Donahue Legitimizes Cornell as Contender

ITHACA, N.Y.-The year was 2000, and the Cornell men's basketball program was in shambles. It had been eight years since the Big Red last finished with a winning record in conference play. With only one Ivy title in team history, without a head coach, and with an athletic department that seemed to place its focus on wrestling, Cornell basketball was increasingly descending into irrelevance.

Then came Steve Donahue.

A young assistant coach from Penn, Donahue was more about substance than flash. Realizing that magical turnarounds are reserved for Hollywood movies, he carefully began to rebuild the Cornell basketball program.

He started slowly, finishing in last place in the Ivy League with a 3-11 record in his first season. After winning just two Ivy games the following year, Donahue has remarkably improved every successive season. Since then, he has either tied or improved on his previous season's record-culminating with back-to-back 8-6 finishes in the past two years.

One of the most likeable coaches in the entire league, Donahue is known for his straight-talking approach with recruits, a tactic which plays especially well with parents. Rather than competing with Penn and Yale for the top prospects on the East and West Coasts, Donahue has instead employed a different strategy, targeting undervalued players who have been passed over by the other Ivies. He has, for example, found players like Adam Gore and Ryan Wittman, whose potential other Ivy coaches failed to recognize. Donahue has been able to find these recruits all across the country-Gore is from Indiana, and Wittman is from Minnesota. Freshman point guard Louis Dale, who along with Wittman has been one of the best freshman players in the league, is from Alabama. Even when Donahue competes with other Ivy schools and recruits from the coasts, he's able to find gems like Will Scott, who eventually transferred out of Cornell and is now a integral part of Rick Pitino's rotation in Louisville.

Donahue has also done a tremendous job overcoming the difficulties of coaching in a place like Ithaca. Cornell's facilities pale in comparison to other Ivy programs, and the campus is obviously removed from any major city, but Donahue has slowly crafted a winning culture that is becoming a better draw by the day. He's even fought against an admissions department that refused to admit players that other Ivies eventually accepted.

Now Donahue has the reins of a program that has the opportunity to become one of the Ivy elites. With Princeton's continuing failures under Joe Scott and Yale's puzzling inability to take advantage of its talent, Donahue could be poised to go toe-to-toe against the same program where he developed his coaching skills.

This season, his team has shown excellent resilience. While the early-season loss of Gore due to a torn ACL would have been enough to send many teams into a downward spiral, Donahue's squad has instead regrouped to win three of their first four games-their only loss coming at the hands of the heavily favored Quakers. Even without past stars like Jason Hartford or Khaliq Gant, Donahue has not only leaned heavily on freshmen but developed upperclassmen such as Andrew Naeve to become significant contributors.

Next season, Penn will graduate Ibrahim Jaaber, Mark Zoller, and Steve Danley. Cornell will lose Naeve but could be the preseason favorites with the best backcourt in the league. Even this year, if they continue their strong early-season play, they may be able to make a late run at Penn. And if their younger big men show promise, don't be surprised to see the Big Red at the top of next year's preseason Ivy media poll.

In only six years, Cornell has turned its program from an Ivy League doormat into a potential powerhouse. And it all started with their head coach.