Football alumnus reflects on grad assistant role

This football season, Dermot McDonough has returned to V. Earl Dickinson Field at E. Claiborne Robins Stadium. 

However, this time around, he hasn’t been wearing pads. 

After four years of playing football for the University of Richmond, McDonough, ‘23, a former defensive back, joined the Spiders’ coaching staff as a graduate assistant football coach. 

In August, McDonough said amid training camp that it was a different experience coaching since some of his good friends are still on the team. 

“That dynamic, well, it’s interesting,” McDonough said. “First of all, I think they’ve done a good job of, ‘Hey, off the field, we can still be boys, but on the field, I’m a coach,’ and I appreciate them respecting that.” 

Over the course of his four years, McDonough played in 14 games for the Spiders, picking up 5 tackles in his time on the field. He redshirted his first year, but by the time his junior season came around, he said he had secured a partial scholarship after originally joining the team as a walk-on. 

McDonough said that by the time he was a sophomore, he started to think about a coaching role. 

He said he went into Assistant Head Coach, Defensive Coordinator and Linebackers Coach Justin Wood’s office during his sophomore season. Wood asked McDonough what he saw himself doing after finishing his football career, and McDonough said he saw himself coaching, which put the idea on Wood’s radar at the time, he said. 

Flash forward to the team’s 2023 spring season and McDonough was off and running in his grad assistant role, working with Wood on the defensive side of the ball. 

“When the first day of pads came on, I missed [playing],” McDonough said. “I was like ‘dang, I think I could still get out there.’ But I started in spring ball. I knew [by the] first day of practice in spring ball, I knew when I was out there, I was like ‘this is what I’m supposed to be doing.’ I felt that immediately and it’s been like that ever since.”

McDonough said that last season, when he was still a player, he had the chance to put on the headset and was able to signal some play calls. His partial scholarship did not extend for graduate school, so that was when he decided to go all-in on coaching in addition to continuing his education.

“I was like, ‘you know what? I’m just gonna hang up the cleats and then get a jumpstart on coaching and do what I love,” McDonough said. “So, I’m super happy I made that decision. It’s been great.”

During the team’s spring game back in April, McDonough said Wood allowed him to work with the outside linebacker group, having McDonough run drills and meet with those position players separately. 

“I’ve been in the system now for four years,” McDonough said. “I’ve played every position in the back seven on defense, so I’ve got a pretty good grasp of the defense in our scheme and what we’re trying to accomplish.”

In addition to working with the outside linebackers, McDonough completes other tasks delegated to a graduate assistant coach, including breaking down film, he said. 

“I got all those menial tasks, but on top of having my own position group,” McDonough said. “It’s a lot on my plate, but I’m more than happy to do it. I want that extra stuff on my plate.”

In August, McDonough said he was most looking forward to game prep and focusing on one week at a time. 

Now that the Spiders only have one game remaining in the regular season, there will be yet another opportunity for game prep, although this time, under higher stakes. The team will travel to the College of William & Mary for a 1 p.m. matchup Nov. 18 to compete for both the Capital Cup and a piece of the Colonial Athletic Association Championship, two tasks the program fell short of accomplishing last season. 

“We felt the sting of it last year, losing to William & Mary for the CAA Championship at home, losing a heartbreaker out in Sacramento,” McDonough said before the season. “So we felt that sting. We know what it feels like to lose those big games. So, we’re coming back with an edge.”

UR will also look for an FCS playoffs bid, a task the program did accomplish last season, which was the team’s first appearance in the playoffs since 2016. 

“It’s a big rivalry, no question,” UR Head Coach Russ Huesman said in the team’s weekly press conference Nov. 15. “Coaches, fans, players, everybody understands the significance of this game in a rivalry game, no question about that.”

Graduate defensive back Aaron Banks echoed Huesman’s comments about the matchup against William & Mary, saying in the same press conference that the hype and the rivalry always add to the game. 

“It’s always a close game, it’s always a battle, always comes down to the end,” Banks said. 

Regardless of the outcome of the Spiders’ regular season finale, McDonough will be at the game, just not playing this time. Instead, he’ll be coaching and watching some of his former teammates attempt to reclaim the Capital Cup trophy from the Tribe, all from the sideline — a position in which he hopes to continue to be down the line.  

“I’ve been around the game. I’ve been playing tackle football since I was in second grade, and I honestly couldn’t imagine life without it,” McDonough said. “So coaching, that’s what I want to do.”

Contact sports editor Jimmy James at jimmy.james@richmond.edu