donahue had been the head coach at cornell from september 2000 until april 6, 2010. cornell struggled early under donahue, but he eventually turned the program around. a march 1, 2008 defeat of the harvard crimson gave cornell the ivy league championship for the first time since 1988 and just the second title in program history. on march 6, 2009, with princeton's loss to columbia, cornell clinched the ivy league championship for a second consecutive year. it was the first time in 50 years that any team other than penn or princeton had won consecutive ivy league titles in basketball.