Joe Donahue is in his 41st season of coaching at Northeastern and his sixth under head coach Sherman Hart. Donahue was the throwing coach at NU from 1963-99, making it the top throwing school in New England and one of the best in the East, and rejoined the NU staff for the 2004-05 season. Donahue is recognized as one of the top technical coaches in the United States and has spoken at various track & field conferences.
The Huskies’ throwing corps has always been very strong and Donahue’s teachings over the past five seasons have continued the tradition. On the men’s side, Donahue’s most recent success story is two-time All-American Nate Hunter. Hunter completed the 2008-09 season with 13 wins in the shot put.
During the indoor season, he won eight times, including the New England and IC4A titles. He is only the fifth-ever Husky to throw the shot put 60 feet indoors, a feat he accomplished three times. In outdoors, Hunter won the CAA and New England titles in the shot put and became the CAA champion in the discus. His shot put throw of 60’10.50 set a new conference record and was named the CAA’s Most Outstanding Field Performer. At season’s end, Hunter was also named the CAA’s Track & Field Athlete of the Year.
Donahue also coached Derek Anderson, who set NU records in the shot put (65’2.75) and discus (197’3) and earned All-America honors in the shot put in 2006.
He also coached Zara Northover, who set NU and ECAC records of 55’0.75 and placed 10th at the NCAA Championship in 2007, her fifth and final appearance at the national championship. Northover then went on to compete for Jamaica in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
From 1964-99 when Donahue was coaching at NU, Husky throwers won 42 New England titles and 12 IC4A titles and 17 of them were named All-American. Boris Djerassi, who won the NCAA hammer title in 1975, is the only NCAA champ in any sport at Northeastern. Several of Donahue’s athletes have been inducted to the NU Hall of Fame, including Djerassi and three-time All-American Bill Johnston.
As an athlete, Donahue set several NU throwing records, all of which were broken by athletes he coached. Donahue was inducted to the NU Hall of Fame in 1993.
