Steve Donahue & BC basketball

[Hillel Hoffmann]

Still wondering if BC is a home run?

The Boston College job is a 500' home run for someone like Donohue. Here's someone with a classic northeast suburban/urban Catholic background (Delaware County, Pennyslvania) who is offered a very big salary at one of the nation's premiere northeast suburban/urban Catholic institutions. And on top of that, it's in the nation's most iconic basketball conference. And we're debating whether it meets the definition of a home run?

[upperdeck]

the bigger issues is a coach who has never competed in a conf with talent nor ever recruited for it.. this is a big reach for BC

[billhoward]

the bigger issues is a coach who has never competed in a conf with talent nor ever recruited for it.. this is a big reach for BC

You take a chance every time you hire a coach on the way up. You also take a chance hiring a coach who was famous and who's available. Bob Blackman clobbered Cornell when he coached Dartmouth in the 1950s through about 1970 (104-37-3). We hired him in the late 1970s and by that time he'd run out of gas (23-33-1, only 2 seasons above .500).

Donahue showed he can recruit players with worse constraints than BC will have. He's shown he can beat top 20 teams. He's shown he can make a hockey-mad school care more about basketball in short order. (Something we shouldn't be proud of, but Cornell's latent hoops addiction kicked in once the victories kicked in.)

I could see a Donahue team in the final four with his first cycle of players.

[KenP]

He's shown he can make a hockey-mad school care more about basketball in short order. (Something we shouldn't be proud of, but Cornell's latent hoops addiction kicked in once the victories kicked in.)

It's called a bandwagon.

[Trotsky]

Bandwagons are how traditions start, though.  Cornell went crazy for hockey when Harkness' team starting dominating.  God bless that bandwagon.

[Jim Hyla]

Bandwagons are how traditions start, though.  Cornell went crazy for hockey when Harkness' team(s) started dominating.  God bless that bandwagon.

FYP B-]

[phillysportsfan]

http://www.slopemedia.org/television/cornell-sports-broadcasting/celebrating-10-years-of-steve-donahue/

video played at party thanking Donahue for the last 10 years

[Tom Pasniewski 98]

The Cornell Club of Boston welcomes Steve Donahue to Boston as the keynote speaker for the club's 2010 Annual Meeting.  The event, Cornell Cinderella Story - Courtside With Steve Donahue, takes place on Thursay June 3rd in downtown Boston and includes dinner, dessert, Coach Donahue's talk and one-on-one networking time before Game 1 of the NBA Finals follows.  Discounts for young alumni available.  Total seating capacity is limited.  More info and registration:  http://www.cornellclub.org/article.html?aid=511

[Killer]

Here's an article about BC basketball and Steve Donahue from today's Globe:

http://www.boston.com/sports/colleges/mens_basketball/articles/2010/11/10/new_bc_coach_stresses_togetherness_but_lots_of_on_court_freedom/

[ugarte]

How long has it been since Yale beat Steve Donahue? If you said "a few minutes ago" you are correct.

[phillysportsfan]

I almost feel sorry for Donahue but hell he left here under his own will and got paid

[Swampy]

I almost feel sorry for Donahue but hell he left here under his own will and got paid

On paper, BC should beat any Ivy. From what I recall, they did not lose that many key players from last year. (Nothing like Cornell.) But for the past three years BC has lost early season games to Ivy teams, twice to Harvard and now Yale. Maybe there's something about this group of players that explains this.

Then again, to be fair to Donahue, the team has to learn a new system, and he has yet to recruit "his" kind of players. (Although by all accounts, Al Skinner is an excellent coach.) So we should wait a bit longer before throwing him under the bus. Still, as some pundits have said, jumping from the League (Ivy, that is) to the ACC was a giant step, and Coach D's success stemmed in large part to understanding how to recruit competitive Ivy players. It would be ironic and sad if somehow his star is short-lived. Given his record, I'm sure there will always be a home for him at an Ivy, and seven other schools that would dread his return.

[phillysportsfan]

BC with two decent wins over Texas A&M and Cal in the Old Spice tourney, unfortunately they lost to the other team that chants "Lets Go Red" Wisconsin

[gjk22]

After the Wisconsin game, Donahue is now 0-2 against teams he beat with Cornell last season. Looks like UMASS, Bryant, Bucknell, and Harvard still remain as comparisons. BC should win all or most of these.

[phillysportsfan]

BC beats Maryland 79-75 to give Donahue his first ACC win on the road, if they can keep this up they will probably make the NCAA tournament