Donovan should stay right where he is
Florida coach Billy Donovan is trying his best this week to concentrate on coaching his team to a second consecutive NCAA title in Atlanta.
But those whispers, which originate in Lexington and waft over to Gainesville, can be distracting. Kentucky is looking for a new basketball coach and Donovan, who was a young assistant on Rick Pitino's staff at UK in the early '90s when Pitino was still the Boy Baron of the Blue Grass, seems like a natural choice to Kentucky fans. What better way to wipe out Florida's SEC dynasty than to steal the Gators' coach?
They read stories about Donovan not having a signed contract and they get excited. In a poll conducted by the Lexington Herald Leader to determine who the fans would like to see coach UK, 39 percent supported Donovan, as opposed to 19 percent for Pitino and just 11 percent for Calipari.
"I cannot control different things that are out there,'' Donovan said. "That's someone else's decision. It's got nothing to do with me at all. There's always going to be speculation, but I'm not the decision maker in the process.''
But why would Donovan want to enter the biggest fish bowl in college basketball when he has it all at Florida? Warm weather, a competitive contract, a high-octane budget, a gorgeous practice facility, quality of life, a strong recruiting base in an ever-growing state that is flush with talent and six straight wins over the Big Blue.
The grass isn't always bluer on the other side.
The 41-year-old Donovan has been able to coach three teams to Final Fours in the last eight years and laid the foundation for a potential dynasty, even if he loses the bulk of his upperclass stars to the NBA after this weekend.
"He made this all possible,'' Gators' 6-11 junior All-America forward Joakim Noah told the Gainesville Sun. "Why would you want to be in a position where if you don't win the national title, it's a disappointment? Kentucky is a great program, but you have to be realistic. The expectations there are unrealistic.''
Ask Tubby Smith, who won a national championship at Kentucky his first year in 1998, five SEC titles and went to 10 consecutive NCAA Tournaments and four Elite Eights. But that wasn't good enough in the Commonwealth, where you have to constantly feed the monster to keep some UK fans happy.
Smith took heat for his failure to recruit enough McDonald's All Americans to keep the fire going. The fact the 'Cats lost in the second round for a third straight time this spring didn't help.
Smith left Kentucky last week for Minnesota.
The extroverted Donovan, conversely, has had time to grow as a coach at Florida, which was and always will be a football school. He used his personality and high energy as a recruiter to take this program from obscurity and turn it a national power, taking his teams to nine straight NCAA appearances in 11 years. He has been able to sustain the run for the most part without having his every move on and off the court scrutinized.
Donovan did take some heat after one of his teams underachieved and lost to Manhattan in a lifeless 2004 first-round game at Raleigh. At Kentucky, Donovan might have been run out of town.
But Gator fans gave Donovan time to fix the problem and he did, hiring Larry Shyatt on his staff to instill more discipline and defense, bringing in Matt Herring, an outstanding strength and conditioning coach from Oklahoma State, and putting together a chemistry-strong, dream team of self-motivated players like Noah, forwards Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Chris Richard and guards Taurean Green and Lee Humphrey.
Life is good in Gainesville for Donovan, his wife Christine and their family. His father Bill Sr. and mom bought a place down here and dad is helping coach the varsity of a new Catholic high school where his oldest son Billy, a freshman, plays and has already scored 44 in a game.
Billy Donovan, shown here celebrating with his son Brian, wouldn't find family life quite so fulfilling in the harsh glare of the Kentucky spotlight. (Jeff Roberson / Associated Press)
"I never even sniffed playing time at St. Agnes until my junior year,'' Donovan said.
Donovan has recruited the type of class that can keep the Gators in the clouds, signing 6-4 guard Pat Calethes, a McDonald's All American from Winter Park, Fla. Lake Howell; and 6-8 Alex Tyus, a top 5 fifth year from Cincinnati Harmony Christian. They are right there with 6-9 Patrick Patterson from Huntington, W. Va.
Donovan has two years remaining on a contract worth $1.7 million. He agreed to a contact worth $2 million after last year's championship run but did not sign off on it, claiming it would be improper for him to benefit financially from the championship when Noah, Horford and Brewer sacrificed pro contracts to return to Florida for their junior years to go after a repeat.
Florida president Bernie Meacham, who spoke with reporters as he stood on the court to watch the players cut down the nets afte
4 votes
