Bill Courtney Basketball Coach

[CornellFan]

http://cornellbasketball.blogspot.com/2010/04/meet-new-big-man-with-big-red.html

[Jim Hyla]

Seems like a good choice.

[CornellFan]

Risky.  High rewards though if it works out.  Radical departure in every way possible from Donahue.

[CUontheslopes]

By radical departure do you mean in pedigree I assume?

[Trotsky]

Radical departure in every way possible from Donahue.

Come now.  Neither of them are Asian.

[ugarte]

I think this is a great pick. He is a long time assistant, has moved steadily up the conference ladder - a sign of good reviews from head coaches on the way up - and is black.

I actually am indifferent to the last one but I wanted someone's eyes to bug out for just a second.

Welcome to Cornell, Coach Courtney.

[phillysportsfan]

Sort of surprised they did not go with someone with Ivy experience but from the 3 candidates I think Courtney makes the most sense, the Wisconsin guy was too old and the Temple guy had 6 years experience vs Courtney who has been an assistant for 15 years

Also here is an interesting quote:
http://www.mytimesdispatch.com/index.php/sports/comments/bill_courtney_to_cornell_virginia_tech_loses_skilled_recruiter/11838/

While Cornell had to like Courtney's recruiting ability – "I think I just sold the person who I was and how hard I would work for them," he said – Courtney was attracted to the job in part because of the patience Andy Noel showed with Donahue.

Noel became the AD in 1999 and hired Donahue in 2000. Donahue struggled in his first four seasons, going 32-76, 15-41 in the Ivy. He had losing overall records the next two seasons, despite going 8-6 in the Ivy each year. But in 2006-07, he improved to 16-12, 9-5. Then he won the Ivy the next three seasons, dominating the league.

"That definitely shows the character [Noel] has," Courtney said of the willingness to stick with Donahue.

Press conference today at 3pm
http://cornellbigred.com/news/2010/4/23/MBB_0423101017.aspx

[RichH]

Noel became the AD in 1999 and hired Donahue in 2000. Donahue struggled in his first four seasons, going 32-76, 15-41 in the Ivy. He had losing overall records the next two seasons, despite going 8-6 in the Ivy each year. But in 2006-07, he improved to 16-12, 9-5. Then he won the Ivy the next three seasons, dominating the league.

"That definitely shows the character [Noel] has," Courtney said of the willingness to stick with Donahue.

Let's keep some perspective here. CU isn't exactly the place that DEMANDS excellence on the basketball court. We alumni have never required rolling heads if we finish near the bottom of the pack of the basketball standings, because until recently, that's where we've finished most of the time. This was a program still hungover from the disaster that was Al Walker, so as long as the coach wasn't making a public ass out of himself, it was a step forward. Donahue seemed to be a breath of fresh air in terms of treatment of student-athletes and public relations, and that's really all anybody could have wanted back then...Noel had other things to worry about than challenging the P's dominance on the hardwood and conducting a search every 3 years for that post.

A few losing basketball seasons? Never a reason to sharpen the axe in Ithaca.  Cornell Alumni care more about success from their football and lacrosse coaches (with hockey in a different stratosphere) than they do basketball.  This run was an extraordinary confluence of crazy recruiting gets that took 5 years to start falling into place.

[KeithK]

Reading the story I count five different jobs as assistant (or associate) coach in fifteen years, including a couple very short stints.  Is this typical of college basketball coaches? Seems like a lot of movement.

I'm not saying this is a problem.  It just seemed noteworthy to me.

[ugarte]

Reading the story I count five different jobs as assistant (or associate) coach in fifteen years, including a couple very short stints.  Is this typical of college basketball coaches? Seems like a lot of movement.

I'm not saying this is a problem.  It just seemed noteworthy to me.

It isn't that noteworthy, especially since he was moving up the chain. Coaching careers for the ambitious tend to be pretty itinerant. That said, I wouldn't count on Courtney staying here forever, Carrill-style.

[phillysportsfan]

Reading the story I count five different jobs as assistant (or associate) coach in fifteen years, including a couple very short stints.  Is this typical of college basketball coaches? Seems like a lot of movement.

I'm not saying this is a problem.  It just seemed noteworthy to me.

It isn't that noteworthy, especially since he was moving up the chain. Coaching careers for the ambitious tend to be pretty itinerant. That said, I wouldn't count on Courtney staying here forever, Carrill-style.

I dont expect Courtney to stay forever either, if Donahue didnt who will? But if Courtney does leave that means he had enough success here to get a better job

[ugarte]

Reading the story I count five different jobs as assistant (or associate) coach in fifteen years, including a couple very short stints.  Is this typical of college basketball coaches? Seems like a lot of movement.

I'm not saying this is a problem.  It just seemed noteworthy to me.

It isn't that noteworthy, especially since he was moving up the chain. Coaching careers for the ambitious tend to be pretty itinerant. That said, I wouldn't count on Courtney staying here forever, Carrill-style.

I dont expect Courtney to stay forever either, if Donahue didnt who will? But if Courtney does leave that means he had enough success here to get a better job

Or the exact opposite. I'd bet that Donahue raised the bar on what a Cornell basketball coach can achieve. Not that we need to dominate the Ivies, but if we slip back to the back of the pack for a couple of years, I think there will be more pressure on Noel than there was when Donahue started.

That said, I continue to believe that if you look at Donahue's track record, he was showing signs of improvement in his first three years and Noel never had any reason to consider replacing him.

[KeithK]

Reading the story I count five different jobs as assistant (or associate) coach in fifteen years, including a couple very short stints.  Is this typical of college basketball coaches? Seems like a lot of movement.

I'm not saying this is a problem.  It just seemed noteworthy to me.

It isn't that noteworthy, especially since he was moving up the chain. Coaching careers for the ambitious tend to be pretty itinerant. That said, I wouldn't count on Courtney staying here forever, Carrill-style.

I dont expect Courtney to stay forever either, if Donahue didnt who will? But if Courtney does leave that means he had enough success here to get a better job

Someday we might find an alum who happens to be a great coach.  That's probably the only way a very successful coach will stick around long term (and no guarantee either).

[phillysportsfan]

http://cornellbasketball.blogspot.com/2010/04/report-kevin-app-joining-zach-spiker-at.html

Our last assistant Kevin App is going to Army, will be interesting who Courtney brings in as assistants, probably needs to get some guys with Ivy experience

[phillysportsfan]

Press conference is up