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John Donohoe

  • Class
    1973
  • Honors
    Baseball (1970-1973)
Major: Sociology
Hometown: San Francisco, CA
Career Highlights: Dons baseball player; Member of the SF Prep Hall of Fame

Biography: Donohoe played baseball on the Hilltop in the early 1970s and went to a brilliant career as a high school baseball coach at Lowell High School in San Francisco. He won 735 games as a high school head coach and won numerous coaching awards.  As a student, Donohue was actually cut from the St. Ignatius baseball team, so along with his duties as the sports editor of the school newspaper he became the baseball student team manager. This is where his interest in coaching and teaching got started (CalHiSports.com).

Why Donohoe Chose USF: "I made the right choice - as attending USF enabled my career as 33 years as the head varsity baseball coach at Lowell High School."

Favorite USF Memories: "I loved driving my little VW Bug to find impossible parking spaces at the Hilltop."

The USF Student-Athlete Experience: " I give credit to my dedicated professors who shared the same values as my late uncle, Fr. John A. Donohue, SJ, whose name is at the History Department library at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles."

Life After USF: Following graduation from USF, Donohoe worked as a teacher and baseball coach at Lowell High School, thee CYO and the Bronco and Pony Leagues. He won 735 prep baseball games over 33 years as head coach at Lowell, after being hired in 1983. Donohoe is a member of the San Francisco Prep Hall of Fame, was National Coach of Year, was the Dante Benedetti recipient UIAC, and the 2015 California Coach of Year. He retired from coaching in 2015. He also taught English and social studies, and physical education. From 1999-2005, he served as Lowell Athletic Director.

CIF Commissioner Donald Collins was interviewed in 2015 and told Cal Hi Sports: “John Donohue was the dean of our baseball coaches,” Collins said. “He set a tone that helped our schools work together even as they competed. I’ve known John since 1988 and he was well entrenched in this leadership role when I became commissioner in December, 2001. John earned this leadership role by building a great baseball program at Lowell, and approaching coaching in a way that showed a true respect for his team, his opponents and the game itself.”

“I think John Donohue is the definition of patience,” said San Francisco Chronicle prep editor and MaxPreps.com senior editor Mitch Stephens. “He stays calm and in control. Never is too up or down, which is exactly the personality you need for high school baseball. Beyond that, he’s sheer class, always one to credit his assistant coaches and, of course, his players. As someone who has covered him over his last 15 years, I’ll miss his humility, warmth and just general good nature. I’ll be one of many.”

Donohoe was inducted into the California Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2017.


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