BIOGRAPHY

A native of Buffalo, NY, and the son of longtime NBA coach and General Manager Bob MacKinnon, Sr., MacKinnon played college basketball at King's College in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., before embarking on his coaching career. He earned his Master's Degree in Education from Niagara University in 1997.

MacKinnon's coaching career started at his alma mater as an assistant before moving on to assistant coaching positions at Mercyhurst College, George Washington University and Niagara. He took over as head coach at the United States Merchant Marine Academy in 1997 and won a pair of Skyline Conference Championships, posting a 38-16 record in two seasons. He was also named the 1999 Skyline Conference Coach-of-the-Year.

From there he served as an assistant coach with Matt Doherty at Notre Dame for one season before moving to UNC. Their teams at Notre Dame and UNC posted wins over programs such as Ohio State, Connecticut, Kansas, Duke, and Maryland. In their first season at UNC, the Tar Heels had an 18-game winning streak and were ranked number one in the country. He also helped to recruit UNC's recruiting class that was ranked in the top five in the nation in 2002. His efforts in recruiting those classes lead to the Tar Heels winning the 2005 NCAA National Championship.

In 2003, MacKinnon joined the staff of the NCAA Division I Marshall University men’s basketball team as the senior assistant for four seasons to Head Coach Ron Jirsa. From there, he earned a position with the L.A. Lakers as a scout and as the associate director of the 2005-07 Lakers summer camps before coming to Colorado.