Florida Southern College officially named Michael Donnelly as the 24th head coach in the history of the Moccasin men's basketball program on Friday, May 1, 2015. The Moccasin program won its second NCAA Division II National Championship this past March with its 77-62 win over Indiana (Pa.) in the championship game of the Division II Basketball Tournament.

 Donnelly comes to Lakeland after spending the past five seasons as the head coach at Southern Connecticut State, where he led the program to a 97-48 (.669 winning pct.) record, including leading the Owls to its second-ever appearance in the Elite Eight in 2014. 

Since taking over the Owls in May of 2010, Donnelly, who is 195-150 in 12 seasons as a collegiate coach, led the program to a resurgence as he helped return to Owl program to national promenence. In his time at SCSU, Donnelly led the program to five straight appearances in the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament and back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Division II Tournament in both 2014 and 2015.

In his final season in 2014-15 in New Haven, he led the team to a 24-8 record and its second straight Northest-10 Southwest Division title and a spot in the East Regional final where they fell to Southern New Hampshire, who the Mocs defeated in this year's Elite Eight national quarterfinals. The Owls were ranked as high as No. 2 during the regular season and its 24 victories helped establish a new program mark for wins in consecutive seasons with 54. He also coached his second straight All-American in 2014-15 as Tylon Smith was recognized as an All-America by two separate organizations, including the NABC and also had three player earned All-Conference honors. 

Donnelly's 2013-14 Owl squad was one of the finest in school history as the team posted a final record of 30-3 and advanced to the Elite Eight where they lost in the national quarterfinals to eventual national champion Central Missouri. In addition, the Owls captured its first-ever NE-10 regular season title, its first-ever NE-10 Tournament title and earn its second-ever East Regional Championship.  

The 2013-14 Owls team had one player earn All-America honors as Greg Langston was honored by four organizations and was also tabbed the NE-10 Player of the Year after finishing his career as the school's all-time scorer with 1,890 points and finished eighth in rebounding with 626 boards. The team also had eight of its players named to the NE-10 Commissioner's Honor Roll.
In addition, Donnelly was named the NABC Regional and NE-10 Coach of the Year in 2013-14.

His third Owls team narrowly missed out on an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament in 2012-13. Southern Connecticut was ranked as high as No. 4 in the region during the year and finished with a 17-10 overall mark. The Owls also reached the NE-10 Tournament for the third straight year and matched their highest regular season league finish in school history.

The Owls also continued to excel in the classroom in 2012-13. The team posted a combined 3.11 grade point average for the fall, 2012 semester. In addition, Tylon Smith was named to the Northeast-10 Conference Men’s Basketball All-Academic Team. In total, four student-athletes were named to the Northeast-10 Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll last year.

Southern Connecticut finished the 2011-12 season with a 14-13 overall mark, the first winning campaign since 2001-02. In addition, the Owls’ fifth place finish in the NE-10 was the program’s highest since joining the league.

The team had three student-athletes honored by the NE-10 for their play on the court in 2011-12, while six student-athletes were selected to the NE-10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll for academic success during the course of the year.

Donnelly’s first season with the Owls resulted in the team’s first NE-10 Tournament appearance in nine years. In addition, the Owls also posted the third-best win turnaround in all of Division II, capturing 10 more victories in 2010-11 than the year prior.

On the individual front, the Owls had one All-Northeast-10 Conference selection and one All-ECAC honoree. The team also had three selections to the Northeast-10 Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll.

A Connecticut native, Donnelly joined the Owls with nearly a decade of collegiate coaching experience. He spent seven years as head men’s basketball coach at nearby Post University before taking over the Owls.

Donnelly guided the Eagles to six Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournaments and three Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference post-season appearances during his tenure at Post. The school’s all-time leader in wins (98), Donnelly was named CACC Coach of the Year in 2007. The 2007 squad also posted a 13-0 home mark – tied for tops in the region – while also receiving the program’s first-ever NCAA regional ranking.

His 2003-04 squad finished with 20 wins and reached the CACC Championship game. The Eagles posted a 79-62 league mark under Donnelly’s guidance.

Donnelly also served as the Athletic Academic Coordinator at Post, where he was responsible for academic progress monitoring for all of the Eagles’ student-athletes. He also spent three years as a Contest Management Director.

Prior to taking over as head coach at Post, Donnelly served as the head boys’ basketball coach at Notre Dame of Fairfield (Conn.) and Brookfield (Conn.) High Schools.

He made his foray into collegiate coaching into 1999 at Post, as he served two years as an assistant coach on the staff. During that time, he was involved in all facets of the program and also recruited Post’s first-ever Division II First-Team All-American.

As a student-athlete, Donnelly began his collegiate career at Central Connecticut State University, where he was a starting guard for the Blue Devils from 1993-95. He served as team captain as a sophomore and was also named All-East Coast honorable mention by Eastern Basketball in 1994.

Donnelly transferred to Sacred Heart University following his sophomore season and was a starting guard for head coach Dave Bike for two years. He was selected to the Honor’s Court by the National Association of Basketball Coaches for his academic prowess in the classroom.

Donnelly was a four-year member of the boys’ basketball team at St. Joseph’s High School in Trumbull for legendary head coach Vito Montelli. He helped St. Joe’s win back-to-back state championships and served as team captain as a senior.

He holds a bachelor's degree in history from Sacred Heart.

Donnelly and his wife Jill, have two daughters, Kara and Payten.