Cornell University Athletics

* 2009-10 Clair Bee National Coach of the Year
* 2007-08, 2009-10 NABC District Coach of the Year
* 2007-08 USBWA District Coach of the Year
* 2009-10 Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year finalist
* 2007-08, 2009-10 Hugh Durham National Mid-Major Coach of the Year finalist
* 2008 U.S.A. Basketball Court Coach (Under-18 National Team)

In his 10th season, Steve Donahue’s energetic leadership has helped the Big Red basketball program gain a new level of national respect as a perennial challenger for the Ivy League title, culminating in leading Cornell to three consecutive Ivy League titles and a trip to the NCAA Sweet 16.

A tremendous motivator, Donahue has set lofty goals for his program. While remaining at the top of the Ivy League standings is the immediate challenge, building a program that consistently competes for Ivy League titles and NCAA berths is the main focus. His team has the best Ivy record over the last five years (55-15). He was recognized for his work by being named a court coach by U.S.A. Basketball for the Under-18 national team trials in Washington, D.C., in July of 2008.

In each successive season, the quality of play by the Big Red has steadily improved. Donahue has coached and or recruited seven of the school’s top 13 all-time leading scorers, two Ivy League Players of the Year, two Ivy League Defensive Players of the Year, four Ivy League Rookie of the Year players, eight NABC all-district selections, six Academic All-District picks and two Academic All-Americans.

The Big Red reached new heights in 2009-10, winning the program’s third straight Ivy League title en route to an Ivy League-record 29 wins and not only the program’s first NCAA win, but a trip to the Sweet 16. Cornell climbed as high as No. 22 nationally in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll, the program’s first national ranking in 59 years, and set an Ivy record for 3-pointers in a season (326). The team also set single-season school records in points (2,545), field goals (913), assists (543) and blocked shots (127). The Big Red won the MSG Holiday Festival with a victory over St. John’s, Cornell’s first win over a Big East school since 1969 and captured a season-opening win at Alabama, the team’s first win over a school from the Southeastern Conference since 1972. Cornell went 11-1 at home and won 18 games away from home, the most among any Division I school. The most attention was given to Cornell’s noble effort in a 71-66 loss at No. 1 Kansas, a game the Big Red led with under a minute to play. The Big Red then shocked the world as a No. 12 seed, knocking out both fifth-seeded Temple and fourth-seeded Wisconsin by double figures to advance. 

For his efforts, Donahue was named the Clair Bee Coach of the Year, the NABC District Coach of the Year, the midseason Hugh Durham Coach of the Year by collegeinsider.com as the top mid-major coach in the country, and was a finalist for both the Hugh Durham Award and the Jim Phelan Award for national coach of the year.

Cornell earned its second consecutive Ivy League title in 2008-09, becoming the first team other than Penn or Princeton to win consecutive outright championships in conference history in the process. The Big Red went 21-10 and won the Ancient Eight by three games with its 11-3 mark. It was the first time Cornell had posted consecutive 20-win seasons. The team tied a school record with its perfect 13-0 home record, extending its win streak at Newman Arena to a program-best 21 consecutive wins, the third-longest active streak in the country. Juniors Louis Dale and Ryan Wittman repeated as first-team All-Ivy selections, while Jeff Foote was named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year and was a second-team selection. Freshman Chris Wroblewski earned Ivy League Rookie of the Year, the third time in the last four years a Cornell player was honored with the award. The Big Red set school records for points (2,281), 3-pointers (241) and blocked shots (121) in a season.

The 2007-08 district Coach of the Year according to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), the United States Basketball Writers’ Association (USBWA) and CollegeInsider.com (Hugh Durham National Mid-Major Coach of the Year finalist), Donahue directed the 2007-08 Big Red to a 22-6 record and the program’s first Ivy title in 20 years. Cornell became the 13th team in league history to go unbeaten (14-0) and set school records for wins (22), Ivy wins (14), consecutive wins (16), points (2,136) and 3-point field goals made (228) in a season, as well as highest free-throw percentage (.761). Four players were named to the All-Ivy team, including Ivy League Player of the Year Louis Dale. Dale became the second Big Red player to earn the honor, and the second sophomore in league history to capture the award. He was joined as a unanimous first-team selection by classmate Ryan Wittman. Juniors Jeff Foote and Adam Gore were also second-team picks.

Donahue was honored during the summer of 2008 to participate with U.S.A.’s Basketball’s Under-18 national team as a court coach during a three-day tryout camp. He was part of a staff, led by Davidson’s Bob McKillop, that helped prepare the team for a silver medalist showing at the FIBA U18 Championship in Formosa, Argentina.

The 2006-07 squad posted a 16-12 record, the program's first winning campaign since 1996-97. Its 9-5 Ancient Eight record, the most conference wins since 1992-93, gave the team a third straight top three finish in the league standings. Despite losing the team’s leading scorer and reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year, Adam Gore, in the season opener, Cornell posted a victory at Northwestern (Big Ten) and closed the season 12-5 after the calendar turned to 2007.

Donahue’s 2005-06 team matched the previous season’s win total both overall (13) and in Ivy play (8) while recording back-to-back winning Ancient Eight seasons for the first time since the 1986-87 and 1987-88 teams under Mike Dement. Cornell finished in third place in the final league standings, as both Lenny Collins and Adam Gore earned second-team All-Ivy honors, while Gore was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Year. The team also won a school record five Ivy League road games.

The 2004-05 Ivy League Coach of the Year according to CollegeInsider.com, Donahue’s Big Red squad earned its highest Ivy finish in 17 years with its second-place effort and claimed its first winning Ancient Eight campaign (8-6) since the 1992-93 season. It was only the seventh time in school history that Cornell finished second in Ivy play. Among the many highlights of the season was a sweep of Princeton for the first time in 20 years and the first win at Jadwin Gymnasium in 19 years. The Big Red swept a Yale-Brown weekend for the first time since 1999-2000, hit a school and Carrier Dome record 15 3-pointers against No. 7 Syracuse and defeated St. Bonaventure of the Atlantic 10 on the road in what Jay Bilas of ESPN had called one of the five toughest places to play in the country. The Big Red had two players named All-Ivy (Lenny Collins - first team, Eric Taylor - honorable mention) for the first time since 1997. The team’s 13 wins overall were the most since that same 1996-97 campaign.

In 2003-04, Donahue led a team with just one senior to its third-straight season of improvement. The 11 wins overall were the most by a Big Red team in five years, as were the club’s six Ivy wins. Cornell improved its scoring average nearly 10 points per game, went from a -3.0 to a +2.3 rebound margin and lowered its opponent field goal percentage (ranking second in Ivy League play at .426). Cornell’s pressure defense generated 236 steals, good for second in the Ivy League and a school record.

Donahue developed Ka’Ron Barnes into a first-team All-Ivy selection in 2004, the Big Red’s first player to be honored as one of the league’s top five players in seven seasons.

During the off-season, Donahue and the Big Red made its first foreign trip, spending 10 days in Australia. While there, Cornell competed against semi-pro clubs, going 3-1 leading into the 2003-04 campaign.

Donahue’s 2002-03 squad nearly doubled its previous season’s win total with its 9-18 finish, while its fifth-place ranking in the Ivy League was its highest since 1999. Barnes was named second-team All-Ivy League, while Lenny Collins earned the Ancient Eight’s Rookie of the Year Award.

As part of his philosophy, Donahue has accepted the gauntlet thrown down by the top programs in the Ivy League and upgraded the non-conference schedule. Cornell has played an NCAA finalist twice in the last six years, including eventual national champion Syracuse in 2002-03. In 2003-04, the Big Red hosted eventual national runner-up Georgia Tech. Donahue’s Big Red has regularly played teams from power conferences such as the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Atlantic 10, Big Ten, Big East and Mountain West Conferences.

Off the court, Cornell players are expected to succeed in the classroom and contribute in their community. Big Red players make appearances in local schools, speaking to students of the importance of a good education.

Donahue became the fourth Robert E. Gallagher ‘44 Coach of Men’s Basketball at Cornell on Sept. 6, 2000. He wasted little time making an impact on and off the court.

Despite joining the program a little more than two months before the team’s first contest in 2000, Donahue began molding his team. By the end of the season his emphasis on hard work and dedication to the program paid off in a win over Ivy League champ and NCAA participant Princeton and a two-point loss to league runner-up Penn, teams that defeated Cornell by a combined 40 points during the first turn through the Ivy schedule.

Despite a rash of injuries that cost the Big Red 54 missed games among its top eight players during the 2001-02 season, Donahue led a team that relied on eight freshmen, the most of any Division I school in the country, to a nearly identical record as in his first season. The team’s biggest improvement could be seen in its defensive play, as the squad lowered its field goal percentage defense from .463 in Donahue’s first season to .428 in his second year. The squad also broke school records for 3-pointers made in a game (14) and a season (200) as Donahue’s full-court offensive philosophy began to take shape.

Renowned as a top recruiter and for his offensive mind while an assistant at the University of Pennsylvania, Donahue learned the trade from some of the nation’s top coaches.

Donahue served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator under Fran Dunphy at Penn for 10 years. During his tenure as a Quaker assistant, he was heavily involved in the recruitment of five of Penn’s top 20 all-time scorers. He was also instrumental in the Quakers winning six Ivy League titles in his last eight years there, advancing to the NCAA tournament five times and earning national recognition with a top 25 ranking.

His duties included practice preparation, game coaching, scouting and academic monitoring of players. Donahue served as the head coach of the Quakers’ junior varsity program from 1990-95 and compiled a record of 75-12 (.862). He also served as the director of the Penn Basketball Coaches Clinic and the director of the Quaker Basketball Camp.

Prior to joining Dunphy’s staff at Penn, Donahue coached for two seasons at Philadelphia University. During his two seasons there, the Rams won 20 games each season and also competed in the 1989 NCAA Division II tournament. Thus, since 1989, Donahue has been an integral part of programs that have gone to seven postseason tournaments. Plus, he has the unique experience of qualifying for the NCAA tournament in all three divisions (including the Division III tourney as a player with Ursinus).

Donahue served as an assistant for current Lafayette head coach Fran O’Hanlon at Monsignor Bonner HS, helping to guide Bonner to the 1987-88 Philadelphia Catholic League championship.

Donahue began his coaching career at Springfield HS under Skip Werley, his former college coach. He served as head coach of the junior varsity and assistant coach for the varsity team for three seasons.

It was during his playing days at Ursinus College that Donahue developed his leadership skills. He captained both the baseball and basketball teams as a senior, earning four letters in both sports. As a freshman, Donahue helped the basketball squad finish 23-8 and advance to the NCAA Division III tournament. He graduated in 1984 with a bachelor of arts degree in economics and business administration.

Donahue and his wife, Pamela, reside in Ithaca with their four children, Taylor, Matthew, Katie and Jack. 

*Updated March 23, 2010
Steve Donahue At Cornell