By Dave Johnson

W&M Athletics

In 2005, Mike McRae took over a baseball program that had gone 12-119-1 over the previous three seasons. In '08, Canisius University finished 41-13 for its first of nine winning seasons over the next 10 years.

McRae is pleased to report he isn't facing a similar challenge at William & Mary. True, the Tribe is coming off a 14-29 season, but McRae believes he's at a place where winning and even championships can be expected.

"This is not a rebuild," said McRae, who was announced as W&M's 53^rd head baseball coach last week. "This team's got some unbelievable talent. They compete in a tremendously competitive league.

"I'd like to think we can hit the ground running and put guys in position to be successful immediately and never look back. That's my initial assessment. I'm so excited this is not a start-over rebuild."

McRae has finished .500 or better in 11 of his 16 seasons as head coach. Three of those losing seasons came right after he took over Canisius.

"Mike's a winner," said VCU coach Shawn Stiffler, on whose staff McRae spent the last four seasons as pitching coach. "That's the biggest thing I can say about him. He's going to get the most out of his players and the most out of his resources.

"He doesn't look for excuses or sympathy. He's just on to the next right thing all the time. His kids are going to graduate, they're going to win, and they're going to have a great experience."

McRae brings an interesting resume and background to Williamsburg. He was born and raised on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, an area where baseball is somewhere down the list after hockey and hockey.

Yes, he played hockey. But just as much, and eventually more, he loved baseball. Specialization wasn't a thing yet, and Canadian athletes were encouraged to play multiple sports. McRae pitched on the diamond and protected the goal on the ice.

That followed him to Colby College in Waterville, Maine, where he played both sports. In his freshman year, he sustained three concussions — two as a goal keeper, one as a pitcher when a ground ball hit the lip of an indoor mound and clipped his ear.

"As I got older, something clicked and my skillset grew a little bit in baseball," McRae said. "I started to throw a little bit harder. And it afforded a few more opportunities."

He graduated in 1991 but wanted to continue his playing career. He had some tryouts and made an effort to join the Canadian national program. But it wasn't to be, so he enrolled at Niagara University and earned his Master's in education.

"I did that with the goal of being a teacher/coach," he said. "That's the path you would take in those days."

In 1995, he had an intriguing opportunity. Brock University in Ontario was looking to start a baseball team. It would be club status with an expressed goal of being a varsity program. There was only one other in Canada at the time.

"They reached out to me to spear-head the efforts from the coaching side," said McRae, who was in his mid-20s at the time. "It was kind of a neat little challenge, to be honest with you.

"I tried to sell the fact that the education was outstanding, and you didn't always have to run south of the border to get a college baseball opportunity. That enticed some people, but obviously, the best players didn't follow in that path."

McRae paused for a second.

"And to be honest," he said, "I got lured south of the border, too."

In 1996, McRae was hired as an assistant coach at Niagara. He stayed two years and headed further south to Winthrop University in South Carolina. After a year there, he joined the staff at Maine.

Then, in 2001, he was offered his first head coaching job at Niagara. He went 65-86 in three seasons there before taking over a team at Canisius that over the previous three seasons had finished 4-38, 4-38-1 and 4-43.

"Truthfully, that move happened because an administrator at Niagara made a mistake with my immigration paperwork," McRae said. "I had called the AD at Canisius to recommend my assistant, a guy by the name of Mike Kunigonis, who's now the head coach at Northern Illinois.

"The AD said, 'I don't want to talk about him, I want to talk about you.' He brought me in to meet the president, and one of the promises they made was to get my permanent residency. They did, and I took over the second-worst team in the country."

McRae's memory is spot on. The only Division I team with a worse record in 2004 was Maryland Eastern Shore at 3-44.

Canisius won nine games in McRae's first season. That increased year by year to 18, 20, and 41. In his 13 seasons as head coach, the Golden Griffins had a record of 405-336. The program has been around since 1954, and he has 40 percent of its wins.

Matt Mazurek, a shortstop and outfielder with a sweet swing, had committed to play for McRae at Niagara. He joined him at Canisius instead and was there for the beginning of the turnaround.

"He was no B.S.," said Mazurek, who succeeded McRae as Canisius' head coach in 2017. "The blue print was there, and the guys who followed it found success.
"That's what I liked about him. There was no patty-cake. We played hardball."

After the 2017 season, McRae joined Stiffler's staff at VCU. They had met a decade earlier on the recruiting trail. In fact, they bunked in a mutual friend's basement while scouting the Empire State Games in New York.

"Just talking to him, I could tell how interesting and knowledgeable of game he was," Stiffler said. "And the people I respected in the game really respected him."

McRae came to Richmond with three goals — to focus solely on pitching, to learn another way of doing things, and to win championships. Check, check and check. In his four seasons, the Rams' pitching staff posted an ERA of 3.85.

He also accomplished a fourth goal he hadn't set.

"I came out of it with an opportunity to become the leader at an institution like William & Mary," McRae said. "That was the bonus."

The Tribe returns eight position players who started at least 20 games last season, including its top two hitters in first-team All-CAA third baseman Ben Williamson (.305) and outfielder Jack Cone (.301). Zach Tsakounis (3-2, 3.63) is one of four pitchers who threw at least 29 2/3 innings last season.

For McRae, there is also a bigger picture.

"I want to be at a school that can win championships and do it with some integrity," he said. "I don't want to be at a place that's going to bring in 55 guys every year and run half of them off and not have any relationships built with the players. That doesn't excite me.

"I'm as competitive as you're going to find. But I do want to do it with some integrity and be able to look in the mirror at the end of the day."