Donovan to KY? (VERY Interesting-hopefully true)

[ManilaRose]

First of all let me preface this by saying I am simply passing along information I was given because some of you(especially KY and FLA fans) may be interested in it. I'm not pretending to be "in the know" or some big shot with inside information. I do have a friend from college who says his dad does know what's going on and I can say I feel very confident that his dad does know more about what's going on than the average fan. I say I'm very confident his dad knows inside info because of the following:

1.My friend told me 1 month ago Tubby was 100% for sure gone and that he would resign. TRUE
2.Three weeks ago while questioning my friend of the certainty of the first claim he told me not to worry it was for certain and in fact that Tubby had another job already lined up. TRUE
3. The day before(I know, only 1 day) Tubby going to Minnesota rumors became public he told me specifically Tubby would be in Minnesota within 24-48 hours. TRUE

These must be more than good guesses or coincidence. He then told me Donovan and Gillespie were the top 2 candidates and he would get back with me when he heard something else. I asked him of the possibility of Pitino and he said he would be interested if BD didn't come but Pitino was in fact helping BD in the process and pushing for BD to take the job. The next day he called me and said Donovan was 100% a done deal and that BD would be in Lexington within 48 hrs. of FLA's last game. Again, I'm not saying it's 100% done, just passing along the words that were spoken to me. I personally am hoping this is true and the things I've seen and heard the last few days make me feel better about this possibility. Calipari just signed an extension at Memphis and everyone in the media believes Cal would've crawled to Lexington if asked. Maybe he just wasn't even a candidate, but nonetheless that's one potential candidate down. Even more interesting is that I've heard for 3 days now that Stan Heath would be out at Arkansas and that Billy Gillespie would infact be the replacement. This is not from the same source, however the first part was confirmed today as Heath was fired. If Gillespie does indeed take the Arkansas job then I personally believe that makes the Donovan rumor even more likely. Why would Gillespie take the Arkansas job if he felt like he could get the KY job? Anyways, I've rambled long enough and as a KY fan hope this proves to be true. If it's not I apologize for the thread but I thought it would be interesting to discuss either way. Especially considering the track record this source has had in the past.

[pmayjr]

Donovan has it better in Florida. He's gonna get a massive raise too. He's not goin anywhere.

Don't count out Calipari. He may have an extension, but buyous can be made.

[satan's twin]

Originally Posted by ManilaRose

First of all let me preface this by saying I am simply passing along information I was given because some of you(especially KY and FLA fans) may be interested in it. I'm not pretending to be "in the know" or some big shot with inside information. I do have a friend from college who says his dad does know what's going on and I can say I feel very confident that his dad does know more about what's going on than the average fan. I say I'm very confident his dad knows inside info because of the following:

1.My friend told me 1 month ago Tubby was 100% for sure gone and that he would resign. TRUE
2.Three weeks ago while questioning my friend of the certainty of the first claim he told me not to worry it was for certain and in fact that Tubby had another job already lined up. TRUE
3. The day before(I know, only 1 day) Tubby going to Minnesota rumors became public he told me specifically Tubby would be in Minnesota within 24-48 hours. TRUE

These must be more than good guesses or coincidence. He then told me Donovan and Gillespie were the top 2 candidates and he would get back with me when he heard something else. I asked him of the possibility of Pitino and he said he would be interested if BD didn't come but Pitino was in fact helping BD in the process and pushing for BD to take the job. The next day he called me and said Donovan was 100% a done deal and that BD would be in Lexington within 48 hrs. of FLA's last game. Again, I'm not saying it's 100% done, just passing along the words that were spoken to me. I personally am hoping this is true and the things I've seen and heard the last few days make me feel better about this possibility. Calipari just signed an extension at Memphis and everyone in the media believes Cal would've crawled to Lexington if asked. Maybe he just wasn't even a candidate, but nonetheless that's one potential candidate down. Even more interesting is that I've heard for 3 days now that Stan Heath would be out at Arkansas and that Billy Gillespie would infact be the replacement. This is not from the same source, however the first part was confirmed today as Heath was fired. If Gillespie does indeed take the Arkansas job then I personally believe that makes the Donovan rumor even more likely. Why would Gillespie take the Arkansas job if he felt like he could get the KY job? Anyways, I've rambled long enough and as a KY fan hope this proves to be true. If it's not I apologize for the thread but I thought it would be interesting to discuss either way. Especially considering the track record this source has had in the past.

Wow. And here I thought the only gig Donovan would consider in Kentucky would be an oldies "Mellow Yellow" tour.

[Cajungator26]

Originally Posted by pmayjr

Donovan has it better in Florida. He's gonna get a massive raise too. He's not goin anywhere.

Don't count out Calipari. He may have an extension, but buyous can be made.

He's going to Kentucky. He just cancelled our seminar in April that our division was having with him as the speaker.

At UF, basketball will always be number 2 to football, but at Kentucky, basketball is number 1. Think about it... where would you want to be?

[Seattleallstar]

There's no way Donovan goes anywhere for at least 4 years, theres more of a chance Pitino will go back to KY instead of Dvan.

[pmayjr]

A place where your program is at a top-notch level, you can build a dynasty, and hopefully get comparable top-end $$$ if the Florida AD works fast to re-up his deal.

You might be right Cajun, but he's a fool to go back to his alma-mater at this point. The program NEEDS TO REBUILD to get back to elite status. Those are words any Kentucky fan doesn't wanna hear. They'll expect for them to go to final 4s right out of the gate again. Keep in mind when I say "needs to rebuild", I mean that to get back to ELITE status. They have good teams now, just they're not great anymore.

[Cajungator26]

Originally Posted by pmayjr

A place where your program is at a top-notch level, you can build a dynasty, and hopefully get comparable top-end $$$ if the Florida AD works fast to re-up his deal.

You might be right Cajun, but he's a fool to go back to his alma-mater at this point. The program NEEDS TO REBUILD to get back to elite status. Those are words any Kentucky fan doesn't wanna hear. They'll expect for them to go to final 4s right out of the gate again. Keep in mind when I say "needs to rebuild", I mean that to get back to ELITE status. They have good teams now, just they're not great anymore.

Well, I'm just telling you what I heard...

I don't know enough about basketball to really comment, but I know that Florida basketball will always be second to Florida football, and that's just not the case in Kentucky (regardless of how bad their current basketball team is.)

I only hope that we (UF) gets a coach that can keep the team at the top when Donovan leaves.

[pmayjr]

UF is in a unique situation where football and basketball can be #1 and #1A for years to come if UF works fast to pay Donovan and give him a proper extension. 2 yourng coaches, coahcing 2 good teams in a a recrutining hot-bed. DONOVAN COULD SERIOUSLY HAVE A DEAN SMITH-like run if he stays at Florida.

So it shouldn't be about footbal always being the #1 sport there. They can both co-exist, and be dominant at both. It looks like Ohio State is also on it's way to doing that (football team in National Championship, bball team in Final 4), so why shouldn't Florida too?

[Cajungator26]

Originally Posted by pmayjr

UF is in a unique situation where football and basketball can be #1 and #1A for years to come if UF works fast to pay Donovan and give him a proper extension. 2 yourng coaches, coahcing 2 good teams in a a recrutining hot-bed. DONOVAN COULD SERIOUSLY HAVE A DEAN SMITH-like run if he stays at Florida.

So it shouldn't be about footbal always being the #1 sport there. They can both co-exist, and be dominant at both. It looks like Ohio State is also on it's way to doing that (football team in National Championship, bball team in Final 4), so why shouldn't Florida too?

I'm not saying that Florida can't have both. (Hell, they did in 2006.) It's not a matter of dominance either... it's more a matter of being the big fish in a small pond, which he would be if he went to Kentucky. More attention is paid to Kentucky's basketball team than to their football team. It's the exact opposite in Gainesville.

[KY_Sasquash]

Originally Posted by pmayjr

A place where your program is at a top-notch level, you can build a dynasty, and hopefully get comparable top-end $$$ if the Florida AD works fast to re-up his deal.

You might be right Cajun, but he's a fool to go back to his alma-mater at this point. The program NEEDS TO REBUILD to get back to elite status. Those are words any Kentucky fan doesn't wanna hear. They'll expect for them to go to final 4s right out of the gate again. Keep in mind when I say "needs to rebuild", I mean that to get back to ELITE status. They have good teams now, just they're not great anymore.

Uk is not Donovan's alma mater; he played at Providence for Pitino and led them to the final four. He got his first coaching gig at at UK under Pitino. Florida most likely will not be at a top notch level b/c they'll lose noah, horfold, and brewer to the nba as lottery picks, humphrey and backup forward chris richard are both seniors, so that leaves tauren green with walter hodge and a bunch of freshman and sophs with no experience. Green will likely bolt, too, and head to the NBA. He'd have his work cut out for him. UK would actually have better team coming into the year, plus his top recruit has already said that he'll follow donovon to UK and the only two top 2 recruits that are unsigned are looking at UK and Florida and Donovan would have a great shot a getting both to come to UK. All we need is top recuits and we'll be right back at the top and he knows he can do that and people here in lexington will worship him. It'll be difficult for him to build a dynasty at Florida like Cajun said b/c he'll always be 2nd fiddle. Think about college dynasties in bball (UK, UNC, UCLA, Duke, maybe IU) and football (NDame, Ohio St, Mich, USC) none of these schools have had another sport equally dominant in the other sport over a 15-20 year period-same reason why Bear Bryant left UK for Alabama.
For the opening round games in the NCAA tournament 500 florida fans travelled to support the defending champs, UK has 10-20,000 easily, every year no matter where we play. It doesnt seem like much on paper, but it's important.

[pmayjr]

KY,
Thanks for the clarification. I know they'll lose a lot to the NBA and to graduation after this season, but this will be 2 straight years where they've made the Final 4. I'm assuming the recruiting classes that he'd bring in in the next few years will more than make up for that.

There's only 3 instances in the last 15 years I can think of where teams went to the Final 4 two years in a row, and weren't able to maintain their success. 1st was UNLV- but that got messed up because of Tark and the sanctions.
2nd was Arkansas in the mid-90s. For whatever reason Nolan Richardson wasn't able to maintain that success
3rd was Tubby Smith at Kentucky- Although they keptwinning under Tubby, no more final 4s after his first season.

But seriously- Kentucky is rebuilding as much as Florida even if Florida loses all those players this year. There's less pressure at Florida, and Donovan should be able to build on his recent success with strong recruiting.

[KY_Sasquash]

Valid points, i guess he could pull it off, i just think it's quite difficult to pull off at a school that already has a dynasty in football. i can't come up with any college that has been able to do it consistently over a 15 year span where both football and basketball where hitting on all cylinders. Overall the pressure at Florida wont be as strong at UK, but the psyche of the UK fans right now is that we know if we get him or whoever comes in it's going to take at least 2 years to get rolling again. The thing with Tubby that frustrated so many fans, especially the last 2-3 years, was the combination of not being able to soundly defeat an oponnent, letting bad teams come back on us, boring basketball, not beating any top tier teams, lack of control over the team and players, and slipping and being passed by the likes of vandy, tenn, etc.....teams that have never been on par with us. It's going to be an interesting week or so until we see how it unfolds.

[ManilaRose]

Originally Posted by pmayjr

There's less pressure at Florida

You're 100% correct that there is less pressure. Guess why? It's because the expectations at FlA for b-ball are lower than at KY. It's because the interest level is less. I believe anyone thinking these elite coaches shy away from pressure situations aren't fully taking in account the type of mindsets these coaches have. Billy Donovan is not afraid of pressure. Coaches like this thrive on pressure. Coaches like this have their own expectations which they set VERY high. If BD can win two titles at a football school, then how many do you think he believes he could win at a school that lives and dies hoops? These coaches have big egos and these coaches live to excel at the highest level. BD will not spend 5 seconds in his decision making process thinking " Is the pressure at UK too much?". That's assuming the decision isn't already made.

[timmgirvan]

MR: appreciate the insight you bring to topic, but I would find it hard to believe BD is going anywhere. Florida will pay anything for him to stay and he strikes me as a more loyal sort than Nick Saban! We'll know soon.

[mclem10011]

They will throw a ton of coin his way, i think Billy Donovan would be crazy to leave Florida. His signature is all over the Gator program, and in my opinion if he goes to KY, he like Tubby will always be in the shadow of Rupp, Petino, and Sutton. I don't think he'll leave Florida, nor should he.

[Cannon Shell]

I heard that Donovan is the Miami Heat's first choice for their impending coaching vacancy. BIG money.

[ManilaRose]

Originally Posted by timmgirvan

MR: appreciate the insight you bring to topic, but I would find it hard to believe BD is going anywhere. Florida will pay anything for him to stay and he strikes me as a more loyal sort than Nick Saban! We'll know soon.

You may be right. As I said I am in know way stating this as fact because I do not know. I was told this to be fact though. The only thing I know for sure is what you just stated, " we'll know soon".

[ManilaRose]

Originally Posted by mclem10011

They will throw a ton of coin his way, i think Billy Donovan would be crazy to leave Florida. His signature is all over the Gator program, and in my opinion if he goes to KY, he like Tubby will always be in the shadow of Rupp, Petino, and Sutton. I don't think he'll leave Florida, nor should he.

You're right about the money. He'll make alot of money either place though. As for the past coaches I don't see this perceived Rupp shadow that others do. IMO he will certainly be measured up to Pitino more than Rupp. As for Sutton, nobody has to worry about filling his shoes. Our new coaches 3rd sober day on the job will exceed Sutton's embarrassing time here.

[KY_Sasquash]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

I heard that Donovan is the Miami Heat's first choice for their impending coaching vacancy. BIG money.

I've heard that as well; supposedly since December, but that was before the UK job had an opening. He'll be making NBA like money at UK. Unless something drastic happens, its very, very likely he'll be on his way to UK.

Donovan will not be in the shadow of Pitino and Rupp like Tubby (too many differences w/ plenty of variables), wouldnt surprise me if he passed Pitino in legendary status b/c he'll bring the program back to porminence-especially if he wins a national championship.

Donovan is more loyal than Saban, but remember he hasn't come out and said that he has no interest in the UK job and he'll be back at Florida next year.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by KY_Sasquash

He'll be making NBA like money at UK.

Not if he has a good agent.