Donnell enters his second season with the Lewis Univeristy Track & Field staff as an assistant coach, working with sprints, hurdles, and combined events.
In his first season at Lewis, Donnell helped sophomore Neil Erasmus qualify for the indoor NCAA championship and earned GLVC Men's Indoor Field Athlete of the Meet by winning the Heptathlon, with a score of 5137 (second best mark in Lewis history), and winning the pole vault. At the indoor conference meet, freshman Cagini Pilgrim finished 3rd in the 200m and set the school record with a time of 21.77. The men's and women's hurdlers also had impressive showings at conference meets with four 60 meter hurdle finalists and three 110 meter/100meter hurdle finalists, including a runner-up finish for senior Brian Holmes.
Donnell spent the 2024-2025 season as an assistant coach at Millikin University, coaching the sprints and hurdles. The group would include a first-team All-American, two second-team All-Americans, a conference champion, 11 All-Conference (top-three) performances, the CCIW Men's Outdoor Track Athlete of the Meet, Indoor & Outdoor Men’s and Women’s Newcomer of the Meet, and broke 15 school records. Two standout freshmen made their mark in DIII with times that rank them among the best all-time in the 200m. Ibrahim Diakite had a high school personal best off 22.44 and improved to 20.94 (second best freshman all-time in DIII), qualifying for the outdoor NCAA championship and USATF U20 championship. De’Andranay Chism holds a top 10 indoor 200m time in DIII history (second best freshman all-time), a top 15 mark in the outdoor 200m in DIII history (third best freshman all-time) and was an All-American at the indoor and outdoor NCAA championships.
For the 2021-2022 season, Donnell was an assistant coach at the University of the Incarnate Word, coaching the combined events, hurdles, horizontal jumps, and javelin. The men were indoor and outdoor Southland Conference (SLC) champions, both program firsts, while the women were runners-up at both championships. The group of athletes Donnell coached included the SLC Outdoor Track & Field Student-Athlete of the Year, SLC Men's Indoor Track & Field Freshman of the Year, three conference champions, ten All-Conference (top three) performances, six school records, and two athletes competing at the first round of the NCAA championship. The group of decathletes included two men, Isaiah Hudgens and Parker Barrett, scoring over 7000 points for the first time (7325 and 7093, respectively) and a second place USTFCCCA squad ranking, the first time the event group had been ranked at UIW. Donnell's list of conference champions included Matheo Bernat in the 60H, Barrett in the javelin, and Gaby Thomas in the triple jump.
From 2019-2021, Donnell coached the combined events and field events at Ball State University. At the 2020 Indoor Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championship, his first with Ball State, the team placed 3rd after placing 8th the previous season, started by a runner-up finish in the pentathlon for sophomore Karlie Zumbro. At the 2021 Outdoor MAC Championship, Zumbro won the heptathlon and freshman Charity Griffith (Hufnagel) added a runner-up finish in the high jump, qualifying for the first round of the NCAA championship. Griffith (Hufnagel) would later go on to be a two-time US champion in the high jump, NCAA champion, and earn many All-American honors. Donnell signed a 41-foot triple jumper who ranked eighth in the nation and a 5-9 high jumper who would go on to be a multiple time All-American, finishing as high as fifth in the heptathlon and runner-up in the pentathlon at the NCAA championships.
Donnell served as a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Oklahoma for the 2018-2019 season where he worked with the horizontal jumps and men’s sprints. Donnell started his coaching career at Lyons High School in Lyons, CO while studying physiology at the University of Colorado. He lives in Bolingbrook with his wife Kassidy and their son.
