Kevin Donahue sums it up perfectly after giving a quick rundown of his daily itinerary.

‘I need a vacation,’ he joked.

Syracuse attackman Joe Yevoli wonders if the Syracuse men’s lacrosse assistant coach has time to sleep, given his busy schedule. But Donahue really wouldn’t have it any other way. As Donahue sees it, he’s been able to teach science at West Genesee Middle School while also instructing the offense, faceoff specialists, midfield and goalies for the Orange for 17 years.

‘I’ve been doing it for so long,’ Donahue said. ‘I’ve become efficient with things. It’s almost too efficient. I try to make up my mind and go with it on the next thing. I don’t try to dwell on anything and worry if I did it right or not.’

Donahue’s upcoming task will be making sure the No. 12 Orange grabs its fourth straight victory when SU visits Rutgers at noon Saturday at the Rutgers Stadium Complex.

But before that, Donahue will have to conduct lab preparation, meet with parents, teach fives classes and grade papers at West Genesee. Donahue will fit in lunch somewhere while he’s watching game tape or planning practice.

When the school day is over at 3 p.m., Donahue will embark on the second part of his day with SU (4-4). He’ll likely arrive at Manley Field House at 3:30 to work with his faceoff players, John Carrozza and Jon Jerome, before team practice begins at 4. Once practice ends at 6:30, Donahue will head home to have dinner, followed by either relaxation with his family, house chores or even more game tape.

Donahue loves every minute of it. And with every task, he’ll give that laser beam focus so he can complete it and move on to his next set of responsibilities.

‘I look at myself as a teacher,’ Donahue said. ‘The teacher’s job is to make whoever you’re working with better. I (also) think that’s the role of the assistant. It’s always been my role.’

With that role comes an intense effort Donahue puts into his job. He’ll constantly stare at game film, taking notes on the opposing team’s defense and orchestrating a plan to work around it.

Every practice, Donahue implements old and new drills that translate into offensive success during the game. When he breaks down film, Donahue looks at the type of passes and shots the opposing players are making in which direction.

Donahue notices some defenses tend to slide on dodges. So he implements a 3-on-2 drill so that his players are prepared for it. He’ll have his players run 4-on-4 drills and have them pass on the run instead of face-to-face in lines, because his team will have to do the same thing in the game.

‘It’s like pieces to the puzzle,’ SU head coach John Desko said. ‘Eventually the guys see the translation from the drill to the offense to the game. They can understand the thought process.’

The midfield and attack units both say the drills Donahue runs in practice are practical in game situations.

Perritt and Yevoli admit when they were first introduced to some of the drills, they were left wondering how it applies to the games. But soon enough, it clicked for them.

Perritt calls Donahue the ‘smartest guy I met in lacrosse.’ For good reason, too. Donahue helped developed Perritt’s overhand shot. That shot proved to be the game-winner on Tuesday against No. 4 Cornell.

With that intense knowledge, Perritt jokes when he makes a mistake on the field he hopes somehow that Donahue doesn’t notice. But he does every time.

‘If you do something wrong, he’s going to know,’ Perritt laughed. ‘He knows the offense better than anyone. Even when you’re in the game and you’re like, ‘Oh no, I knew I wasn’t in the right spot there,’ you’re coming off the field and you know he’s going to tell you.’

But players say he does with patience. Donahue thinks the strategy is simple. He doesn’t think it’s productive to sugarcoat anything or become too negative. With his experience with middle school and college students, Donahue thinks the best approach is to be honest with them.

When Yevoli transferred from Virginia this season, he felt a learning curve. Yevoli saw a stark contrast between Virginia and SU because the Cavaliers typically only have their midfielders penetrate past defenders while every player on SU does. To speed up the process, Yevoli said Donahue gave him sound advice while also trying to relate certain concepts Yevoli implemented during his time in Virginia.

‘A lot of coaches will be intense and get in their player’s heads a little bit. It’s not really like that (here),’ Yevoli said. ‘Coach Donahue is intense but that’s just because he likes what he’s doing. He thinks about it all the time. I know he’s a teacher but I can almost guarantee he’s thinking about what he’s doing in practice (as well).’

Published on April 12, 2006 at 12:00 pm