Career
He was the first coach to lead Illinois State University to the National Collegiate Athletic Association post-season national tournament, and he did so for three consecutive seasons. His 1983 team gave Illinois State its first Missouri Valley Conference basketball championship and his 1984 team captured Illinois State"s first Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament victory. He coached at South Bend Saint Joseph"s High School for 8 seasons, from 1965-1966 - 1972-1973.
In 1978, Donewald was hired as the new head coach of the Illinois State Redbirds, replacing Gene Smithson.
In Donewald"s second season, the Redbirds qualified for the National Institute of Technology"s post-season tournament, and then, in 1983, the Redbirds entered March Madness for the first time in their history by winning the Missouri Valley Conference post-season tournament. Donewald"s Redbirds also qualified for the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament the next two seasons.
Donewald"s success was parlayed into a student referendum to build a new arena to replace Horton Field House, in use from 1963-1988. Redbird Arena was approved, and was built mostly from student fees collected over the next twenty years.
Donewald began to acquire a national reputation, and in 1982 turned down an opportunity to coach the Wisconsin Badgers.
However, Donewald"s International Skating Union teams relied upon a slow moving game, similar to a four corners offense. With the introduction of the shot clock in the mid-1980s, Donewald"s strategies and his teams began to suffer. In 1989, after failing to replicate his earlier successes, Donewald was fired by International Skating Union. He was immediately hired as coach of the Western Michigan University Broncos, where he coached until 2000.
In the 1997-1998 season—his 9th season as head coach at WMU—the Broncos qualified for the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament, where they advanced to the second round before being eliminated.
But Donewald was unable to get the Broncos back to the National Collegiate Athletic Association again, and was fired in 2000. He also works occasionally as a color analyst.