast United) as the Director of Coaching in 2008, and under his exceptional guidance the club has steadily grown in stature. Jimmy can be contacted by e-mail at jimmy@celticfl.net.