How Georgia Tech sharpened Danielle Donehew, preparing her for career at WBCA

Danielle Donehew has a long list of accomplishments from her time as a Georgia Tech women's basketball player. She became a school Hall of Famer and record holder, as well as an Atlantic Coast Conference Legend.

Yet she doesn't consider any of her on-court accolades her greatest achievement.

"If you asked me my greatest achievement in college as a basketball player, I think for me it was about being a great teammate," she said. "I was never the best player on the team, but I wanted to make sure our team was playing its best. I wanted to make sure that I was present and giving my best to set my teammates up for success." 

This winter, the NCAA awarded Donehew the Silver Anniversary Award, recognizing former student-athletes for outstanding collegiate and professional achievements on the 25th anniversary of the conclusion of their college athletics careers. 

As she reflected on her basketball career 25 years later, she said being a great teammate has served her in the business world, too. As the executive director of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association, Donehew leads the membership association made up of women's and girls basketball coaches at the high school, college, professional and international levels.  

"As I have continued to evolve in this business, I've had to play a lot of different roles. It's important to know how to come off the bench. It's important to know how to be a starter. It's important to know how to be the leader and the captain of the team," she said.

 "All of those different experiences have really helped me to understand how to build teams, how to recruit talent and how to now work on some really fun projects for the benefit of the sport that I love," she added. "My time at Georgia Tech really helped me play lots of different roles to prepare me for all the different roles I would need to play later in life."

Of the various roles that Donehew had to play on the court, she also played the role of an industrial and systems engineering student, a request from her mother.

"It's actually a funny story. My mom has been in corporate business for her entire career, so when I made the decision to play at Georgia Tech, my mom was the one that said, 'Well, you have to be an engineer, so pick one of the engineering majors,'" Donehew reflected. 

"I picked industrial and systems engineering because it had the highest starting salary coming out of school and because it was about problem-solving, business and efficiency. At the time, Georgia Tech was ranked No. 1 in the world, so I wanted to get a degree that would help me for my future," she said.

Donehew also served on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee at Georgia Tech.

"That was my beginning of learning how the athletics department worked. That really was the opportunity that opened the door for me to consider the business of the sport once I finished my playing career."

Holistically, Donehew credits her time at Georgia Tech to her career success because she learned transferable skills through basketball, school and SAAC. 

"There were always new things to learn and to be challenged by. My classmates were incredible, so it was a tremendous academic experience for me," she said. "My fun was basketball. Being able to finish my classwork and get to go practice … that was fun for me." 

The work she does at the WBCA — education and support of coaches — directly reflects  

Donehew's experience at Georgia Tech. 

"Georgia Tech is a place where the support is tremendous, but the challenges are even greater. When you get a degree at Georgia Tech, boy, you earned it. And I'll tell you, the professors that challenged me and taught me to problem-solve and think for myself and consider other experts, but chart your own path when necessary, all of those important lessons I use today," she said. "And then the people, the people, they are still jewels in my life. I am still close to the people who poured into me, who invested in me as a student-athlete. That's the beauty of our sport. Georgia Tech played an enormous role in my life."

Donehew described her time at Georgia Tech as an experience that sharpened her for the rest of her life.

"I was challenged. It was not always pleasant. It was giving my all many times. It was never enough. But at the end of it all, I was stronger and I was more prepared and I was more capable and I was more realistic about what I could do, what I could bring and who I could become," she said.

"I was never the biggest, the fastest, the strongest, the smartest. I was never the best. But you know what? I learned how to win. I learned how to use what I did have to be a great teammate and hopefully a great leader. That is one of the most priceless jewels that Georgia Tech gave me."