Mike McRae enters his fifth season at VCU as Assistant Coach in 2021-2022. McRae specifically leads VCU's talented pitching staff.
McRae has been a welcome addition to the VCU coaching staff, helping lead the Rams to the 2021 Atlantic 10 Championship, A-10 Regular Season titles in 2019 and 2021, and 34 or more wins in each full season he's been on staff. During his time at VCU, the Rams have had a consensus All-American, six ABCA All-Region selections, three Freshman All-Americans and 17 All-Atlantic 10 honorees. While working with the pitchers at VCU, four members of his pitching staff have gone on to play with MLB affiliated clubs. Connor Gillispie and Sam Ryan were chosen in the 2019 MLB Draft by the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays, respectively, while Sean Thompson signed a free agent deal with the Chicago White Sox, and Benjamin Dum inked a deal with the Minnesota Twins.
McRae joins the Rams from Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y., after 14 seasons as Head Coach of the Golden Griffins. McRae led a total rebuilding project of the Golden Griffins, taking over a team that won four games in 2004 to winning the program's first two MAAC Championships and making the program's first appearances in the NCAA Tournament in 2013 and 2015. McRae had a record of 440-358 in his 14 seasons at Canisius, including a 333-222 (.600) record in the last eight seasons that includes three MAAC regular-season titles.
McRae, the four-time MAAC Coach of the Year, led Canisius to the conference tournament in each of his last 13 seasons in Buffalo, the longest streak in the conference. In 2015, the Griffs lost the first game, but reeled off five-straight victories, including a two-game championship round, to capture its second title. In 2013, Canisius won all three of its games in the MAAC Championship, including a walk-off 11-10 win in the title game, to win the program's first conference championship.
McRae also built a professional pipeline through Canisius, having 13 players, including two draft-eligible juniors, associated with the program selected in the Major League Baseball Draft during the past 10 years - Most in the MAAC over that time period. He also had a number of player receive conference, regional, and national accolades both in and out of the classroom.
McRae began his career by becoming the first head coach at Brock University. From there, the Niagara Falls, Ontario, native joined Niagara’s staff as a hitting instructor in 1996-97 before moving to Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., from 1997-98. From 1998-2001, McRae served as an assistant coach at Maine, where he was responsible for the 12-man pitching staff.
He also served as an assistant coach for the Canadian National Youth Team, which competed in the World Championships in 1996 and 1997 and as a guest coach for the Toronto Blue Jays during their 1997 spring training.
McRae was a four-year letter winner at Colby College and captained the 1991 team. He also lettered as a goalie on the Colby College hockey team. McRae earned his undergraduate degree from Colby in 1991 and his master’s degree in education from Niagara in 1993.
