MAAC championship a full-circle moment for Donny Lind

By Vincent Simone (@VTSimone)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Cinderella has officially reached the mountaintop.

Against all odds, sixth-seeded Mount St. Mary’s captured its first MAAC title Saturday night with a 63-49 win over Iona in Atlantic City. It was a postseason run for the ages, and the culmination of a remarkable first season for head coach Donny Lind.

“There’s an unhuman belief in our group where they relish the opportunity to prove someone else wrong,” Lind said, recalling the fact that Mount St. Mary’s was picked 11th in the preseason poll. “We knew we had better players than other people realized.”

Lind, who served as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at The Mount under Jamion Christian from 2013-16, made his return to Emmitsburg last April after stints as an assistant at Radford and UNC Greensboro. In 2018, he helped lead Radford to a Big South tournament title and a victory over LIU Brooklyn in the First Four. But for the 38-year-old rookie head coach, there was never a doubt where he wanted to be.

“One of the reasons I was so excited about the job when it opened was because just how special a place The Mount is,” Lind said after Saturday night’s victory. “When I left, I realized just how special it is at this level to have such a great community fan base. When the job opened, that community and support was a huge reason why I was more excited about the job than some other candidates might have been. To be able to deliver and bring this back to them is awesome.”

Saturday was a full-circle moment for Lind, who owes his roots to the MAAC. He got his start as a student manager under Jimmy Patsos at Loyola before joining VCU as a graduate manager and video coordinator on Shaka Smart’s staff on the 2010-11 team that went to the Final Four.

“When I got to VCU, I learned how important the mindset of the players are and how it’s our job as coaches to help them grow and become the best version of themselves,” Lind said. “Every job I’ve gotten in my life until I got this one was because of Shaka and people that I met there, and the impact they made on me.”

Lind eventually followed Christian to Mount St. Mary’s, where he fell in love with little Emmitsburg, Maryland and its population of less than 3,000 basketball lovers.

“We love hoops in Emmitsburg, and it’s a fun place to be a basketball player,” Lind said. “It’s a little remote, but if you’re a hooper and you love basketball, there’s few places that really care at this level like they do in Emmitsburg.”

This remarkable run by the Mountaineers began long before March. In mid-January, they dropped four conference matches in a row, three by double figures, including a 91-57 blowout at home to Quinnipiac. From that adversity, Lind’s crew laid the foundation that led to this championship.

“We learned the strength of the unit,” sophomore guard Dallas Hobbs said of that period. “We all gained confidence in each other and learned resilience. We flipped the switch, and it’s a testament to our culture.”

Hobbs missed several games during that stretch, and injuries became a story of note for The Mount down the stretch. Senior forward Terrell Ard suffered a season-ending Achilles injury in late February, while sharpshooter Carmelo Pacheco broke his finger in the final game of the season. Despite a short-handed rotation, The Mount rode a remarkable defensive stretch to the title. Over three tournament games against the second, third and fourth-seeded teams in the conference, Mount St. Mary’s held those opponents to 54 points per game, 33 percent shooting, and just 20 percent from beyond the arc.

“It’s hard to be a good defensive team,” Lind said. “We really try to establish a lot of joy in our program and have a ton of fun, and we took joy in frustrating other people. To see them grow where they are now is unbelievable.”

After this run for the ages, it’s safe to say Lind will never have to pay for another drink in Emmitsburg again.