PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Steve Donahue is one of the top men's basketball coaches in the Ivy League. He's been at the University of Pennsylvania since 2015, and led the Quakers to the Ivy League title and the NCAA Tournament in 2018. Earlier in his career, he had a lot of success at Cornell.
Donahue, a Delaware County native, went to Cardinal O'Hara High School and then Ursinus College in Collegeville. He said he learned early on that the Philadelphia basketball scene was special.
"My father I remember, even in eighth grade, taking me to a Roman Catholic/Bonner game and Roman Catholic had a guy named Reggie Jackson, who was a Parade All-American at that time. And the level of intensity in the Bonner gym was something I can still remember to this day," he said.
"And I was like, 'Wow, this is just an intimate personal environment that is very rare in sports, especially in high school.' Like when you're at a basketball game, I was five feet away from the action and seeing the level of intensity was something that I really just grew to and I said, 'Gosh, I'd love to be a part of that.'"
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Donahue was doing television after a run as Boston College head coach when the opportunity to take over as head coach at Penn emerged. Despite his Delco ties and a stint as an assistant at Penn on Fran Dunphy's staff, he said the fit with the Quakers was about much more than just coming home.
"The reason Penn excited me was it's an incredible university, that you can attract great kids [to], that can compete nationally. There it is. That for the professional side of me, it just happens to be a place I was at. It just happens to be in Philadelphia."
You can listen to the entire interview with Steve Donahue, above, by checking out the latest episode of the KYW Newsradio original podcast, "1-on-1 with Matt Leon." For more, subscribe on the Audacy app or wherever you get your podcasts.