John's Journal: Father Vs. Son Is Always Special

A couple of high school boys basketball head coaches – a decades-long veteran and a relative newbie by comparison – chatted before their teams tipped off on Friday night and shook hands afterwards. They share many things, including a love for basketball and dedication to their players, but the most important thing they share is a last name. McDonald.

The first family of Minnesota basketball is well-known. It all started with Bob McDonald, the coach who won 1,012 games over 59 years, the last 53 in his hometown of Chisholm. Bob passed away in 2020 and his legacy lives on through his children and grandchildren.

Friday night at Forest Lake, Bob’s son Mike (Cambridge-Isanti) and grandson Kyle (Forest Lake) squared off in a non-conference game. Bob’s six kids all went into coaching, as did the three children of Mike and Dayla McDonald. Along with Kyle, their son Rhett is the boys head coach at Duluth East and their daughter Kailee is an assistant girls coach at East.

Mike’s teams have faced Forest Lake and Duluth East in regular-season games, but the real family fun – or trauma (for Dayla) – is possible in the postseason, because Cambridge-Isanti, Duluth East and Forest Lake are all in Class 4A Section 7. Forest Lake was the last team standing a year ago, losing to Andover in the section title game.

Mike used the word “unique” when asked about coaching against his sons, adding, “It’s probably tougher on their mom.”

Dayla was in the stands Friday night to watch her son’s team defeat her husband’s team 63-48. On the court afterwards, she took a photo of Kyle with some of his former Cambridge-Isanti teammates who are now on Mike’s coaching staff, including fellow 2015 grads Evan Dunbar and Grant Lillemoen. Dayla also joked about Mike’s mood in the wake of a loss.

In a Sunday afternoon phone conversation, Mike said he had just watched video of Friday’s game, putting it off as long as he could. He said it with a laugh. Cambridge-Isanti’s record is 4-5; the Bluejackets will play at North Branch (2-6) on Tuesday.

“My team has potential,” he said. “We haven’t been absolutely happy with some of our performances lately. We started pretty well, we had a nice win against Elk River (80-55 in the second game) but since then we’ve been inconsistent. We’ve had winnable games but we’ve been kind of up and down. It comes down to little things.”

The Rangers’ win over Cambridge-Isanti gave them a record of 2-7 and a two-game win streak after starting 0-7. In the family tally, Mike has a record of 3-2 against Kyle.

Forest Lake could make some hay in the coming weeks, with a favorable schedule. The game against Cambridge-Isanti was the first in a stretch of 12 games with 10 of them at home, including Mounds View (7-2) coming to Forest Lake on Tuesday.

“We’re a young squad and it took a long time to find our groove a little bit,” said Kyle, who is in his fourth year at the helm at will turn 28 next week. “In the last couple games we found our groove, the guys have stepped up and gotten a little bit of confidence. We knew it would take time, especially with what we had on our schedule in the early part of the season.”

Mike, 68, is a member of the Minnesota Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame along with his father and brother Tom, the coach at Ely High School. This is Mike’s 42^nd year as a coach and 38^th at Cambridge-Isanti. He began his career at Lyman High School South Dakota, where he had a record of 67-20 in four years and won a Class B state title in 1985.

He is retired from teaching but has no plans to retire from coaching.

“It didn’t look like it the other night but I feel joy from what I’m doing,” he said. “They’re great kids. I feel like I still have energy and I like what I’m doing. I don’t look ahead and say, ‘This is the last class I’ll coach’ or ‘This is my last year.’ When you’re not looking forward to the beginning of a season, or you’re looking forward to the end of a season, then it’s time to get out.”

Father coaching against son, and vice versa, is a rare occurrence. But both Kyle and Mike said it’s different now that they have done so several times.

“The first time I played him, the game was in Cambridge and I had a lot of nerves going into that game,” Kyle said. “Now I don’t have too many nerves and I coach kind of the same way I would for any other game and prepare the same way. You’re a fan of the other team, as well, with all the connections.”

Mike said, “I think it’s definitely different from first time but it’s still somewhat unique. You look over and there he is. I’m competitive but it’s unique. There is that combination of the competitive nature of the game combined with pride in seeing him on the other bench.”

One difference in the two coaches is their attire on game nights. Bob McDonald and his assistants famously always wore jackets and ties, a tradition that Mike continues. Kyle, on the other hand, wears a polo shirt.

“I wear it out of respect for my dad and what he did for years,” Mike said. “Sometimes I think. ‘Would it be more comfortable to go with a pullover?’ But I can’t do it.”

Another throwback tradition at Cambridge-Isanti is the players wearing ties to school on game days.

Kyle wore a suit and tie the first time he coached against his dad. That game was in Cambridge, where Kyle ended his career as the second-leading scorer in school history.

“We lost that game,” he said, laughing. “It’s just a small little thing that I don’t carry on from my grandfather, but there are plenty of other things that I do carry on.”

--MSHSL staff member John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Threads or Bluesky at johnmilleamn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at [email protected] or [email protected]