Donahue Retiring; Set to Remain with Program in Volunteer Role

[SULAXAHOLIC]

Agree with Chris. With all due respect, seems like Ryan would be a risky hire.

Chris has enough knowledge on lacrosse to fill a dixie cup he might better stick to filling water bottles and editing videos Who ever SU hires they will be alumni if you don't understand that then you don't understand SU Lax. Besides that not one of his picks is better then RP

 

[Bigtime]

Has anyone considered mark Burnham great coach with the right flare and experience to boot. Recruiting would be a plus. Opens more doors with native kids

 

[Faegan]

Storied career... this could be a game changer if the right choice is made, especially since KD will still be around for the transition.

 

[illestcuse]

Chris has enough knowledge on lacrosse to fill a dixie cup he might better stick to filling water bottles and editing videos Who ever SU hires they will be alumni if you don't understand that then you don't understand SU Lax. Besides that not one of his picks is better then RP

Well that was pretty rude of you to say. Regardless of whether Chris was filling water bottles or starting he was still a part of the team and will always be a part of Orange Nation so I think you should treat him with some respect. Has RP ever coached D1 before? I think if I were Desko I would go with someone who has a proven track record of good recruiting and turning a program around, rather than someone who hasn’t even coached D1 yet…

 

[CuseNHouse]

I would be shocked if all of this has not been in the works for some time. This is not the first rodeo for the most successful program in lacrosse history.

When you track the sequence of events , I think it’s all pretty clear ..Powell is announced in some bizarre, unclear role last Spring, Donahue is part of the selection process, stays on to see the transition in place, waits to announce untll the 20 class is on campus but enough time to let a few weeks play out and get honored,

National search is smoke screen , Powell is announced right before Fall ball or possibly right after.. but I see it sooner ..Donahue stays close through Fall and Sping camp ..first few games to ensure system is in place and there to catch if a problem arises early ...then slips away over time into background

Could be wrong here but just how it seems ..Perhaps was squeezed , thrown under bus but don’t think so ..believe he’s been fully baked into the process from the start

 

[SULAXAHOLIC]

Well that was pretty rude of you to say. Regardless of whether Chris was filling water bottles or starting he was still a part of the team and will always be a part of Orange Nation so I think you should treat him with some respect. Has RP ever coached D1 before? I think if I were Desko I would go with someone who has a proven track record of good recruiting and turning a program around, rather than someone who hasn’t even coached D1 yet…

View attachment 168877

Yes he has coached d1 he was an assistant at SU in 2004

 

[bjred]

Only 4 comments so far, and only 1 from a "mouthbreather".

It got better as the day went on, I was keeping tabs at work.

We're assuming that Powell wants the job though. What if he's happy to just evalulate talent and doesn't want to deal with the rigors of Division 1 coaching? I would think that if this was the plan all along when he was hired then they would have just said he was being promoted and not mentioned holding a search.


Or maybe it was one of the best kept secrets over the summer, Donahue let Wildhack know right after the season ended and they already conducted a search over the summer.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

It got better as the day went on, I was keeping tabs at work.

We're assuming that Powell wants the job though. What if he's happy to just evalulate talent and doesn't want to deal with the rigors of Division 1 coaching? I would think that if this was the plan all along when he was hired then they would have just said he was being promoted and not mentioned holding a search.


Or maybe it was one of the best kept secrets over the summer, Donahue let Wildhack know right after the season ended and they already conducted a search over the summer.

From Feb: Powell wants to be a college head coach someday. He’s working towards that goal at the very same place where so much of his glory started: SU.

Ryan Powell hopes new SU job leads to a head coaching spot

The former Syracuse lacrosse legend will work with the Orange program in helping to run camps and clinics.

www.syracuse.com

If he wants to be a HC, here's as good a place as any.

 

[Jack_Ball]

Carc said he would hire Will Manny from Utah if it was up to him...FYI

Dialed In: Your Lacrosse Fix For Friday, Aug. 23

 

[Whitey23]

Carc said he would hire Will Manny from Utah if it was up to him...FYI

Dialed In: Your Lacrosse Fix For Friday, Aug. 23

St. Anthony's grad

 

[ThunderRoad]

If it’s not Ryan Powell, who might be good candidates for the job?

A horizontal hire like Mike Abbott would be a good candidate for me.

 

[ForCuseSake]

I would be shocked if all of this has not been in the works for some time. This is not the first rodeo for the most successful program in lacrosse history.

When you track the sequence of events , I think it’s all pretty clear ..Powell is announced in some bizarre, unclear role last Spring, Donahue is part of the selection process, stays on to see the transition in place, waits to announce untll the 20 class is on campus but enough time to let a few weeks play out and get honored,

National search is smoke screen , Powell is announced right before Fall ball or possibly right after.. but I see it sooner ..Donahue stays close through Fall and Sping camp ..first few games to ensure system is in place and there to catch if a problem arises early ...then slips away over time into background

Could be wrong here but just how it seems ..Perhaps was squeezed , thrown under bus but don’t think so ..believe he’s been fully baked into the process from the start

This seems like a reasonable interpretation of events.

I hope reality was closely aligned with your summary so that everyone involved was on the same page and not taken for granted.

 

[Powellfan]

I think there are some real positives with Ryan Powell - he gave SU coaches a heads up on Dordevic so it's clear he can spot talent. And while he may not be the most charismatic broadcaster, I've been impressed by the analysis he's given (the shooting instruction he gives Trimboli, etc). With assistant coaches sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith and hope it works out. The traditional route for a lacrosse assistant isn't a straight line. It's unfortunate that there aren't more former SU players working as coaches right now.

Sometimes star players don't make the best coaches, I think it must be hard to for them to explain things to others that come so naturally to themselves. Casey Powell only last a year as Jacksonville's offensive coordinator. It's a lot of hard work, and its hard to know how he'd take to recruiting, though I think the fact that he runs camps is a sign it wouldn't be a foreign concept to him. It would be a risk for sure, but not a bad one to make.

The Will Manny suggestion by Carc is surprising, but he's pretty turned into the game. Coming from a start up like Utah would be a big change for him I have to imagine, but they were really successful in their first year. Why he suggests Manny and not Holman, who is also coaching at Utah is a question I have. Part of me wonders if Desko and staff are even tuned in to someone like that?

 

[ivorytower]

How much does an asst lax coach make at major d1? Im thinking it has to be over 100k but not sure.

Lax not a revenue generating sport where you see those absurd sums paid out by large state colleges lfor football and bball .

However, Cuse lax unlike many others does draw crowds and is one of the featured televised teams and Coaches do put in long hours .

 

[DoctahLexus]

How much does an asst lax coach make at major d1? Im thinking it has to be over 100k but not sure.

Lax not a revenue generating sport where you see those absurd sums paid out by large state colleges lfor football and bball .

However, Cuse lax unlike many others does draw crowds and is one of the featured televised teams and Coaches do put in long hours .

Not sure about salaries but I would not be surprised if Donahue was in the top 5 for highest paid assistant coaches. One would think we could land a currently respected D1 assistant coach/offensive coordinator on that alone.

 

[Laxwizard22]

Connor buczek? Don’t know if he’d leave Cornell but he’s young and well known among the younger generation, and he’s conncected to the upstate lacrosse climate and beyond. The last couple seasons as offensive coordinator, Cornell has been consistently one of the top 5 most prolific offenses in the entire country. They have been unbelievably efficient, and he’s also listed as a goalie coach which is an area that Donahue took care of. Again don’t know if he’d leave Cornell but wouldn’t hurt to investigate

 

[PhatOrange]

Will Manny - Long Island CHECK, Parochial league CHECK

 

[illestcuse]

In the comment section under the Syracuse.com article someone said that they heard SU's looking at local HS coaches. I certainly hope thats not the case. But, if they were going to hire anyone local my first choice would be Chuck Wilbur should he want the job. Do y'all think he could be a good fit???

 

[JeremyCuse]

In the comment section under the Syracuse.com article someone said that they heard SU's looking at local HS coaches. I certainly hope thats not the case. But, if they were going to hire anyone local my first choice would be Chuck Wilbur should he want the job. Do y'all think he could be a good fit???

WIlbur would not be a good fit. It's an entirely different world comign from OCC to Syracuse. Also I don't think he and Desko are exactly friends so I don't think we have to worry about that. I find it hard to believe SU would hire a HS coach as their OC, makes zero sense.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

WIlbur would not be a good fit. It's an entirely different world comign from OCC to Syracuse. Also I don't think he and Desko are exactly friends so I don't think we have to worry about that. I find it hard to believe SU would hire a HS coach as their OC, makes zero sense.

Hire the Victor coach.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Hire the Victor coach.

Why so he can resign to coach at Albany a week before the season starts, lol.

 

[MaxFischer]

All the tea leaves point to Ryan Powell being the guy.

But Carc name checking Will Manny is interesting man...

 

[DoctahLexus]

Will Manny - Long Island CHECK, Parochial league CHECK

If our one goal was to draw in more long island recruits then it could potentially be a solid addition, but we need to replace our offensive coordinator and I don't know if 2 years as a graduate assistant at Wagner and one year as assistant coach at Utah is going to cut it. It would certainly be rolling the dice, but he is an excellent lacrosse player in the modern era of the sport, which brings a certain skill set/knowledge that even Ryan Powell is too old to truly have experience with. Doubt we actually will chose him but their are worse decisions we could make.

 

[NazLax30]

Why so he can resign to coach at Albany a week before the season starts, lol.

Clubhouse leader for funniest post of the week

 

[PhatOrange]

If our one goal was to draw in more long island recruits then it could potentially be a solid addition, but we need to replace our offensive coordinator and I don't know if 2 years as a graduate assistant at Wagner and one year as assistant coach at Utah is going to cut it. It would certainly be rolling the dice, but he is an excellent lacrosse player in the modern era of the sport, which brings a certain skill set/knowledge that even Ryan Powell is too old to truly have experience with. Doubt we actually will chose him but their are worse decisions we could make.

X's and O's are pretty much the same at every level in lacrosse and the analyzing a defense and film breakdown of who to exploit isn't exactly on the level of D1 football where the jump is large. Guy was a prolific scorer playing in the modern day and does have a few years as coordinator. He could probably cut it. Merrick Thomson at Albany did just fine.