time to change the signature? It's all over the Bama media that it is a done deal.. This is causing problems because Bama's leading candidate is now considered to be Florida's top pick. I'll just go grab the popcorn.
I've heard conflicting rumors and one Orlando tv station said it was a done deal. He turned down Kentucky two years ago but then accepted the Orlando Magic job which he later backed out of. But one thing is true, that the Anthony Grant would be the number one choice if Donovan leaves Florida. We will know by the end of the day I believe.
Rumors....rumors..... :roll: http://www.gatorsports.com/article/20090327/ARTICLES/903279949?Title=Donovan-not-a-candidate-at-UK
I sure hope it's NOT the OSU coach. I'd be very worried that Ok St would swoop in and offer Billy G the job. I don't want BCG anywhere in the Big 12... Kentucky wasn't a good fit for him, but the South division of the XII is, and he'd be good again in no time. :?
Funny enough, Finebaum and other notorious media outlets here in this sports mad state were talking about the 'timing' of Billy D's press conference today... and that if one were held, would he refute the notion that he is going to Kentucky. Contrary to the headline of that article and the page name of the site... he did not do that. He said: So the sharks are feeding off of that... Bill, Either way, you're going to have a great coach.
Thanks Corey. I prefer Donovan and it looks like he is staying but Anthony Grant would have been great also. Anthony Grant should do well at Alabama.
If I had a choice of a coach to replace Mike Brey, I'd take Wright of Villanova. I love the way that they play in your face defense. I saw them shut down ND in SB and destroy Duke last night. The guy can coach.
I likeWright also, Gip, but I wonder if ND's issue is location more than the coach. The NYC and other east coast kids can play a lot closer to home at Nova or G-town or Uconn or Cuse, etc.. I understand your concern with Brey. I'm disappointed also. If he should leave either voluntarily or forced, Wright would be an excellent choice.....if he doesn't consider the job a lateral move.
Sid Having grown up back east and having played HS basketball I realize that the northeast is the hotbed of basketball. Actually the reason that is so is that football is not that big in the northeast. There just aren't that many fields in big NE cities. Basketball is a game of the city with courts everywhere. But cities like Chicago and Cleveland have great players. And some kids in places like NY still think that ND would be the place to go. Sometimes, not often, their parent(s) want them to leave the neighborhood and go away to school. (ND playing in the Big East does go back to the NYC area a number of times playing St. John's, UConn, Rutgers, Seton Hall and Villanova. And the BE tourney is in the Garden.) Charlie and Jackson get kids from all over the country to head to SB. A top coach could too.
Good points, Gip. We'll see what the future holds. All I know is that that this season was very, very disappointing.
I don't know what to think about Jay Wright. When somebody did a little research on the Mike Brey vs Jay Wright combined head to head record (Brey at Delware/ND, Wright at Hofstra/Villanova) Brey came out ahead of Wright over all. I will give Wright the edge in sartorial style for sure though. Currently though Wright has his team in the run to the Final Four and Brey's team is in the NIT. Is it possible that Wright has learned and grown as a coach and Brey has not? Andy Katz of ESPN, has speculated (in his blog) that Virgina should be interested in Mike Brey. Wouldn't that be something if Brey gets a UVA offer and decides that he's spent enough time in the Midwest and would like to go home to the East Coast? As Sid said, would Wright consider ND? If not him who would consider ND?
Corey, I don't think the Gators need a wall around Florida. I think at this point in our history we can compete with anyone for coaches in both Football and Basketball. Kentucky fans think their tradition etc will get then anyone they want and that they can throw more money at them than the Gators. The reality is that while Kentucky does have a rich basketball program they have fans that will run off good coaches when they don't win NCAA Championships, like Tubby. As far as money goes the Gator pockets are probably much deeper than the Wildcats if it would ever come to a bidding war, which I don't think it would. We already pay Donovan $3.5 million a year which for a BB coach is pretty high. Anyway it's a great time to be a Florida Gator.
No offense Bill, but Florida is still a bit of a Johnny come lately. There was a few points in time in which the Oakland A's could lay claim to being the best organization in baseball... but that still doesn't make them the New York Yankees. In terms of resources, there is no denying the greatness of all that Florida has to offer. That will still never erase the fact that when a person says 'great SEC basketball' the first name that comes to mind to fans across the country is the Kentucky Wildcats. It is clearly not a job for everyone. Maybe Bill D can see that and wants no part of it. I mean, he went to back-to-back NITs and no one even seems to care. He could win 2 titles and Kentucky, then go to back-to-back NITs and they'd talk of firing him at Kentucky.
Billy D can probably see that even after two NITs in a row at UF he is still a hero. At a crazy place like UK they would be grumbling loudly if he did that, if not talking about his replacement already. Why would he opt out of UF for that kind of nonsense? At Florida he accomplished more in the past 8 years than just about any other coach in America. One Final....plus two National Titles. What could he do better anywhere else? Like in football.....people tend to get too carried away with what happened 35-50 years ago. Same thing in the financial crisis. Things change....some teams evolve....some teams retreat. What worked traditionally may not be the same today. The world is different and there are other influences and ways of doing things and new leaders with new strategies and ideas. Think Urban Meyer and two NCs in the last three years. Florida's BB program actually turned the corner back when Lon Krueger took UF to the Final Four. There was enough promise shown then that Foley was able to hire a talent like Billy D and then Billy took it from there. As I said....don't get too hung up on what Kentucky used to be as a selling point for Donovan to go there.
Some coaches can win a championship maybe two with a special collection of players. But having top teams over a number or years with many different collections of players is what identifies a truely successful coach. Coach K, Knight, Wooden, Calhoun, Dean Smith, Crumm, Rupp these coaches won championships with different teams. Other coaches are close to this elite group Pitino, Boehiem, Izzo, Thompson are near elite. Pitino or Izzo could join the elite group with a win this year. Rarely are these guys ever rebuilding. Bad seasons for them end a game or two from the Final Four.