Coach Donahue

BC’s found their man

This past Wednesday Boston College named former Cornell University Head Men’s Basketball Coach Steve Donahue as their new Men’s Basketball Coach. Although I do not know that much about Coach Donahue other than the fact that he has an Ivy League background as both an Assistant and a Head Coach, I think he will be a good fit at BC. Donahue most recently took Cornell to the NCAA Tournament for the 3rd consecutive season.
Personally, I feel as though this is a great hire, because he was considered one of the top coaches on the rise. Also I think if you can take a team like the Big Red of Cornel that does give out athletic scholarships to the NCAA Tournament. According to Thursday’s Boston Globe, he pprobably will bring some members of his staff from Cornell, dip into Philadelphia (Penn assistant John Gallagher is expected to be added to his staff), and perhaps hire someone with New England ties (Providence assistant Pat Skerry is a possibility). Columbia coach Joe Jones also could be in the mix. I really think that it is necessary to have an assistant coach on the bench with New England ties like Skerry or Jones, because although Massachusetts might not be considered a great basketball state, people tend to forget about all of the good talent at the prep schools in New England. We all know that former Boston College Basketball Coach Al Skinner brought former Worcester Academy Head Coach Mo Cassara on his staff 4 years ago to help recruit New England, but other than Rakim Sanders, and Brady Heslip coach Cassara did not bring in anyone from the New England Prep Schools, which to me is a disgrace.
Finally, in terms of scheduling I hope that Coach Donahue changes things up a bit. I understand that we have traditional rivalries with University of Maine, University of Vermont, University of New Hampshire, University of Rhode Island, Dartmouth College, Providence College, and Harvard University, but let’s spice our non-conference schedule up a little bit. Here are some suggestions that I have. Every few years we should play in a major early-season tournament such as the Maui Invitational, the Great Alaska Shootout, the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, or the Pre-Season NIT. We should also always play a big-east team, a SEC team, and either or a PAC 10 or Big 10 team. All of these non-conference games will help with recruiting, because incoming players would rather play against these types of teams than some of the New England ones or the New Jersey Institute of Technology’s of the world.