Odds that Donahue stays?

[Jordan 04]

To get this started again, here's a quote from an article in The Syracuse Post-Standard.

Donahue said this squad has shown it can compete with the top teams in the country in a way none of his clubs has before. This year's team, he said, is Cornell's deepest and most talented yet.

"I'm going to try for the rest of my coaching career to get a group like this, and I may never get there," he said. "I'm pretty sure I won't."

Gives some hope that he doesn't want to jump upstream.

Or the pessimist might read the quote as "I'm pretty sure I won't at Cornell." Time will tell.

That's how I read it.

[Jim Hyla]

I'm not saying that I know he's staying, but you guys really are pessimists. First he says he may never get this again in the rest of his coaching career, then that he's pretty sure that he won't. You can read into that "at Cornell"? I'm happy that I never saw that.:-P

[KeithK]

I'm not saying that I know he's staying, but you guys really are pessimists. First he says he may never get this again in the rest of his coaching career, then that he's pretty sure that he won't. You can read into that "at Cornell"? I'm happy that I never saw that.:-P

It's easy to play the pessimist when I'm reading the quote in a thread that's speculating on whether the guy will leave. The context sets my mindset in advance. but like I said, time will tell.

[David Harding]

To get this started again, here's a quote from an article in The Syracuse Post-Standard.

Donahue said this squad has shown it can compete with the top teams in the country in a way none of his clubs has before. This year's team, he said, is Cornell's deepest and most talented yet.

"I'm going to try for the rest of my coaching career to get a group like this, and I may never get there," he said. "I'm pretty sure I won't."

Gives some hope that he doesn't want to jump upstream.

Or the pessimist might read the quote as, "I'm pretty sure I won't at Cornell." Time will tell.

That's how I read it.

As an optimist (about him staying), I read that as "I'm going to try for the rest of my coaching career to get a group like this, and I may never get there," he said. "I'm pretty sure I won't because I'm staying at Cornell."

[phillysportsfan]

I think you guys put more thought in that quote than Donahue did, it is just one quote, he doesnt even know now whether he will leave or not, it will all depend on the offers he gets

[Jim Hyla]

I think you guys put more thought in that quote than Donahue did, it is just one quote, he doesnt even know now whether he will leave or not, it will all depend on the offers he gets

I agree we're reading more into it, but I also agree the quote is more positive than negative. But he may know he wants to stay. Yes I know everyone has their price, but he may feel comfortable here and doesn't realistically feel anyone could offer him enough to leave. Just saying.

[Jordan 04]

I'm not a pessimist, nor do I think he's going or staying based on the quote du jour. I just figure the realistic next step for him is to move onward and upward, in both salary and program stature.

[Josh '99]

To get this started again, here's a quote from an article in The Syracuse Post-Standard.

Donahue said this squad has shown it can compete with the top teams in the country in a way none of his clubs has before. This year's team, he said, is Cornell's deepest and most talented yet.

"I'm going to try for the rest of my coaching career to get a group like this, and I may never get there," he said. "I'm pretty sure I won't."

Gives some hope that he doesn't want to jump upstream.

I don't really read that quote as having anything to do with whether he plans to stay or go.  I think it's just a compliment about the senior class and how much he's enjoyed working with them.

[Swampy]

To get this started again, here's a quote from an article in The Syracuse Post-Standard.

Donahue said this squad has shown it can compete with the top teams in the country in a way none of his clubs has before. This year's team, he said, is Cornell's deepest and most talented yet.

"I'm going to try for the rest of my coaching career to get a group like this, and I may never get there," he said. "I'm pretty sure I won't."

Gives some hope that he doesn't want to jump upstream.

I don't really read that quote as having anything to do with whether he plans to stay or go.  I think it's just a compliment about the senior class and how much he's enjoyed working with them.

I also think that even if he were to move on, he's been around basketball in general, and the Ivy League in particular, to know how special this group is. If he were to jump to say an A-10 or a Big East schools, he'd probably be able to attract better players but not ones who are as good students as they are athletes, who have no discipline issues, who put team above their own superstar status, etc. Outside of about a few dozen programs, the seedy side of big-time college basketball makes it highly unlikely that a competitive program in a big-time conference will have character, intelligence, etc. of this group. So when he says he's unlikely to get another group like this, it could still mean he's looking to leave but just realizes he won't be likely to recruit kids like this in another environment. The bright spot, if you're a Cornell fan, is that he's too smart not to realize this. So even if he is contemplating moving on, he's unlikely to go just anywhere. He might go to a Notre Dame or a "public Ivy," but I think he'd probably turn down a place like UNLV or Memphis because he knows a competitive teams at places like these involve an entirely different kind of kid.

[Jim Hyla]

To get this started again, here's a quote from an article in The Syracuse Post-Standard.

Donahue said this squad has shown it can compete with the top teams in the country in a way none of his clubs has before. This year's team, he said, is Cornell's deepest and most talented yet.

"I'm going to try for the rest of my coaching career to get a group like this, and I may never get there," he said. "I'm pretty sure I won't."

Gives some hope that he doesn't want to jump upstream.

I don't really read that quote as having anything to do with whether he plans to stay or go.  I think it's just a compliment about the senior class and how much he's enjoyed working with them.

I also think that even if he were to move on, he's been around basketball in general, and the Ivy League in particular, to know how special this group is. If he were to jump to say an A-10 or a Big East schools, he'd probably be able to attract better players but not ones who are as good students as they are athletes, who have no discipline issues, who put team above their own superstar status, etc. Outside of about a few dozen programs, the seedy side of big-time college basketball makes it highly unlikely that a competitive program in a big-time conference will have character, intelligence, etc. of this group. So when he says he's unlikely to get another group like this, it could still mean he's looking to leave but just realizes he won't be likely to recruit kids like this in another environment. The bright spot, if you're a Cornell fan, is that he's too smart not to realize this. So even if he is contemplating moving on, he's unlikely to go just anywhere. He might go to a Notre Dame or a "public Ivy," but I think he'd probably turn down a place like UNLV or Memphis because he knows a competitive teams at places like these involve an entirely different kind of kid.

You're right. If you watch the video that Al posted (CU on YouTube), he does talk more about just those attributes. None of that was in the newspaper article, however.

[phillysportsfan]

That is one reason why the bigger conference schools would not want him, recruiting in the Big East or any BCS conference is a lot different than recruiting in the Ivy league where he has recruited his whole life, if he leaves it will probably not be for a BCS school but more likely somewhere in between such as an A10 school such as Fordham

To get to the BCS he would have to prove himself in a quality mid major conference such as the A10

[Weder]

To get to the BCS he would have to prove himself in a quality mid major conference such as the A10

Well, there's always the possibility that a struggling BCS program like Northwestern or Oregon State decides to hire an Ivy coach.

[peterg]

Northwestern already has a former Ivy coach in Bill Carmody, so the thought that a struggling big conference team might hire an Ivy coach is not unreasonable.  OTOH, based on the upward trend in performance (including a win over Purdue this year) I'd be surprised if NU will be in the market for a new coach.  There are plenty of others, though, that might.

[Weder]

Northwestern already has a former Ivy coach in Bill Carmody, so the thought that a struggling big conference team might hire an Ivy coach is not unreasonable.  OTOH, based on the upward trend in performance (including a win over Purdue this year) I'd be surprised if NU will be in the market for a new coach.  There are plenty of others, though, that might.

That's what I was getting at -- that Northwestern hired Carmody and Oregon State hired Craig Robinson.

[phillysportsfan]

Northwestern already has a former Ivy coach in Bill Carmody, so the thought that a struggling big conference team might hire an Ivy coach is not unreasonable.  OTOH, based on the upward trend in performance (including a win over Purdue this year) I'd be surprised if NU will be in the market for a new coach.  There are plenty of others, though, that might.

That's what I was getting at -- that Northwestern hired Carmody and Oregon State hired Craig Robinson.

And it hasnt worked out well for either of them, Oregon State only hired Robinson because he is Obama's brother in law, after a good first year Oregon State really dropped off this year, and Northwestern after a good start and a lot of hype had a disappointing end of the year