Former Penn assistant made Cornell a hoops power

Folks weren't expecting much when Steve Donahue became men's basketball coach at Cornell.

Young and unproven, the former Penn assistant would become just another hapless leader of a doormat program. Or so people thought.

Ten years later, Donahue is being recognized for completely turning the Big Red program around.

Once known mostly as a hockey-loving campus, the school in Ithaca, N.Y., is now a hoops haven.

Consecutive Ivy League crowns, NCAA tournament appearances, a national ranking, you name it. Donahue, 47, brought it all to a program that had recorded just 11 winning seasons since 1967-68.

"After each season, we go back and remember what it was like before we turned this thing around," Donahue said. "It was very, very difficult. I'm not going to say it wasn't. There were a lot of trying times."

Penn (3-14, 2-2 Ivy) will find out just how dominant Cornell (20-3, 6-0) has become in tonight's 7 o'clock matchup at the Palestra.

Cornell is ranked 22d in the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll. This season marks the first time since 1951 that Cornell was ranked nationally. The last time an Ivy League team appeared in a national poll was in 1997-98, when Princeton finished eighth in the AP poll and 16th in the coaches' poll.

Like that Princeton squad, teams are having a tough time beating Cornell. The Big Red have won eight straight since they nearly upset No. 1 Kansas on Jan. 6.

The Big Red are on pace to clinch a third straight Ivy League title and the NCAA tournament berth that accompanies it. Not bad for a team that never made the tourney before winning the Ancient Eight crown two seasons ago.

That was the first time in 20 seasons that a school not named Penn or Princeton claimed the Ivy title outright.

"Well, he's doing a tremendous job putting together his basketball program, not surprisingly so," said Temple head coach Fran Dunphy, who was Penn's head coach when Donahue was a Quakers assistant for 10 seasons.

"Steve had a great work ethic and feel for the game," Dunphy said. "So it was just a matter of time before Cornell was in very good shape as a basketball program."

But back in 2006, Donahue had hoped to leave Cornell to coach at Penn. That's when Dunphy left to replace John Chaney at Temple.

Donahue was granted an interview. Instead of going with the Springfield (Delaware County) native with Penn ties, the Quakers hired Glen Miller.