Updated 12 a.m.

As if saying goodbye to the most decorated senior class in Cornell men’s basketball history wasn’t enough, students and faculty alike were dealt another emotional blow yesterday afternoon when it was announced that Steve Donahue would take over as Boston College’s head coach. According to a University source, it is also “highly likely” that current Cornell assistant Nat Graham will accompany Donahue to B.C.

“We all kind of woke up to [the reports]. The past couple weeks we’ve been kind of expecting it, and we were hoping it wasn’t going to happen, but with our success you know people wanted him to be their coach. It’s sad to see him go, but we’re real happy for him,” said junior forward Aaron Osgood. 

Donahue was in Boston for a final interview yesterday morning, then flew back to meet with his team before a 4 p.m. rally to celebrate the winter sports teams’ success. At around the same time he was meeting with the team, Boston College was making an announcement to confirm the hiring. 

According to Osgood, Donahue addressed how proud he was of everything the team had accomplished, and explained that this move was for his family and for himself, and was in no way an insult to the players. 

“‘We’re friends for life’ is what he said,” Osgood stated. I'm only gonna break break your break break your heart: Donahue became a hot commodity on the coaching market after the Red’s Sweet 16 appearance. - By: Beth Spergel

“He was definitely pretty emotional,” added junior forward Adam Wire. “Obviously all of us felt that we were pretty close, like a family here. ... I’m sure if he could stay with us, he’d definitely like to, but at the same time, it’s a decision he had to make.”

Donahue, who has spent the past 10 seasons at the helm of the Red en route to a 146-138 overall record, led Cornell to three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances –– the most recent of which took the team all the way to its first-ever Sweet 16 to cap off a record-breaking 29-5 campaign. 

“He just found a way to bring us all together. We had a really balanced team; it’s not like we had individuals, we had a whole team as one,” Wire said. “He let us have our fun on and off the court, and at the same time he made sure we got the job done.”

Donahue became the fourth Robert E. Gallagher ’44 Coach of Men’s Basketball at Cornell on Sept. 6, 2000. In his first season, Cornell went 3-11 in Ancient Eight play (7-20 overall) to finish tied for seventh in the Ivy League. By 2005-06, he had tripled his win total as the Red took third in the conference standings. Then, during the 2006-07 campaign, Donahue recruited a freshman class that would effectively change the face of Cornell basketball. 

Then-freshman forward –– and current all-time leading scorer –– Ryan Wittman was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year, as the Red managed one more win to again finish third in the league. 2007-08 would prove to be Donahue’s breakout season: Cornell went undefeated to take the Ivy League by storm and put an end to the Penn/Princeton dominance that had reigned for 21 of the past 22 years. The Red would repeat as Ivy League champions the following season, and then in 2009-10 Donahue oversaw what can only be described as the greatest season in the history of Cornell basketball. The Red set an Ivy League record for wins in a season with 29, finished as the Nation’s top 3-point shooting team –– boasting a 42.9 percentage from beyond the arc –– and ended the year ranked No. 17 in the final ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. 

“Just because you have talented players doesn’t mean you’re going to win. You still have to be able to coach,” said senior guard Louis Dale.  'Don' deal: Donahue and Boston College hammered out a contract yesterday after the former Cornell coach became the front-runner to take over for Al Skinner. - By: Tina Chou

Dale added that in Donahue, Boston College will get “a great coach who’s going to recruit perfect basketball players, and people as well. ... He holds himself to a high standard.”

Prior to coming to Cornell, Donahue spent 10 years as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Penn under Fran Dunphy, now the head coach at Temple. In a twist of irony, it was his former mentor’s current team that Donahue and Co. defeated in the opening round of the NCAA tournament to secure their first March Madness win in program history. 

Under Donahue’s watch, 12th-seeded Cornell trounced Wisconsin, 87-69, in the second round to reach the regional semifinals, where the Red fell to the No. 1-seeded Kentucky Wildcats, 62-45, in Syracuse, N.Y.

In a press conference following the Wisconsin game, a tearful Donahue spoke of how Cornell athletic director Andy Noel had stood by him for his first 7-8 years when “we really didn’t do much. ... It doesn’t happen a lot in college basketball in particular that someone sticks by a coach for this long, and I’m very fortunate that I was able to reward him for all of his patience.”

Donahue, who said at the end of the season that he would only consider leaving Cornell for a “flat-out home run” offer, will take over for Al Skinner, who was fired after 13 seasons on March 30 –– the same day Donahue was awarded the Clair Bee Coach of the Year award. 

Reported finalists for the Boston College position included two former BC assistants –– Fairfield head coach Ed Cooley and Northeastern’s Bill Coen. 

Donahue will be introduced as Boston College’s new head coach at a press conference scheduled for this afternoon, which will be followed by a student pep rally. 

According to Osgood, Noel spoke to the players about what roles they would play in the upcoming coaching search and interview process. 

“He’s going to select a couple guys, and we’re going to put some people together, too, so we’ll get some student input in there for sure,” Osgood said.