« Men’s Basketball 2009-10

Michael McConathy

School
Northwestern State University
Position
Guard
Major
Business administration
PPG
6.9
RPG
1.1
APG
3.4

Classroom

McConathy graduated cum laude in industrial engineering technology in May 2009 with a 3.57 grade point average and was chosen by the faculty to receive the Dr. Walter J. Robinson Award, given annually to the junior or senior student in the Department of Engineering Technology who best exhibits scholarship, leadership and integrity.  He is now pursuing a second degree in business administration.  McConathy was a 2008-09 CoSIDA Academic All-District VI first-team member and a two-year member of the All-Southland Conference Academic team (2007-08 and 2008-09).  He was a second-team member of the Academic All-Southland Conference team during the 2006-07 season.  Additionally, McConathy has been a Dean’s List honoree four times and an Honor Roll member three times.  He is also a Southland Conference Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll member four years running since his true freshman season in the 2005-06 season when he was redshirted.  McConathy was the Northwestern State Freshman Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2005-06 with the highest grade point average among all freshman males.  He continued to earn accolades from the school in 2008-09 when he was named Northwestern State Male Student-Athlete of the Year, based on scholarship, leadership and community activism characteristics.

Character

McConathy has been a huddle leader for five years for Northwestern State’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter and has been involved with FCA’s National Leadership College Conference on an annual basis.  He was awarded the FCA Leadership Award for North Louisiana in 2007, which encompassed nominees from nine universities.  McConathy was Northwestern State’s male nominee for the Southland Conference Steve McCarty Citizenship Award, presented on the basis of community and campus activism, leadership, character and scholarship.  In addition, McConathy is a three-year member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.  He plays basketball for his father, head coach Mike McConathy, at Northwestern State and due to his small stature (5’9” tall, 150 pounds), has faced numerous bouts of harsh heckling on the road.

Community

McConathy was active in hurricane relief efforts on the Northwestern State campus after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita ripped through the south in 2005 and Hurricane Ike in 2008.  He helped move bedding and other vital materials into a makeshift shelter in the Northwestern State practice facility and then made repeated visits to evacuees, some who remained on campus for more than a month.  Additionally, McConathy has volunteered at free basketball clinics for area youth, including an annual two-week summer camp hosted by his church.  McConathy is a team leader in other community and campus cleanup activities.

Competition

McConathy started all but one of the Demons’ 31 games in 2008-09 and averaged 8 points per game, 4 assists per game and 1.6 steals while sinking 82 percent of his free throws.  He was fifth in the conference in assists per game, second in free throw percentage and eighth in steals—leading Northwestern State in a statistic in which they ranked 20th nationally.  Additionally, McConathy posted 12 double-figure scoring games, leading the Demons in scoring four times, and enters the senior season eighth all-time at Northwestern State with 297 career assists.  He has 44 career starts in 96 career games and helped the Demons reach the 2007 and 2008 Southland Conference Tournament championship games, where they unfortunately fell both times by three points in bids to make the program’s third NCAA Tournament appearance under his father.  McConathy was a redshirt on the Demons’ 2006 NCAA Tournament team that beat 15th-ranked Iowa in the first round and went 26-8 on the season, winning the conference regular-season and tournament titles.  He is a career 80 percent free throw shooter.