Boston College Hires Cornell's Steve Donahue As Replacement For Al Skinner

Head coach Steve Donahue, who took Cornell to the NCAA tournament in each of the past three seasons, was officially hired by Boston College on Tuesday, ending the school's search for a replacement to Al Skinner.

Skinner had been the Eagles head coach for 13 seasons, but was let go late last month.

Donahue just completed his tenth season at Cornell, and it was his best yet, ending with a 29-5 record, the most wins in Ivy League history. In the NCAA tournament, the Big Red became the first team from their conference to reach the Sweet 16 in more than 30 years.

In announcing the decision, BC athletic director Gene DeFilippo said he was looking for a more exciting style of play than the banging, Big East style Skinner favored. [...]

DeFilippo hopes his new coach will draw fans to the Conte Forum, where attendance has declined for four straight seasons. The e-mail invited fans meet the coach and proclaimed a "new era in BC men's basketball."

The official news conference is scheduled for Wednesday. 

For more reaction and all things BC, visit BC Interruption.

Over at SB Nation's Boston College blog, BC Interruption, they took a look at each coaching candidates credentials for the job. Here's what they found on Donahue, the likely choice:

Qualification 1: Exciting Brand of Basketball. Check. Donahue and Cornell run a motion offense, pretty much the exact opposite of Skinner's tight flex. Free flowing? Unrestricted with no fixed patterns? Check. His motion offense has been compared to that of John Beilein's offense. The offense is meant to exploit the offense's quickness (Reggie Jackson?) and neutralize the size advantage of the defense (again, sound familiar?). This is probably Donahue's strongest qualification since he is basically the un-Skinner when it comes to offensive philosophy.

Qualification 2: Relate to Student Body, Staff, Alumni, and Fans. This one is a little more unclear. Yes, Donahue has breathed live, energy and enthusiasm into the Cornell basketball program. But he's also spent 20 years of his career exclusively in the Ivy League. The ACC and the Ivy League are two very different places in terms of college basketball. I'll give Donahue the benefit of the doubt though and hope that he can rally the student body, staff and fans by capitalizing on Cornell's improbable Sweet 16 run this year.

Qualification 3: Solid Recruiter. Donahue has proven a sound recruiter both at Penn and at Cornell. His senior class of Ryan Wittman, Jeff Foote, and Louis Dale have taken home numerous Ivy League awards and have been the spark that has propelled Cornell to three straight league titles. While Donahue does have deep roots in the Philadelphia area, he has shown that he'll scour the country to find the best talent for Cornell - Wittman is from Minnesota, Foote from New York and Dale from Alabama. Still, recruiting in the Ivy League and recruiting within the ACC with, you know, actual scholarships, are two completely different ball games.

For more on the BC coaching search and additional thoughts on how Steve Donahue might fare in Chestnut Hill, check out BC Interruption, where they're covering this coaching search from every angle.

Fresh off leading his team to a Sweet 16 run the NCAA Tournament, it appears Cornell coach Steve Donahue is moving up in the coaching world. 

Donahue is expected to be named Boston College's new head coach today, according to Fox Sports' Jeff Goodman. 

Boston College, per sources, expected to come to name Cornell coach Steve Donahue new coach replacing Al Skinner today.    

Donahue's career record at Cornell is 146-138, but he's led the Big Red to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last three years. He's slowly built the Cornell program up from being among the Ivy League's worst teams to one of it's best, having won three straight conference titles. For his efforts, Donahue won the Clair Bee Coach of the Year award this season.

Boston College will interview Cornell Head Coach Steve Donahue on Wednesday for the position that was made available when the Eagles fired Al Skinner on Tuesday, according to Jeff Goodman.

Donahue became somewhat of a household name this season after Cornell's miracle run to the Sweet 16, which ended less than a week ago. In his ten seasons there he has compiled an impressive 146-138 record, despite his team only winning single digit games in each of his first three seasons. He has guided the Big Red to the last three NCAA tournaments.

From Fox Sports, here is the statement BC Athletic Director Gene DeFilippo released regarding the firing of head basketball coach Al Skinner Tuesday:

"Coach Al Skinner and I met last Wednesday and agreed it would be mutually beneficial for us to part ways. In our meeting, we discussed our philosophical differences and our concern for the future of our basketball program.

"Coach Skinner then asked if we could delay the announcement so that he could pursue other opportunities. Out of respect for Coach Skinner, Boston college agreed. Other institutions were made aware we would be parting ways from the beginning of the process.

"All of us at Boston College have great respect for Coach Skinner. We are grateful for his achievements over the course of the past 13 years. We wish Al, Donna and their family nothing but the best.

"Our goal is to find a coach who shares our vision for Boston College basketball. We will begin a national search for a replacement immediately."

Over the years, Al Skinner became Boston College basketball. BC basketball was sometimes very good, sometimes average, and sometimes mediocre. But always, like Skinner, it was unspectacular. In the eyes of the Boston College administration, and particularly athletic director Gene Defilippo, that wasn't a good thing anymore. And as a Boston College graduate that cursed Skinner and his boring flex offense a hundred different times during my time in Chestnut Hill, I say that's fine.

But if BC thinks getting rid of Skinner is the end of their problems, they'd better get real. The problem with Boston College athletics is Boston College, and for a lot of years, Al Skinner was the solution. Recruiting his ass off and unearthing gems like Troy Bell, Craig Smith, and Jared Dudley. Using that flex offense to methodically break down opponents, consistently beating more talented teams, surpassing everyone's expectations. Winning with class, never asking for credit, and never making excuses when they fell short. That was Al Skinner, and he fit Boston College perfectly.

Because while BC trumpets itself as a sports powerhouse, that only goes so far. They don't have the facilities of a powerhouse, the academic standards are higher than a powerhouse, and when it comes down to hiring a big time coach to take them to the top, Boston College isn't willing to pay the price to be a powerhouse. This isn't the rant of some frustrated college fan, either; I was never diehard about BC athletics, because how could you love a program that won't do what it takes to win?

I mean, really win. Boston College was always happy just being competitive.

And that's what Skinner gave them. Despite all the handicaps mentioned above, Skinner kept churning out winning basketball teams, even flirting with an Elite Eight appearance at one point. Miraculous as it seemed, none of that was a fluke. Skinner wasn't merely a "good guy" getting rewarded for doing things "the right way." This was by design.

Seeing the recruiting disadvantages at Boston College, Skinner went deeper and found the star players that nobody else wanted. Then he brought them to Boston and put them in an offense that, when run correctly, made the team better than the sum of its individuals. Say what you want about Al Skinner and the Flex offense—and BC fans have said plenty—but it was a definitive system, which is more than most programs can claim. And for the talent they had most season, it worked.

Except for the past few years... Which brings us to the end of Al Skinner. Since moving to the ACC, Al Skinner just couldn't quite measure up. After all the handicaps that he'd weathered in his time at BC, recruiting in the ACC, and competing, proved to be just a little bit too much to overcome. And that's not necessarily Boston College's fault, but they better not fool themselves into thinking it's Skinner's.

Recruiting kids from New York and Boston and New Jersey and Philly—all feeder states for the Eagles—became much harder when Boston College went to the ACC. Those players grow up with dreams of playing in the Big East. The rivalries, the tradition, the close proximity to all their competition. That's always been part of the draw. And when Boston College left, they got tons and tons of money, and a guest pass in a conference where, as any fool can see, they don't really belong. Their closest conference opponent is 450 miles to the south, in Maryland.

And we're supposed to blame Skinner for failing to stockpile talent under those circumstances? He's recruiting in a Boston hoops vacuum, at a time when the Big East has become the premier conference in America. If YOU were a high school basketball player in New England—like Jeff Adrien, who played high school basketball ten minutes from BC campus—would you rather go to Uconn or Boston College? Adrien chose Uconn, along a hundred other recruits every year that don't give BC a second thought. It's not really surprising that Skinner failed under these circumstances.

To succeed, Boston College needs to break the bank for someone with enough clout to keep talent home, and make BC a destination, regardless of the strange conference affiliation. With a magnetic personality that can draw talent, it could work.

Boston College won't pay for that, of course, because that's not how their athletic program works. Boston College's problem is Boston College. And in a few years, they'll be right back where they started, looking for a fresh start and a new coach. Someone that can make the most of limited resources. A coach that can recruit kids that'll perform in the classroom, too. In other words, they a coach exactly like Al Skinner. Boston College had their man.

The school moved to the ACC for money, and that's okay. But after firing Skinner, they've just ended an era where they were more successful than they ever should have been. And if they ever want to get back to that level in college basketball, they'd better use some of that ACC football money. It's going to cost them.