I don’t think many of you are considering how close his ties to UF are. The court is named after him. He stays connected to the coaches, players, and administration. I would be shocked if he went to UK, but then again, Spurrier did go to USCe, so there’s always a chance. But… Donovan and Spurrier have very different personalities. Donovan is more principled and straight laced.
Question about Donovan
- Thread starter BigBlue_83
- Start date
The article excerpted below talks about this. There were later conflicting reports of whether UK did or didn’t reach out, but the general consensus is that Coach Donovan needed to finish his (post)season with the Bulls before he could engage in conversations with UK. And UK did not aggressively pursue him because they didn’t want to wait (it ended up being a matter of days).
“IS BILLY DONOVAN TO KENTUCKY POSSIBLE?
National pundits have already dismissed the idea of Donovan returning to college basketball. In certain circles, it’s an unthinkable scenario.But the Herald-Leader has been told over the course of the past couple of days that Donovan could be much more open now to a return to college — particularly, a return to blue-blood Kentucky, where he was an assistant coach under Rick Pitino for five years — than at any point since leaving this level of the sport for the NBA in 2015.
The catch: Those same people who think the door would be open for UK to make a move on Donovan are in agreement that it will be tightly shut for at least another week. As long as the Chicago Bulls — the team he’s coached for the past four seasons— are still playing, the 58-year-old coach will not even consider the possibility of leaving the NBA for Kentucky.
Donovan, in so many words, said the same thing himself Tuesday, when he was hit with several questions regarding the UK job before the Bulls’ game against the New York Knicks.
‘Obviously, I spent five years (there),’ he said of Lexington. ‘My first five years in coaching, when Coach Pitino gave me a job. Two kids were born there. Like at all my stops, you have very, very fond memories. I have not been contacted by anybody. I haven’t spoken to anybody. My total commitment and focus is here — to this team and to this group.’
Donovan was asked what he would say if he were to be contacted by UK.
‘I would still say the same thing I said,’ he replied. ‘I’m committed to being here. With this group, and trying to help these guys — as best we can — to close out this year and try to get a home court in the Play-In (Tournament) and to try and advance.’
By all accounts, that is true. Donovan is committed to the Bulls for the remainder of the 2023-24 season. And there’s no point in anyone from UK trying to talk to him in the meantime. But in a press conference Tuesday that was filled with multiple questions related to Kentucky and candid, thoughtful answers from Donovan, there was never a denial that he would be interested in the job after the Bulls’ season was finished.
And that timing is the issue….
Now that Drew and Hurley have both declined, Barnhart will have an interesting decision to make. Move on, or wait around and find out?
‘I’ve got an enormous amount of respect for Kentucky and their program and what it stands for,’ Donovan said Tuesday. ‘I mean, I competed against them. … And I was there for five (years). So I understand the magnitude of the program.’”
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How many times does BD have to say NO for people to accept HES NOT COMING HERE. Also the guy hasn't coached college ball in years and has never recruited in the modern environment. Finally he's old why can't somebody come up with a name not 60 or more to coach here.
While Mitch needs to go I don’t believe has to go in order to actually hire a good coach. UK just need to let the committee chose again like they did with Cal. The donors and powers to be just need to make that clear.
If Donovan wanted to coach college basketball, he'd be coaching college basketball, just like Pearl, Jay Wright, Brad Stevens and Tony Bennett. Donovan HATED what recruiting had become and said the "it's great to just coach basketball" when asked about coaching in the NBA. I'm pretty sure that he's aware that recruiting is 100X worse today than in 2015.
Plenty of fans on this board before Pope was hired said they would rather stop watching UK basketball than have Will Wade as our coach, they would much rather have Pope. I wasn’t one of them.
Donovan was open to a conversation with UK and Mitch. He was contacted by someone on the UK search committee, the name of the person that contacted him rhymes with KP Smevins. People are not aware of who Billy’s best friend is. And how that best friend and his wife are connected to people in Lexington.
Donovan's coaching career started here, so the logical thing would've been to make him say no. Any competent AD would've waited, but Barnhardt clearly wanted Pope from the beginning and anything otherwise was just deflection and noise.
NBA is a lot more games, but it’s an easier gig.
Coaches just have to coach.
GMs, scouting departments, and front offices handle all the talent evaluations, negotiations, contracts, HR, agents, etc…
Helicopter parents and posses are told to kick rocks and really don’t factor in. One of the benefits of having a single owner or ownership group with multi 10s of billions who run things like a business.
Fans really don’t have a position or any voting power either for the same reason.
Owners own and pay for things. Don’t have to worry about money schmoozing or fund raising. Don’t have to worry about fans.
If they’re happy great, if they’re not…”f$&k off I’m worth 10 billion and can take a loss on bad seasons…”
Coaches just have to coach.
GMs, scouting departments, and front offices handle all the talent evaluations, negotiations, contracts, HR, agents, etc…
Helicopter parents and posses are told to kick rocks and really don’t factor in. One of the benefits of having a single owner or ownership group with multi 10s of billions who run things like a business.
Fans really don’t have a position or any voting power either for the same reason.
Owners own and pay for things. Don’t have to worry about money schmoozing or fund raising. Don’t have to worry about fans.
If they’re happy great, if they’re not…”f$&k off I’m worth 10 billion and can take a loss on bad seasons…”
No coach who is currently employed in the NBA would leave to coach in college. College coaching is way harder with all the recruiting/NIL stuff, for less pay.
How often do you see pictures of NBA coaches going to a college game to scout and talk with players in their off season, they don't, they are hanging out with their families, they have scouts and front offices that do all that. College coaches though, they are doing it all the time, with NIL/portal they have no off season at all.
I mean, they get paid millions so nobody is feeling sorry for them, but compared to the NBA coaching lifestyle, it's a grind that no NBA coach would want a part of.
How often do you see pictures of NBA coaches going to a college game to scout and talk with players in their off season, they don't, they are hanging out with their families, they have scouts and front offices that do all that. College coaches though, they are doing it all the time, with NIL/portal they have no off season at all.
I mean, they get paid millions so nobody is feeling sorry for them, but compared to the NBA coaching lifestyle, it's a grind that no NBA coach would want a part of.
Yep. Tubster had taken Tulsa to a Final Four and was the one being pushed by Pitino. Nothing to do with Donovan turning down the job at that time, which is a ridiculous idea.
Saying Bruce Pearl wouldn't come here is like saying I wouldn't bang Emma Watson.
Mitch could have had Pope 2 weeks after Cal left and seen what happened with other candidates. Donovan would have taken the UK job had UK waited. The timing was right for him to come to UK. The Bulls were in play in purgatory and were not going to get better unless they traded away their good players and bottomed out and got a top draft pick. And the Bulls probably would have preferred a different coach to develop a younger team, plus Donovan would not have wanted any part of a rebuilding project.
Tubby never took Tulsa to the final four. He took Georgia to the sweet 16. He only made the final four once in his career. That was 98, when they won the championship
Tubby took Tulsa to back to back Sweet 16 appearances, in addition to one at UGA.
If Billy D chose the NBA over Kentucky pre-NIL and the transfer portal. Why would he ever want to leave the NBA and come back to college where you now have to recruit your own players every offseason and also deal with all of the headaches that come with NIL?
Interesting take. As I said, I believe that if Donovan wanted to coach college basketball, he would already be doing it.
From a USA Today article last year after signing a contract extension with the Bulls
Why did Billy Donovan get a contract extension?
The Bulls like stability, and Donovan provides that with his coaching and relationships with players, front office and ownership. Donovan enjoys coaching in the NBA and living in Chicago.The two sides have been working on extension for months, and at the trade deadline in February, Donovan told reporters, "I want to be part of building something."
From CBS..
The Bulls front office decided Donovan is the right choice to continue guiding that young group as they try to stay competitive but get younger at the same time.
Donovan was one of the many active coaches pursued by the New York Knicks this summer, but ultimately agreed to stay in Chicago on a new long-term deal. The length and specific terms of the contract aren't known currently.
With how much turnover there has been in the NBA in recent years, Donovan is the third-longest tenured coach in the NBA. He's tied with Thunder coach Mark Daigneault and Clippers coach Tyronn Lue with 400 games coached, as they were all hired in the summer of 2020. The only coaches who have been with their current teams longer are Erik Spoelstra in Miami and Bulls championship team veteran Steve Kerr in Golden State.
Maybe it's just me, but Donovan sounds like someone who really likes coaching in the NBA....