I'm sort of surprised, I thought Donavan was a lifer in college basketball. He certainly has had success at UF, and while Kentucky is the current king of the SEC the Gators still can be one of the best teams in college basketball as Donavan is a great coach and can recruit top talent. http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12785551/billy-donovan-oklahoma-city-thunder-enter-advanced-discussions-head-coaching-job How much is Donavan making at UF?
The offer may be his to lose but does he accept? I'll have doubts about that until he signs. I think that under Donovan UF has definitely built the non-UK brand name in the SEC and in the SE in general for schools not named UNC. A good coach can come in and keep that going but I definitely want Billy D in Gainesville.
I guess where there's thunder there's fire. Didn't see Billy D leaving but he is probably tired of watching the one-and-done show at Kentucky.
I'm sick. Terry, his salary is in the 5 mill range at Florida. He's our highest paid coach by far. As far as never having to work again he is already in that category. Personally I don't get it. However I do think he may be getting tired of recruiting.
I am very surprised by this move. Bill, you may have hit the nail on the head about his being tired of recruiting!
I am surprised also Don but apparently the folks more in the know with the Gator program are not surprised. I am broken hearted but wish him well.
Who's on your list? I'm sure glad that Donavan waited to leave UF till Texas already had Shaka Smart onboard.
I see where Archie Miller, Dayton might be a high priority choice, a young and very smart coach. Just a possibility but too early to tell.
What replacement coach at UF can top this: "Florida became a nationally relevant college basketball program under Donovan, who led the Gators to back-to-back national titles in 2006 and 2007 and four Final Four appearances (2000, 2006, 2007, 2014). He led Florida to seven Elite Eight berths, 14 NCAA Tournaments and a school-record 467 wins." Ummmm.... anyone?...... anyone? :cry:
Donavan has almost 500 wins and he's not 50 yet. If he coaches till he's 70 like Coach K is most likely going to do he could end up as the winningest coach in Mens college basketball...well he could have if he'd stayed.
I look it this way, Donovan like Meyer saw that he'd have to compete every year with one and done KY. the same way Meyer had to compete with oversigning SEC schools and left for a more level playing field. It doesn't hurt that he had Durant and Westbrook at OKC.
As long as Kentucky has the market cornered on one and done multi-millionaires then Ky. will be extremely difficult for all schools to recruit against.