Steve Donahue on Farzetta & Tra in the Morning

Beasley Digital

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00:00Now, speaking of canceling things, this is unfortunate,

00:02and I'm sure this is the definition of rock and a hard place,

00:06double-edged sword.

00:07On the line with us right now from the University of Penn,

00:11the head coach of the Quaker basketball team, Steve Donahue,

00:14joins us right now.

00:15Steve, good morning, Coach.

00:16Hey, good morning, guys.

00:18Good morning, sir.

00:19I saw the news come out yesterday,

00:21and the first thing I thought of was the cliche line,

00:24double-edged sword, rock and a hard place.

00:26Your reaction to the decision to cancel the Ivy League tournament?

00:31Well, I think, first of all, you've got to understand

00:34that you have to qualify for our tournament.

00:37Unlike other college leagues in the country,

00:40you eliminate half our league to advance.

00:43So we have to win our last three games,

00:46and then the euphoria of clenching it Saturday on our senior night,

00:50and then obviously the news.

00:52And I'm like probably everybody else.

00:54I've been trying to educate myself when the coronavirus, it's serious.

00:59And, you know, the previous caller talked about what I think.

01:03I agree with him that these other leagues are going to start taking

01:06substantial steps in eliminating fans.

01:09That being said, I just thought I was stunned that we weren't able to somehow

01:14play a game and have competition and allow that to be decided who goes to the

01:19NCAA tournament.

01:19And then to see the seniors crush that, you know, I had to walk in and as we get ready

01:24for practice and tell them their careers are over, just really difficult.

01:31It's awful news that has come out.

01:34And was there no negotiation?

01:36Was there no meeting?

01:38Was there no input from coaches around the Ivy League to say if there was a better way

01:43to handle this?

01:43I think the president's, you know, talking with medical health experts is one thing,

01:51and I think they all agree that there shouldn't be any fans.

01:54I think the difficult part was Harvard's campus where this was going to be held

01:58is basically shut down.

02:01They've had cases and they're moving in a different direction.

02:04I think it would have taken some logistics, but I think in my mind it was that

02:09important that we could just move that game to any gym in America and play and

02:15let these kids decide it and then see what the NCAA tournament has to offer at that

02:19point.

02:20But I just think with all the things that are going on on these campuses, this was

02:25just, you know, unfortunately just not that a priority for these presidents.

02:29And, you know, the unfortunate thing is I just don't think they realize, like someone

02:34like A.J. Broder, who's, you know, since eight years old, dreamed of playing the NCAA

02:38tournament, and thank God he had as a sophomore.

02:41But this is what he's led.

02:42This is what motivates him every morning to come up and play and be a part of this

02:47incredible event and to be, you know, not given the opportunity was pretty crushing

02:52to tell a kid at that point.

02:54Steve, as you said, it's only four games, or three games, four teams.

02:58That's all you would need to figure this out.

03:01Do you think there's any possibility that these guys reconvene, the presidents

03:05reconvene and decide, okay, there is a gym somewhere here, somewhere where we can fit

03:10these four teams, get in three games over a two-day period, and decide this out the

03:15way it really should be?

03:18No, Coons, I don't think there is, obviously.

03:21I love that our women's and men's teams bonded together.

03:25They came up with a change.org page and explained their positionings, as you would

03:31expect Ivy League kids to do.

03:33It was terrific, and I just have so much respect for them, and they're trying to do

03:38what they can.

03:40I just think at this point it's very difficult for the presidents to try to figure that out.

03:44I think, as I said, the difficult part for kids to understand is just how much this means

03:50to them, and we're all about no risk with this coronavirus, and keep the people under

03:57100, all the things that the health experts are telling us, and we could have done that,

04:03and that's the hard piece to get over here.

04:07So, Steve, what do you do?

04:09I mean, you guys are ready to practice yesterday.

04:11You get word.

04:12You have to take the team into another room and tell them it looks like it's over.

04:16How do you handle it?

04:17Is that it?

04:18Are you done?

04:19Do you get the guys back out on the floor just in case?

04:21How do you handle it as a coach?

04:23You know, we have a pretty good resume.

04:26We have two quad one wins, which is very rare for this level.

04:31We're in touch with the NIT, but at this point I don't want to leave the guys on.

04:35I brought them in.

04:36They thought they were watching the film.

04:38They probably had no idea about the news I was about to tell them, and it was difficult.

04:45There wasn't a dry eye in the place, to be quite honest.

04:48Devin Goodman is two points away from 1,000.

04:51He missed an easy layup at the last game.

04:54He's an incredible kid, an architect major from Germantown Academy, and this is what he

04:59lived his whole life for, to play his senior year and try to get into the big dance and all

05:04the stuff that captivates our country, and this was his motivation every day, and I just

05:10think being taken away from him, and listen, this country, we don't know where this is going,

05:17but I think we all know that you could play these kind of events and be pretty sure that

05:22the infectious people in the area wouldn't be that dramatic if you just had the teams

05:28or refs and coaches, and I don't know.

05:33Right now, we're trying to help guys fly home and get back and then keep in touch with them

05:39that way.

05:39Talking with UPenn head coach Steve Donahue, Ivy League tournament canceled.

05:45Steve, the NBA, Adrian Woznarowski came out within the last few hours and talked about how

05:50the NBA is entertaining ideas of playing at neutral sites or areas that haven't been infected

05:55or affected by coronavirus yet, and your suggestion to open up the conversation, basically, is

06:01the idea that's floating around about why not, if you're not going to have it at Harvard,

06:04at that campus where the Ivy League was going to happen, why not have it somewhere else that

06:07hasn't been affected?

06:08I mean, any site really could host it that hasn't been affected.

06:12Why do you think that the Ivy League hasn't entertained that possibility more?

06:17I think that's a great point, and I've worked in the Ivies for 25 years.

06:25Unfortunately, I have a hard time telling my players that same answer, because it just

06:31looks like they didn't turn over every stone to find out what we can do to allow this to

06:38happen.

06:40The other kind of hypocrisy in all this is that all of our other sports, again, this

06:45weekend, our lacrosse teams down at Duke, our softball team and baseball team are in Florida.

06:51And it's a tough pill to swallow.

06:55And I said, I have the ultimate respect for all the presidents, the health experts, and

07:01all the things that these campuses are doing.

07:03This is crazy.

07:05And it has to be.

07:07We have to take this serious.

07:08But I just thought we could have played three games and tried to figure out who was the

07:14rightful winner of this and the Vance City NCAA tournament.

07:19All right, Steve, you know what?

07:20I'm going to solve this problem.

07:21Clemente Park, Fairmount, right where the first place of Bel Air, the Open was filmed.

07:25You meet me there with some Ivy League teams.

07:27We'll solve this right then and there.

07:29Yeah, our kids were joking.

07:30Like, let's just do it ourselves.

07:32They said, like, don't bring anybody.

07:34Let's call up the teams and meet in the playground and do it the old-fashioned way.

07:40Check up.

07:41Let's go.

07:41Call your own fouls.

07:43Yeah, right?

07:44If anybody calls a charge, they're a sucker.

07:46I remember the rules.

07:48No way.

07:49No, Steve, seriously, my heart goes out to you guys.

07:52And look, we all know it's a serious issue.

07:54But there just seems to be a much better way that the Ivy League, and this is me saying

07:58it, not you saying it, but this is me saying it seems like there is a much better way for

08:01the Ivy League to handle this than the way they actually handled it.

08:05Yeah.

08:07So, Steve, I would agree.

08:08You know, and I appreciate all your thoughts.

08:10And really, I've done this for a while.

08:13I'm going to do it for a long time.

08:14There's going to be other Ivy League tournaments for me and my staff.

08:18And it's when you see a kid's career end, and I've got to tell them that.

08:24And that's the difficult part.

08:26Their window's much smaller.

08:27And those are, I think you all realize that's, and anybody that's played and had a career

08:34end, it's always hard.

08:35But this way is extremely difficult.

08:38Well, I can't imagine, Steve.

08:40And thanks for calling in.

08:41Thanks for getting the word out there even further.

08:44Best of luck to you and the Penn Quaker.

08:45Again, coming from a Temple guy that loves a big five.

08:48I'm just telling you, good luck to you and Penn.

08:51You know, obviously, in the coming years, and my best to your seniors, man.

08:54It's just so unfortunate.

08:56I appreciate you saying that.

08:58I'll see you in a couple days, Steve.

09:00All right, guys.

09:00All right, buddy.

09:01Steve Donahue, U Penn head coach of Penn basketball.

09:05That's tough.

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