Class of 2025

Dr. Dan McDonnell,

Morris

Official

 

Dr. Dan McDonnell began his wrestling career at Morrison High School under 2013 IWCOA Hall of Fame inductee coach Dan Drosopoulos. At Morrison, he was the first freshman to win a regional title and first to be a four-time regional champion and he placed fourth in Class A at 112 pounds in 1987.

Dan ended his high school career with the school career victory record of 128-26-1 and held the record until 2012 when one of his nephews and a two-time state champion, Mark McDonnell, eclipsed it with a 136-15 record, and his other nephew and a state champion, Matt McDonnell, came close with a 118-30 record.

Dan began officiating wrestling upon graduating high school in 1988, with his older brother, wrestling state qualifier and state official, Bob McDonnell. Following the death of his father and paying for college on his own, he attended Sauk Valley Community College and then transferred to Illinois State University and walked onto the wrestling team. Dan wrestled the remainder of his college eligibility of three years at ISU, earning a varsity letter.

He began his teaching and coaching career at Prairie Central High School, and then became head coach at William Penn College in Oskaloosa, Iowa.

Dan returned to Illinois as the head coach at Ottawa Township High School for seven years, earning a coaching record of 103-44-2. He had two state medalists, Casey Carrino (second in AA at 130 in 2003 ) and Matt Harding (third in AA at 189 in 2002) and 10 state qualifiers.

While coaching at Ottawa, Dan completed his doctorate in Education Administration and Leadership in 2003 from DePaul University in Chicago. In 2004-05, Dan moved up in school administration, gave up coaching, and returned to officiating wrestling.

Since then, Dan has officiated five IHSA Dual Team and five IHSA Individual State Tournaments. In 2022, Dan became an IHSA Wrestling Clinician.

In 2022, Dan’s daughter, Ella, placed fourth at 105 pounds in the first IHSA Girls Wrestling Tournament in 2022, was fourth at 110 pounds in 2023 and also qualified for state in 2024 for Morris Community High School. His son, Eli, plays soccer as a sophomore at Morris. Dan has been married for 22 years to his wife, Anne, a school administrator, and they live in Morris.