Instead of dragging out the inevitable, Penn fired Steve Donahue on Monday after 10 years as head coach and two consecutive seventh-place finishes in the Ivy League. Donahue ends his time at Penn with a record of 131-130.

The Quakers have retained Georgia-based executive search firm Parker Executive Search to find Donahue’s replacement. It seems likely that the next Penn head coach will be one of the names below, conveniently grouped into a handful of tiers for debate and discussion:

Dave Klatsky, NYU head coach — It’s hard to come up with an argument against Klatsky becoming Penn’s next leader. The 2003 alum ticks just about every box you’d want in a Penn coach: He has school ties, a track record of winning and a long career time horizon. Just 44 years old, Klatsky has taken NYU to the top of Division III. The Violets finished the regular season a school-record 24-1 and ranked second in the country. They play in the Division III Sweet 16 this week.

I’ve had the pleasure of watching Klatsky and NYU in person this season, and it’s obvious that he can coach offense and defense at a high level. He’s Penn’s best shot at finding its own Mitch Henderson: a disciple of the program’s legendary coach who can stick around for a decade or longer. If Penn doesn’t hire Klatsky this cycle, some other school — possibly Columbia — will.

Klatsky has young children and commutes into New York City from suburban New Jersey. The Quakers will have to come up with a vision and compensation package to justify him relocating his family.

Matt Langel, Colgate head coach — Entering this season, Langel — also a Penn alum — was the top name on my list as a Donahue replacement. Langel is far and away the best coach in the Patriot League. Though his Raiders fell in the conference tournament semifinals over the weekend, Langel had taken Colgate to four consecutive league titles and trips to March Madness.

Penn is, frankly, fortunate that Colgate had a relatively down season. Otherwise, Langel would be an obvious candidate for an opening at a school like Saint Joseph’s if that job were to open.

What has me favoring Klatsky over Langel at the moment are reasons more practical than philosophical. Colgate gave Langel a contract extension through 2030 following the 2021-22 season. That means Penn would have to fork over a ton of money to pay Langel’s contract buyout, in addition to whatever money it still owes Donahue. That might not be financially feasible.

It’s also possible that Langel is a short-term solution. If he experiences quick early success at Penn, a higher-level program will surely come calling.

Even with all that, Penn would be doing itself a disservice if it didn’t at least give Langel a call.

John Krikorian, Christopher Newport head coach — A Penn alum and onetime assistant, Newport has experienced tremendous success at the Division III ranks. He’s taken Christopher Newport to three Final Fours and won a title in 2023. The Captains had a 21-4 regular season this year but fell in the second round of the NCAA Tournament this past week.

Krikorian’s track record of success and school ties make him worthy of strong consideration.

Andy Toole, Robert Morris head coach — Another 2003 Penn alum, Toole has 15 years of Division I head-coaching experience at Robert Morris. He led the Colonials to the Horizon League regular season title this year and as of Monday early evening, was just two wins away from his third conference tournament title. Toole was also in the mix for the Penn job when Jerome Allen was fired in 2015.

The main concern I have with Toole is that he entered this season closer to getting fired than earning a bigger job. Before 2024-25, Robert Morris had recorded four straight losing seasons and hadn’t finished the season in the KenPom top 200 since 2015. Is this season an aberration, or has something clicked?

Brett MacConnell, Princeton associate head coach — The editor of this website once roasted me for suggesting Penn could hire Princeton alum Bill Carmody as head coach. That’s how far-fetched the idea of hiring someone from the hated Tigers family seemed a decade ago.

Well, times have changed. MacConnell is the best assistant in the Ivy League and his recruiting chops are second to none. He’s the man who brought in Quakers nemeses Tosan Evbuomwan, Xaivian Lee, Caden Pierce, Jaelin Llewellyn and Devin Cannady. You can safely say he’s the biggest reason why Princeton has left Penn in the dust from a recruiting and talent perspective.

Hiring MacConnell would not only give Penn a super-recruiter, it would also directly hurt its biggest rival. MacConnell is widely assumed to be Princeton coach Mitch Henderson’s successor in waiting. Wouldn’t it be nice to kneecap that plan?

Landry Kosmalski, Swarthmore head coach — Kosmalski doesn’t have any direct ties to Penn, but you could probably argue he’s the best head coach in the Philadelphia area at the moment. Kosmalski has taken Division III Swarthmore to seven NCAA Tournaments and two Final Fours. You can probably expect his name to pop up with other high-academic job openings, including Columbia.

Fran McCaffery, Iowa head coach — Legend has it that Penn had a deal in place to hire McCaffery as Fran Dunphy’s replacement in 2006 when the former Fran was at Siena, but university president Amy Gutmann vetoed the deal over McCaffery’s salary. How different would things have been if McCaffery — and not Glen Miller — succeeded Fran Dunphy?

Nothing is official yet, but it sure looks like Iowa is going to fire McCaffery after 15 seasons and seven NCAA Tournament appearances. The Hawkeyes reportedly will owe McCaffery over $4 million if they fire him, which should help offset the significant coaching salary gap between the Ivy League and the Big Ten.

At first glance, it seems like an easy marriage to sell. Penn gets to bring home an alum with high-major coaching experience. McCaffery gets a homecoming to end his career. But it’s not that easy. McCaffery is 65 years old and far from a long-term solution. He also would have to contend with an entirely different type of recruiting in the scholarship-free Ivy League.

Brett Brown, San Antonio Spurs assistant coach — Well, if you wanted to ensure Sam Brown stays at Penn, this is the way to do it. Bringing in the sophomore star’s father would certainly be a splashy move, and it looks like he’s out of the running to replace Gregg Popovich in San Antonio.

But there are practical issues. Brown has zero collegiate coaching experience, and he’d be getting into the profession at a time when many of his peers are getting out. His time coaching the Philadelphia 76ers was also a difficult experience. Brown may not want to come back to the area on a professional basis, as tempting as the once-in-a-lifetime chance to coach his own son may be.

Ira Bowman, Auburn assistant coach — Bowman is having a banner season on the bench at national championship contender Auburn, but it’s hard to imagine the Penn administration would want to go after someone with ties to the Jerome Allen scandal.

John Gallagher, Manhattan head coach — Gallagher has coaching experience at Penn and is having a good season with Manhattan. I would imagine, though, that the athletic department would rather go in a new direction rather than replace Donahue with one of his best friends in the business.