NU receives $100k donation to hoops recruiting
Northeastern athletics announced via e-mail yesterday that the basketball program received a gift of $100,000 from NU alumnus Hank Datelle.
Below is an excerpt of the e-mail:
BOSTON, Mass. – - Northeastern University Athletics Director Peter Roby today announced a $100,000 gift to the men’s basketball program from Hank Datelle of Atlanta, GA.
The gift will be utilized to support and enhance student-athlete recruiting. “This extremely generous gift from Hank Datelle will enhance our basketball program and will serve as the foundation of our goal towards sustained excellence in basketball,” said Peter Roby. All of us at Northeastern are grateful for Hank’s loyal commitment to the university.
Hank Datelle, the 2007 Atlanta Business person of the year is a primary investor for Anduro Manufacturing that specializes in full integration packaging and boasts the highest BOPP/PP bag production capacity in the Western world.
“I have enjoyed Hank’s friendship and common desire to advance Northeastern Basketball,” said Bill Coen. “I am thankful for his support and look forward to working with him in our goals.”
“It is very appropriate that this gift enables Northeastern basketball to advance to its goals of excellence,” said Hank Datelle.
The donation comes amid a renegotiation of head coach Bill Coen’s contract, and after Coen interviewed for openings at Siena and Boston College. Those openings appear to have been filled, as Boston College hired Cornell’s Steve Donahue and Siena is close to naming their choice today.
Though the amount is significant in its own right, the donation also publicly signals growing support for Northeastern basketball, and could be a turning point in the speculation surrounding Coen’s future.
