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BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- Ken McDonald spent most of his final season as an assistant coach at Western Kentucky in 2002-03 working inside a cramped trailer outside E.A. Diddle Arena while the university gave the aging facility a makeover.
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By the time the remodeled arena reopened, McDonald was following coach Dennis Felton to Georgia.
Still, McDonald kept his eye on the Hilltoppers, secretly hoping one day he'd get a chance to return, make himself at home in the new digs and cement Western Kentucky's place as one of the nation's top mid-major programs.
That happened Sunday, when the Texas assistant was hired to replace Darrin Horn, who left the Hilltoppers for South Carolina last week.
"I think when I left here, there was some unfinished business," McDonald said. "I think we need to have the attitude that we'll take on anybody, anywhere at any time."
It's an attitude McDonald developed from his years coaching under Felton and Texas coach Rick Barnes, who told Western Kentucky athletic director Wood Selig that McDonald was "the best assistant he's ever had."
Not that Selig needed to be reminded. McDonald was Felton's lead recruiter during his five years at the school from 1998-03, and Selig said McDonald's development as a teacher with the Longhorns helped put him over the top.
"I'm amazed at the growth he's had in the last five years," Selig said. "He's made a brilliant transformation as a coach and it really came through during the interview. We could start to see him in a different light from the assistant that we knew five years ago."
McDonald, 38, said he knew he could have left the Longhorns sooner to become a head coach, but stayed until the right opportunity came along. He takes over a program vastly different from the one he came to as a young assistant under Felton in 1998.
At the time the Hilltoppers were coming off three straight losing seasons and had lost much of the luster that made the program one of the nation's most consistent winners from the 1960s through the 1990s.
This time, there will be no rebuilding necessary. Western Kentucky went 29-7 this season, winning the Sun Belt Conference tournament and advancing to the NCAA regional semifinals for the first time since 1993 before falling to UCLA.
"I really believe that this program has no ceiling," McDonald said. "During the interview process I told them I think it would be a big mistake if you put a ceiling on this program because as much as we did when I was here, as much success recently as Western has had, I don't think it has to stop."