Vinnie McGhee returned for his second stint at the University of San Francisco in the fall of 2025 after spending the past two seasons at the professional level. Coach McGhee is entering his fifth season overall as part of USF’s coaching staff. In his previous stint, he was a part of the Dons’ return to the NCAA Tournament in 2021-22.
Over the past two seasons, McGhee coached with the Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks organizations, serving as an assistant coach with their NBA G League affiliates. With the Wisconsin Herd in 2024-25, he worked extensively with the Milwaukee organization’s assignment players from the NBA roster while focusing on skill development and film study. With the South Bay Lakers, he assisted with four separate G League players who were called up to the NBA level during the 2023-24 season. McGhee also playing a significant role in scouting opponents with South Bay. During the past two offseasons, McGhee has coached in the NBA Summer League for each organization and assisted with both teams’ pre-draft responsibilities.
Prior to coaching in the professional ranks, McGhee spent four seasons at the University of San Francisco as an assistant coach, starting in the spring of 2019. He has spent a total of four years as an assistant coach under Todd Golden and Chris Gerlufsen. During that stretch, he played a key role in the program’s resurgence. In the 2021–22 season, San Francisco posted 24 wins - the program’s highest total since 1981–82. That campaign, the Dons earned an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament, marking the program’s first invitation (non-automatic bid) to March Madness in the modern era. The following season, under first-year head coach Gerlufsen, McGhee helped lead the Dons to a 20-win campaign while contributing to the team’s 2022 Hall of Fame Classic championship.
Before coming to the Hilltop, McGhee spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Northern Colorado under Jeff Linder. While in Greeley, he helped guide the Bears to consecutive 20-win seasons. During the 2017–18 campaign, Northern Colorado set a school record with 26 wins and captured the 2018 CIT Championship, the program’s first postseason tournament title. The following year, McGhee helped UNC achieve a program record in All-Conference honors. The team received Coach of the Year (Linder), Player of the Year (Davis), Defensive Player of the Year (Radebaugh), and Freshman of the Year (Hume) honors at the conclusion of the regular season.
McGhee began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at UTEP during the 2015–16 season, working under veteran head coach Tim Floyd. In that role, he focused on operations, opponent scouting, recruiting, and academics.
As a player, McGhee began his collegiate career at Sacramento State, where he earned Big Sky Freshman of the Year honors. He then transferred to California State University, Northridge (CSUN), where he completed his playing career with 1,000 career points.
In May of 2012, McGhee graduated with a bachelor’s in P.A.S. from CSUN. An Oakland native, McGhee and his wife, Brianna, have a son, Vinnie McGhee III, and a daughter, Amina McGhee.
