News and Notes: Donahue Endorses Fortier

Max Groebe and Aasron Osgood sign autographs at Jacksonville Airport after the Big Red advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. (Photo, Cornell Daily Sun) Below, some news and notes...

• Lafayette Coach Fran O'Hanlon was quoted on the topic of Steve Donahue's move from the Cornell head coaching position to Boston College. “Steve certainly paid his dues in this business; he was my assistant and a JV coach at Monsignor Bonner (outside of Philadelphia) and then we were together at Penn, and he was there 10 years before being at Cornell for 10 more,” O’Hanlon said. “He’s certainly not jumped around. He did a tremendous job at Cornell. Now he’s got one of the elite jobs in an elite city. It’s great for Steve in so many ways."

• The Baltimore Sun notes that "Donahue led the Big Red to a 29-5 record this season -- the most wins in Ivy history -- and the school's first ranking in The Associated Press Top 25 in 59 years. Cornell, which had never won an NCAA game, beat favored Temple and Wisconsin to become the first Ivy team to reach the Sweet 16 in more than three decades; they lost to No. 1-seeded Kentucky 62-45 in the East Regional semifinals." Cornell ends the season ranked No. 17 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll Top 25.
  

• It is now public knowledge that Steve Donahue endorsed the candidacy of Izzi Metz and Paul Fortier for the vacancy as Cornell's next head coach. The Ithaca Journal's Brian Delaney writes:

Izzi Metz won't be Cornell's next men's basketball coach. Metz withdrew from consideration after deciding he was happy as the head coach at Division III Hobart. Metz said he informed Cornell director of athletics Andy Noel in a phone call on Thursday. "After some thinking and a quick turnaround, I've got a good situation where I'm at right now and didn't feel it was the best situation for me," Metz said. "The fact that my name was thrown out there, I was flattered."Metz said as he pondered his decision to apply, he realized his heart wasn't into it "like it should have been.""For me, right now, I'm pretty happy with my situation," he said. Donahue was introduced as Boston College's head coach on Wednesday, ending his 10-year tenure with the Big Red. In an interview with The Journal on Tuesday, Donahue offered a vote of support for two of his former assistants -- Metz and current University of Washington assistant Paul Fortier. "I hope they are guys that will get great consideration," Donahue said. "I think both of those guys would be tremendous."Noel said Tuesday he hoped to make a decision quickly, though not at the expense of a thorough search. It is Noel's second major job search this school year. He hired Kent Austin to replace Jim Knowles as football coach on Jan. 27.

• Now that former Cornell assistants, Zach Spiker (currently under multi-year contract as head coach at Army), Metz, and Nat Graham (headed to Boston College with Steve Donahue) are no longer viable candidates, Fortier appears to be the leading candidate for the position as Cornell's next head coach. We speculate that the other top candidates could include Joe Burke (Navy assistant and former Donahue assistant at Cornell), Mike Maker (head coach at Williams College) and King Rice (Vanderbilt assistant).
  

POTENTIAL CANDIDATES GETTING FREQUENT MENTION (in no particular order)
Paul Fortier-Washington asst coach, former Cornell asst under Steve Donahue
Joe Burke-Navy assistant, former Cornell assistant under Steve Donahue
Billy Lange-Navy coach
Mike Maker-Williams College coach
King Rice-Vanderbilt assistant
Tom Brennan-former Vermont coach
Eric Reveno - Portland coach
Dennis Wolff-former Boston U. coach
Tom Herrion-Pittsburgh assistant
Todd Lickliter-former Iowa and Butler head coach

CROSS THEM OFF
Zach Spiker-Army coach, former Cornell assistant under Steve Donahue
Nat Graham-former Cornell assistant, headed to Boston College with Steve Donahue
Izzi Metz-Hobart coach, former Cornell assistant under Steve Donahue

OTHER NAMES ON THE RADAR (in no particular order)
Matt Graves-Butler assistant
Jerry Wainwright-former DePaul coach
Fran Fraschilla-ESPN analyst
Jay Williams-ESPN analyst
Gil Jackson-former Howard coach
Doug Olliver-Irvine assistant
Paul Grant-MIT assistant
Larry Anderson-MIT coach
Jim Engels-NJIT coach
Desmond Olliver-Canisius assistant, former Cornell assistant under Steve Donahue
Fred Quartlebaum-former St. John’s assistant
Mitch Henderson-Northwestern assistant
Dan Muller-Vanderbilt assistant
Chris Collins-Duke assistant
Steve Wojciechowski-Duke assistant
Kenny Blakeney-Harvard assistant
Mike Brennan-Georgetown assistant
Robert Burke-Georgetown assistant
Tony Newsom-Princeton assistant
Jim Fox-Davidson assistant
Matt Langel-Temple assistant
Andrew Toole-Robert Morris assistant
David Hixon-Amherst coach
Mark Edwards-Washington (Mo.) coach
Mike MacDonald-Medaille College coach

• After watching Ryan Wittman in his first game at the Portsmouth Invitational, the Hoops Report gave a largely negative review:

RYAN WITTMAN (6-7, 215), Cornell
Wittman had a hard time getting the ball for open shots and he couldn't create his own offense. And the few times he did get some good looks at outside shots, most of them didn't go in.

• Searching for Billy Edelin, a Syracuse blog, writes that entire Cornell team is among the list of characters from the 2010 NCAA Tournament that will long be remembered by college basketball fans. The site writes:
  

The Entire Cornell Big Red Roster

My favorite team in the NCAA Tournament, thanks to some coaching by The New York Times' Pete Thamel, the Big Red were a classic senior-laden team who had been playing for this type of opportunity for four years. They advanced to the second weekend of the tournament, made basketball relevant among the undergrads, only to lead their head coach to bolt for greener pastures. Seven footer Jeff Foote and sharpshooting Ryan Whittman may get some NBA looks, but both are much better suited to lead a random German league in scoring than ride the pine stateside. As Ivy League grads, they're probably wise enough to bolt for that overseas money, too.