Oakland University Men's Basketball

Jeff Smith rejoined the Oakland men's basketball program as the associate head coach in August 2019. Smith spent the previous seven seasons as an assistant coach at Central Michigan from 2012-19. The Carson City, Mich. native is now in his second stint with Oakland, after serving five seasons on the sidelines for the Golden Grizzlies as an assistant coach (2002-05) then as the associate head coach (2005-07). He was largely responsible for Oakland's highly-touted 2005 recruiting class and also helped the Golden Grizzlies to the Mid-Continent Conference Tournament championship plus a win in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in 2005. Smith played for two seasons at Alma College before a knee injury ended his career. He then worked with the program for two years as a student assistant and was named the college's junior varsity coach during his senior season, where his coaching career began. He was then an assistant coach at Albion College from 1995-97. Smith joined the CMU program as a graduate assistant in 1997 and was promoted to assistant coach two years later. He helped the 2000-01 Chippewas to a 20-8 record and Mid-American Conference title. After his first stint at Oakland, Smith worked as an assistant on coach Jim Boylen's staff at Utah from 2007-11, helping the Utes to the Mountain West Conference title and a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament in 2011. He then spent the 2011-12 season as an assistant at UC-Riverside before returning to Mount Pleasant.  Jeff Smith Coaching Career Alma College, head JV coach (1994-95) Albion College, assistant coach (1995-97) Central Michigan, graduate assistant (1997-99) Central Michigan, assistant coach (1999-02) Oakland, assistant coach (2002-05) Oakland, associate head coach (2005-07) Utah, assistant coach (2007-11) UC-Riverside, assistant coach (2011-12) Central Michigan, assistant coach (2012-19) Oakland, associate head coach (2019-present)  

Trey McDonald joined the Oakland men's basketball coaching staff as assistant coach in July of 2024.   McDonald joins Oakland from Virginia Tech University where he served as a Graduate Assistant for the men's basketball team. In his role, McDonald was instrumental in designing and implementing on-court workouts and individualized training sessions, scouting opponents through detailed film breakdowns and creating scouting videos. Before his tenure at Virginia Tech, McDonald was the Varsity Boys Basketball Head Coach at Loy Norrix High School in Kalamazoo, Mich., for four years where the team saw a consistent increase in winning percentage over the years.   "I'm thrilled to join the Golden Grizzlies and work with the talented student-athletes and dedicated coaching staff," McDonald said. "I'm happy to be back in Michigan and I look forward to contributing to the program's success and helping our players achieve their highest potential both on and off the court." In addition to his coaching experience, McDonald has an impressive background as a player at both the college and professional level. He played for multiple teams overseas, including stints in Greece, Cyprus, Slovenia, Croatia and Czechia, after he played four years for Ohio State University. McDonald played a pivotal role for the Buckeyes and went to the NCAA Tournament all four years, including three trips to the Round of 32, a pair of appearances in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight and advanced to the 2012 Final Four. On top of the tournament success, McDonald also won both the Big Ten regular season and tournament championship.