The Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman is working on getting his bachelor's degree in personal finance at the University of Wisconsin via online learning. He left Wisconsin in 2010 after his junior season, just 18 credits short of the finish line, and signed a contract with the New York Rangers.
It was an agonizing decision for McDonagh at the time.
"It was by far the toughest decision I ever had to make,"
McDonagh told Madison.com in 2010
. "Just because of what Wisconsin offered; such a great place with so much to do; school and playing at the Kohl Center; the coaching staff helping you get better as best they can. It's tough to turn it away and give it up for the rest of your life."
Now in his 11th NHL season, McDonagh finally had the perfect opportunity to take the remaining classes.
"I always, even a handful of years back, tried to find ways to continue my degree having one year left in just a handful of classes, I just wasn't able to get back to Madison in person," McDonagh said Wednesday. "Now with the COVID pandemic going on, everything is available online."
McDonagh said an old roommate told him about the availability of online classes and when the Lightning's schedule was finalized, he realized he had enough down time to commit to going back to school.
"I figured it was workable," he said. "It's only been a couple weeks but it's something that I hopefully can finish and at least tell your kids that you have a college degree so when it's their time to go to school you can back it up with some evidence. We'll see how it goes, but it's been fun."
