Change is in the air on Hawk Hill for four St. Joe’s athletic programs. Men’s lacrosse, women’s rowing, men’s rowing and men’s basketball have all turned the page to new head coaches, all occurring in the past three months.
The wave began with men’s lacrosse in July, followed by leadership changes for both the women’s and men’s rowing programs in August and September, respectively, and concluded in September with the announcement of a new men’s basketball head coach.
Men’s lacrosse
The start of the changes came when Taylor Wray, the former head coach of men’s lacrosse, stepped down. After he departed from the team, assistant head coach Scott Meehan took over his role. Meehan was chosen due to his instrumental part in the team’s successes since he came to St. Joe’s in 2019. With Meehan’s guidance, there have been multiple record breakers during his time in the program’s history, and there is the expectation that more will come.
Since taking the role, there have been two new assistant coaches and the addition of an associate head coach that will be instrumental in Meehan’s legacy and how he will run the team. The Hawks had a successful non-conference record last season, going 7-2 but falling short in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 championship against High Point University. The Hawks look determined to return to the A-10 championship under Meehan and make a run toward the NCAA Tournament in the upcoming 2026 season.
Women’s rowing
In August 2025, it was announced Kevin Gruber was chosen to take over the women’s rowing program after longtime head coach Gerry Quinlan stepped down in July 2025. Gruber was a former assistant coach at Villanova from 2023-2025. He also served as head coach for the University of Delaware for 11 seasons, which was the longest in its program history.
Gruber brought many successes to Delaware, and the Hawks hope his previous success will lead them to another A-10 championship appearance. Women’s rowing will have competed twice before the end of October: the Head of the Charles, which took place Oct. 18, and the Head of the Schuylkill, which will take place Oct. 25. They are the first competitive races Gruber will be leading the team in this season.
Men’s rowing
Shortly after Quinlan stepped down as head coach, men’s rowing head coach Mike Irwin announced he would be stepping down from his role to coach at the United States Naval Academy. Taya DiAngelo, assistant coach for men’s rowing, served as interim head coach from the end of July to the end of September.
Three-time Olympic medalist Michiel Bartman will be taking over as the director of rowing and head coach of the men’s rowing team. Bartman brings prestige as an Olympic medalist and has decades of coaching experience that ranks teams and takes them to championships. With multiple events on the horizon for the Hawks — the Head of the Schuylkill Oct. 25 and the Princeton Chase Nov. 2 — the team is looking for a strong start to the season.
Men’s basketball
Two months before the start of the men’s basketball season, head coach Billy Lange stepped down to take a job in player development with the New York Knicks front office. Steve Donahue was named as the successor to Lange as the new head coach. Donahue came to St. Joe’s after the program had multiple A-10 tournament runs in recent years and back-to-back Big 5 championships but with a core group of players departing, including Xzayvier Brown, Erik Reynolds II and Rasheer Fleming.
The hiring of Donahue brings a new era in St. Joe’s men’s basketball. As a former head coach at the University of Pennsylvania for nine seasons, Donahue is not a stranger to the Big 5 and brought the Quakers to an NCAA Tournament. Although this was his most recent NCAA tournament appearance, he brought Cornell’s men’s basketball program to the Sweet 16 in 2010. With experience in Philadelphia and multiple NCAA tournaments, many hope this new era of men’s basketball will push the Hawks towards their goal of winning the A-10 and making March Madness.
With all these changes, St. Joe’s hopes to push their teams further toward success and further establish these teams in record-breaking books and conference histories.
