Across the professional world, Ursinus alumni are making an impact. But none may be the subject of more attention at the moment than Steve Donahue ‘84, as he embarks on his new role as the Head Coach of the Saint Joseph’s University Men’s Basketball Team. The new coach’s time as an Ursinus College Bear, playing away from the spotlight as a Division III player, remains dear to his heart as he continues into the next chapter.
In an exclusive chat with Grizzly correspondent Jesse Cherone, Coach Donahue spoke about his time at Ursinus and reflected on his lifelong friendships with his teammates from his playing days. He said that, for him, “it is really about the friends for life. Your best friends in the world are your college dormmates and your college teammates. As we went through those games, we really focused on staying united and having great experiences with each other. To this day they are my closest friends.”
Donahue, who graduated from Ursinus in 1984, played baseball and basketball for the Bears. In Collegeville, he received four letters and captained the basketball team during his senior year. As a freshman, Donahue played for the 1981 basketball team, which ended the year 23-8 and made it to the NCAA Division III Tournament Final Four. In 1982, when Donahue was a sophomore, Ursinus made it to the tournament’s quarterfinals. Over the course of three seasons, he also pitched in eighteen games for the baseball club. Following graduation, Donahue went on to become a coach and became one of the most renowned coaches in Ivy League basketball history.
When asked what being a Bear gave him, Donahue said, “because [Ursinus is] a Division III school, a lot of us were focused on academics, so we were able to play, the learning came, and then you were able to chase your career, like coaching, like I was able to do.”
The coach certainly took the learning he received from the college and ran with it, creating a highly successful coaching career for himself. In 2000, Donahue secured his first head coaching position at Cornell following a couple stints as an assistant. From 2008 to 2010, Donahue guided Cornell to three straight Ivy League titles and an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance. He returned to Southeastern Pennsylvania in 2015 to take over as head coach at Penn after serving at Boston College, and he immediately made the Quakers an Ivy League contender. In 2018, Donahue guided Penn to their first Ivy League championship since 2007. Donahue won ECAC Coach of the Year, NABC District 13 Coach of the Year, and Ivy League Coach of the Year in the same season. This year, Donahue was brought in to become Saint Joseph’s University Men’s Basketball Head Coach after serving as an associate head coach under six-year head coach Billy Lange at the college. Donahue took over for Lange in September of this year after Lange left the Hawks to join the coaching staff of Mike Brown and the New York Knicks in the NBA.
When asked about one memory he had from Ursinus, Donahue reminisced about when he was a freshman and made it to the Final Four, for which he says he wasn’t even part of the travel team at the time. The Bears went on to finish third, losing a nail-biter to Potsdam State (now SUNY Potsdam in New York). Asked about memorable moments when he was on the floor, Donahue remembered when Ursinus took down Scranton on their home floor in 1982. The Royal Wolves were #1 in the country at the time, but lost to the Bears in a shocking upset.
We wish Coach Donahue and his Hawks the best of luck, as the Coach continues to represent Ursinus well on college basketball’s largest stage.