Donahue up for Cornell head post

For the past 10 seasons, Steve Donahue has sat next to Fran Dunphy on the Quakers' bench. Now, it looks as though the Penn men's basketball assistant coach may finally get his chance to be a head man. Donahue is one of several candidates being considered by Cornell to replace former head coach Scott Thompson, who stepped down earlier this summer after being diagnosed with colon cancer. Thompson will continue to work at Cornell in an administrative position with the athletic department. Donahue has been interviewed twice by Cornell athletic officials, once in Philadelphia and once on Cornell's campus in Ithaca, N.Y. Donahue said that Cornell will interview its final candidate tomorrow and that a final decision on Thompson's replacement is expected by Tuesday. He declined to offer further comment for this article. This is not the first time Donahue has been considered for a head coaching position. Earlier this summer, he was a candidate at SUNY-Albany and William and Mary before those schools filled their positions. While Quakers head coach Fran Dunphy admits that losing one of his top assistants to a league rival would be difficult, he is still rooting for his friend and colleague to be selected for the position. "He's like most assistant coaches," Dunphy said. "They want the opportunity to be a head coach. We're really rooting for him hard." In his 10 years at Penn, Donahue has been involved in every aspect of the program, including floor practice, game coaching, recruiting, scouting and film study. Donahue joined Dunphy's staff in 1990, one year after Dunphy became the head coach. Along with Gil Jackson, who has been with Dunphy since the beginning of his tenure, Donahue helps form one of the longest-serving staffs in the Ivy League. Before arriving in University City, Donahue was an assistant for two years at Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science where he helped lead Textile to the 1989 NCAA Division II Tournament. He also coached at Springfield and Monsignor Bonner high schools

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