Steve Donahue has no plans for a rebuild at St. Joe’s: ‘My job is to get the max out of this new group’

This isn’t a rebuild. Newly appointed head coach Steve Donahue believes he has the pieces in front of him for this year’s St. Joseph’s men’s basketball team to be successful.

In the offseason, former coach Billy Lange brought in transfer guards Deuce Jones, and Jaiden Glover-Toscano, while adding some size with 6-foot-9 forward Al Amadou and 6-11 center Jaden Smith. The Hawks lost key players in Rasheer Fleming, Xzayvier Brown, and Erik Reynolds II.

However, those transfers came to Hawk Hill for Lange, and two weeks ago, the team learned about his sudden departure to take a job with the New York Knicks to run their player development program. They were shocked, surprised, and maybe frustrated or disappointed.

But their intention wasn’t to leave, although they still have the option to do so. Players can transfer up to 30 days after a coaching change. Donahue said as of now, “everyone’s staying.”

“They kind of made up their mind five months [ago] to come here for everything that this place is about,” Donahue added, “including Billy Lange, but not only Billy Lange.”

The 2025-26 season starts in about six weeks, when St. Joe’s opens with Lafayette on Nov. 3. The Hawks have a goal, one they sought out during the offseason.

“We just want to continue to play hard, and it’s still the same goal with Coach Lange or without him,” said Jones, a Trenton native who spent last season at La Salle and won Atlantic 10 freshman of the year. “We all are still bonding. We all still got each other, so we’re all in, and we’re going to finish the season all in.”

Jones and returning redshirt sophomore Dasear Haskins, who was named to last year’s A-10 All-Rookie team, spoke to their teammates about the tone moving forward. The messaging was similar to what Donahue and Lange told them, but coming from the players, it resonated differently.

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“It don’t stop, like if somebody in [your] family dies, or whatever, God forbid, you got to keep going,” Jones added. “That’s what they want you to do, so coach Lange left, regardless if he’s here or not, we still have a big end goal, and it’s to win the A-10.”

Lange told the group to trust Donahue, who has nearly 25 years of college coaching experience. He spent the last decade at Penn. Donahue has been with the team since April. Initially, he was brought in by Lange to serve as an associate head coach.

Now, at the helm, the team is starting to see Donahue in different light. He’s detailed orientated and likes to break down plays. He’ll stay on the floor with the team during practices, and if he gives a player a correction, he has an explanation to back it up.

Those aspects have been different, but for the most part, it’s been a seamless transition.

“I’m not coming here to hope that we build a program in five or six years,” Donahue said. “I’m entering a program that’s at a really high level, and my job is to get the max out of this new group, not just this year, each and every year.”

Donahue spent the summer months working with this year’s group to establish their terminology and layout a vision of how they want to play. While some aspects are new, the Delaware County native has carried over some of Lange’s style, too.

The difference of this year’s group compared to last season’s 22-13 team, who made an A-10 semifinal and a NIT first-round appearance, is the depth of the Hawks’ roster.

“We have the ability to play 10 to 12 guys,” Donahue said. “We can have inner changeable parts on the front line, in particular with six or seven guys over 6-8 that move really well. Defensively, it’s going to be different than what I’ve been able to do my whole career, which is exciting to me.

“The offensive side is probably a little different in terms of ball movement, cutting, and a little less dribbling maybe. We don’t have someone like [Xzayvier] Brown, but the end result is, I want great shots. I want to play fast. I want to play in pace. I want to create space for guys. It’s probably going to look slightly different in how we get to that.”

Brown, who transferred to Oklahoma this offseason, averaged a team-high 17.6 points a game last season, while Reynolds (16.0) and Fleming (14.7) trailed behind.

The Hawks could lean on Jones, who averaged 12.5 points in 33 games with the Explorers. The Hawks also return junior forward Anthony Finkley, senior guard Derek Simpson, and 6-10 center Justice Ajogbor. Each will have the opportunity to play a larger role this season, especially Finkley, a Roman Catholic graduate, and Simpson, a product of Lenape.

“I feel like I was a little bit more quiet last year,” said Simpson, who averaged 8.7 points and started 22 of 35 games. “Just stepping up in the role as just talking to each other, communication. I feel like communication goes a long way. Then on top of that, obviously you can’t beat the guard play last year, but we were able to replace them with very good guards again. So just us building the connection, being able to control the floor with the ball [that’s] been really big lately, and I feel like we’ve been doing a good job with that.”