It all started rather innocently with a rather lackluster loss to a McNeese State team that didn’t really scare anybody. It was compounded by probably the third best recruiting class Don Donoher ever recruited.

“After 1986, we weren’t all that bad. There were chemistry problems. Negele was hurt a lot. Anthony Corbitt frustrated me some. We knew that he was undersized as a power forward so we decided to make him a wing, but he had no range. We gave up on that and moved him back. What he was was an undersized power forward who could score. What we should have done is locked in on that. More than anything else, those last three teams, I never found the key to them. We never had that chemistry. We had too many cliques; we were not a unified bunch.”

When Donoher recruited Anthony Corbitt, Noland Robinson, Ray Springer, Norm Grevey, Troy McCracken and earlier, Bill Uhl, it looked like a group that was really going to take the Flyers back to the NCAA Tournament. There were a couple Players of the Year in that group, and when you added the red-shirted Negele Knight to that class, it looked like fun for years to come. Yet for some reason, they just never jelled under Donoher.

As freshmen, they joined a group of seniors in Anthony Grant, Dan Christie and Ed Young that should have created a team that could have been dancing in March. Instead, they could never got themselves on the right side of .500. Young never regained his ability to score after an injury to his back and his average dropped from 14.2 as a junior to 7.7 as a senior.

The following year, Knight and Grevey rejoined the team after sitting out the year due to injuries, but things only got worse. After starting out the season 7-1, including a one-point victory at Ohio State, they ran into a buzz saw in Oklahoma while playing in the Chaminade Christmas Classic. The 151-99 pasting started them on a six-game losing streak and a final 13-18 record. “We just weren’t a good team. It was me against them. It was them against them. Maybe it was just growing pains. They paid their dues for what they achieved as seniors under Coach O’Brien, just like Smith and Sylvester. I was always disappointed that I didn’t manage that group better.”

It was now 1988 and Donoher was heading into his 25th year as the head coach. It was time for the, now, junior class to turn things around. It was UD’s first season in conference play and for the first time the Flyers had an opportunity to win a berth in the NCAA Tournament either through strong play during the season or by winning the conference tournament. They did neither. They played .500 ball for most of the season and then stumbled down the stretch by losing the last six games of the regular season.

The one thing that might have allowed the Flyers to salvage the season was the fact that as part of the agreement to come into the MCC, UD was given an opportunity to host the Conference Tournament for the first three years. UD played well in their first round game against Detroit in what was Donoher’s 437th victory as head coach. The next night they were to play regular season champ, Evansville.

Earlier in the season, Evansville had handled UD easily in both contests and there was no reason to believe it wouldn’t happen again. Instead, the Flyers played one of their best games of the season, only to lose in overtime. Little did anyone know what was going to be happening in the next week. “If we would have won the tournament, I think I might have been able to stay. I don’t know. I certainly wasn’t in on those types of decisions. Just winning that game against Evansville would not have been enough. That was a heck of a game, they really battled. I really didn’t have an inkling that it would be my last game. I had no idea.”

He had heard the rumors and the blasts from the stands, but Don Donoher wasn’t prepared for what was about to take place. “I met with Tom after the season and we talked about some things but we didn’t discuss the job. Almost in passing as we ended the meeting, he said that I was going to get a call from Brother Ray (Fitz) and that he wanted to talk to me. That is when I first thought, ‘Uh, oh.’ Tom and I had always handled everything between the two of us. That was my first strong feeling that this could be the end. I had my meeting with Brother Ray the following Sunday afternoon and he said that they were going to make a change. It all happened fast.

The year before, I was on a three-year rollover and I wasn’t rolled over. Unless you are an idiot, there is a wake-up call. A warning. I was never given the option to resign, because that had come up in an earlier discussion and I made it clear that I was never going to resign. That went against my grain. I would never resign while under contract. You see, I’m a very stubborn person, he knew I wasn’t going to resign. “

Just like that, 25 years and 437 wins later, Don was looking for a job. There was interest at UD for him to continue in some capacity. “Both Brother Ray and Tom wanted me to stay. Emotionally I was going through different things and I was only 58 at the time and I wanted to coach some more. Both Bobby (Knight) and Rick Majerus met with me the next day and offered me positions on their staffs. So I sifted through everything and decided to go to Indiana.”

The years that followed brought opportunities Donoher’s way. “I was there (Indiana) a year and was all set to go back when Milt Kantor asked me if I was interested in coming to work for him and the Dayton Wings. I met with the people and it sounded like something fun to do, so I though that I’d try my hand at it. I talked to Bobby and he said that I should give it a try.”

The previous two years had been a very difficult time for Don. The loss of his position, as traumatic as it was, took a back seat to the loss of his son, Gary, after a long illness. Although still strong mentally and physically, Donoher found that he had reached a limit, of sorts. His life was in a whirlwind and it began to take its toll. “It happened in a hurry during the month of August. We didn’t play until the next summer so I spent the whole winter watching CBA games in Columbus and trying to put this team together because I was going to be coach and General Manager.

Then when it came time to coach, the walls started closing in on me. I was a wreck. A couple of weeks before practice, I decided I couldn’t do it. I had never had anything like that happen to me before. I just couldn’t start up again. It wasn’t the pressure. It was all in my head. I had tried to coach prior to that. I almost took a job at Walsh College in Canton. In fact, I said I would and then had to back out. Later, I was going to coach a high school team but I allowed myself to stress out. I really found out something about myself. As badly as I wanted to hang on at Dayton, I just couldn’t start up again. I don’t have the answer as to why, I just know it is a real thing.”

Despite these setbacks, Donoher stayed on as General Manager and put together a successful team. “Pat Haley took over as coach with Mike Sylvester as the assistant. It was great basketball, but there was no attendance. We won the championship that first year. Pat said that he would help bail us out only for that first year, so Mike took over in the second year. We were in the hunt again and just before the playoffs, the league folded.”

When the Wings position disappeared, UD came to the rescue. “Brother Ray then called me in and asked if I would be interested in coming back in a job in development and teach the class on basketball that I had taught before. I did that for about five years.”

After five years in the development position, Jim Paxson Jr. called and asked if his old coach was interested in doing some scouting for the Cavs. “This was my fifth season with the Cavs. I probably see four college games a week during the season. There is a 10-month cycle that starts during training camp. I really enjoy evaluating talent. It has gotten me into venues that I’d never been. I have been at the Duke-Carolina game, the last game at Cole Fieldhouse, Xavier play Cincinnati, really some neat places.”

Even though he no longer has the official title, coaching will always be the way of life for Don Donoher. “I still coach almost every night. I tape games during the winter, get the (play) board out and go over them. What’s great is that I never lose now, never lose. I’m putting teams together that I coached and I have them together a lot better now. If I could start off coaching now, I would do a lot better job than I did when I coached. If coaches could take a sabbatical watching how the Joneses are doing things, they would all be better. I’d be better the next time around, but there isn’t going to be a next time.”

And that’s a shame.

Continue on to Part VIII.