Billy Donovan and UK...

[Sweetstop]

Originally Posted by WVRed

I personally hope that for Kentucky's sale that the rumor is not true. As much as I would love to get Billy, I do think it is very classless to be talking contract trying to lure a coach away during the NCAA tournament. I could be wrong, but that is JMHO.

If "Javy's rumor" is true then it was probably DONE before the tourney...get back-channels okay from Donovan, force Tubby out, wait until 2 minutes after the Final Four is over, announce the crowning of Billy, and all will be right with Kentucky basketball again.

If so, the whole thing reeks, and as a UK grad and life-long fan, makes me ill.

Classless would be an understatement, WV.

[Slyder]

Originally Posted by WilyMoROCKS

He has a chance to put his own very personal stamp on one of the top two or three basketball programs in the history of college basketball.

If he goes to UK, he'll be successful there. The man can flat-out recruit and evaluate talent, and with the cachet that comes along with the Kentucky basketball program (cachet that Tubby was unable to harness) he'll have Kentucky back to dominating the SEC.

As good as he's recruiting at Florida, he'll do even better with the University of Kentucky stamp at the top of the letterhead.

And he has a chance to take Florida and take a dead program and single handedly take it to where Kentucky thinks they should be every year. This isnt like Tom Crene at Marquette or the guy at A&M. Donovan has already reached the penacle at Florida why leave what he's build for a program thats "down" by their standards in the same conference?

Kentucky is one of the higher profile positions but when you have a chance to be THE MAN like Adolph Rupp, Bobby Knight, Denny Crum and cast your shadow through the job and elevate it to those elite levels, why go to a job where youre always compared to ghosts of the past?

[Slyder]

Originally Posted by WVRed

That is true. They may agree to release their incoming class, as long as its not to follow Billy to Kentucky. I could see Kentucky doing the same thing with Tubby and Minnesota.

Tubby's not in the same conference and division as Kentucky, if UK were to play hardball it would really make them look like they have a serious case of sour grapes. You're comparing apples to oranges IF Donovan were to take the job, and as I have said I highly doubt.

Originally Posted by WVRed

Don't know if any of you have been reading the Florida message board, but they are in a bigger pandemonium than Kentucky. Scout.com's board has very little having to do with the game against UCLA. Its all about whether Billy leaves for Kentucky or not.

Having lived through it with the BSPN feed RR to Bama situation, I certainly know what they are going through. As far as I have seen/read no one has said anything more than Rumors and as BSPN has shown many times before they have an inept ability to take something run with it and end up running off a cliff (They had RR in Bama signed to a contract calling up coaches to fill his staff, and about 4 updates later end up having to completely change the story).

Originally Posted by WVRed

I personally hope that for Kentucky's sale that the rumor is not true. As much as I would love to get Billy, I do think it is very classless to be talking contract trying to lure a coach away during the NCAA tournament. I could be wrong, but that is JMHO.

All we are hearing right now is rumors. I met Donovan a couple times while he was at Marshall and he wouldnt be stupid enough to pull a Parcells (talk about his next job while still coaching).

[WMR]

Originally Posted by Slyder

And he has a chance to take Florida and take a dead program and single handedly take it to where Kentucky thinks they should be every year. This isnt like Tom Crene at Marquette or the guy at A&M. Donovan has already reached the penacle at Florida why leave what he's build for a program thats "down" by their standards in the same conference?

Kentucky is one of the higher profile positions but when you have a chance to be THE MAN like Adolph Rupp, Bobby Knight, Denny Crum and cast your shadow through the job and elevate it to those elite levels, why go to a job where youre always compared to ghosts of the past?

Because Florida's not Kentucky. I can't really break it down any more than that.

Gregg Doyel's article from the first page says it about as well as I could:

The day Donovan showed up in 1996, Florida was not a great job. By the time Florida made its NCAA Tournament debut in 1987, Kentucky had won five national championships. Kentucky has won two more since then.

Yes, Florida won a national title last year. And Florida probably will win it again this year. That makes Donovan a great, great great coach, and because of him, Florida is now a great job.

But better than Kentucky? Come on. The Wildcats have had one losing season since 1927. One.

Kentucky fans have taken heat this week over the gutless scurrying of Tubby Smith to Minnesota, but UK has the best support in the country. Midnight Madness fills 23,000-seat Rupp Arena. Every game is a sellout. Thousands travel, including to the 2007 SEC Tournament at Atlanta, where a so-so UK team led by an unpopular coach had a significantly bigger turnout than defending national champion Florida. Only 500 fans followed Florida to New Orleans for the NCAA Tournament, by the way.

Kentucky is such a good job that, despite its uncharismatic coach and unhappy fans and back-to-back mediocre seasons (for Kentucky), the Wildcats are among the final two or three schools for stud Class of 2007 recruits Patrick Patterson and Jai Lucas. Another finalist for those players was Florida, which found itself battling Kentucky on nearly even terms even with the charismatic Donovan, giddy fans and the 2006 NCAA title banner.

Kentucky's the better job in the long run, and the truth is, Kentucky might not be much worse in the short term. Not that Kentucky's in great shape right now. It isn't. Ten years after inheriting a cupboard of NBA talent from Rick Pitino, Tubby Smith leaves behind a roster of spiderwebs and broken dishes.

Kentucky's starting five next season looks like Ramel Bradley, Joe Crawford and Jodie Meeks on the perimeter, inexperienced 7-foot-2 Jared Carter at center and 6-9 sophomore Perry Stevenson at power forward. That's not terrible, but it's not terribly attractive.

But consider the potential upheaval at Florida, where the top six players could leave. Shooting guard Lee Humphrey and sixth man Chris Richard are seniors. The rest are juniors, and after turning down the NBA a year ago, lottery picks Joakim Noah and Al Horford and first-rounder Corey Brewer are unlikely to do it again. If those five leave, why would probable second-round pick Taurean Green stick around?

Here is Florida's possible starting five next season: junior Walter Hodge and freshman Nick Calathes at guard, sophomores Dan Werner and Jonathan Mitchell at forward, and sophomore Marreese Speights at center. Is that better than Kentucky's five? Tough call.

Which is why leaving for Kentucky should be fairly easy for Donovan. It's the second-best job in the country behind Roy Williams' chair at North Carolina, and if UK fans are demanding, big deal. Do you think Donovan, who won at Marshall and won huge at Florida, thinks for one second he wouldn't win massively at Kentucky? Please. And winning next season would actually be pretty easy for Donovan because Patterson and Lucas would follow him to Kentucky. That's only a guess, but it's a damn good guess.

Donovan surely must feel loyalty to Florida, but after 11 years he should be able to leave without being called an ingrate. Eleven years has been long enough for Donovan to see Florida's limitations first-hand, losing his top guard from each of the last two recruiting classes because they couldn't get past the Florida admissions board. One of those guards, Doneal Mack, played a key role for Memphis' Elite Eight team this season.

If you can play, you can get into Kentucky. That's not a rip. That's a fact.

If you can coach and recruit, you can win enormously at Kentucky. That, too, is a fact. Florida fans would argue that Donovan has won enormously at Florida, and that's true. At Florida, Donovan has made winning look easy.

At Kentucky, it would be easy.

[flyer85]

Originally Posted by roundboy22

Nick Calathes has already signed his LOI so UF would have to release him from it. Not saying that they wouldn't because of the impact it may have on future recruits. But If they indeed lose thier coach to UK, they might want to play hardball with the 5 star PG and not let him go to thier rival UK as well. Just my opinion though.

You sign with a university, not a coach. If I was the Florida AD I would give him a release with the caveat that he could not sign with any team in the SEC.

[durl]

The talk about UK "running off a 20-win coach who won and NCAA title" is really starting to irritate me. Tubby did many good things at UK but he also presided over way too many low points.

Stats have been posted elsewhere regarding how the UK program took serious steps backwards over the past several years and Tubby simply refused to address them. Off-court turmoil, a huge jump in transfers out of the program, and failing to land a top-25 recruit in 10 years...those simply don't cut it for a program that is considered to be one of the top 3 (if not THE best) in the nation. You don't attract top recruits with a 10 year old trophy in one hand and a long list of current problems in the other.

[WMR]

Originally Posted by durl

The talk about UK "running off a 20-win coach who won and NCAA title" is really starting to irritate me. Tubby did many good things at UK but he also presided over way too many low points.

Stats have been posted elsewhere regarding how the UK program took serious steps backwards over the past several years and Tubby simply refused to address them. Off-court turmoil, a huge jump in transfers out of the program, and failing to land a top-25 recruit in 10 years...those simply don't cut it for a program that is considered to be one of the top 3 (if not THE best) in the nation. You don't attract top recruits with a 10 year old trophy in one hand and a long list of current problems in the other.

(standing ovation)

[WVRed]

Originally Posted by Sweetstop

If "Javy's rumor" is true then it was probably DONE before the tourney...get back-channels okay from Donovan, force Tubby out, wait until 2 minutes after the Final Four is over, announce the crowning of Billy, and all will be right with Kentucky basketball again.

If so, the whole thing reeks, and as a UK grad and life-long fan, makes me ill.

Classless would be an understatement, WV.

I'm not so much talking about Javy's rumor, but the WLEX and Cats Pause report.

Slyder, I understand what you are saying, but I seem to remember WKU not letting Patrick Sparks follow Dennis Felton to Georgia when he left, so this is probably not something new.

Generally when a recruit is let out of their letter of intent, they do not follow the coach to the new school, and usually the coach does not recruit for fear of retaliation from their former employer. At least that is what has happened recently(Werner at NC St, Damian James at Oklahoma, Charlie Villanueva with Illinois)

[jmac]

Originally Posted by Razor Shines

I'm not saying that I don't think he'll go to UK, it seems as if he will, I just don't understand why. He's building Florida into a national power house. I could understand him leaving to coach the Heat though.

Look at length of Coaching tenures in the NBA ........Shaq retires and Wade gets hurt and trouble.
At KY.....Billy D would rule for as long as he wanted.
Rick Pitino knew what KY was when he took it and KY was down.
Billy D was here then...he knows and now Ky is not down !(like then anyway)

One more thing....if Pitino could go back, I believe he would have never left.

[Razor Shines]

Originally Posted by jmac

Look at length of Coaching tenures in the NBA ........Shaq retires and Wade gets hurt and trouble.
At KY.....Billy D would rule for as long as he wanted.
Rick Pitino knew what KY was when he took it and KY was down.
Billy D was here then...he knows and now Ky is not down !(like then anyway)

One more thing....if Pitino could go back, I believe he would have never left.

He could rule for as long as he wants at Florida.

[WVRed]

Originally Posted by Razor Shines

He could rule for as long as he wants at Florida.

And live in the shadows of the pigskin.

[jimbo]

Originally Posted by flyer85

You sign with a university, not a coach. If I was the Florida AD I would give him a release with the caveat that he could not sign with any team in the SEC.

Maybe on paper, but I think most recruits go with the coach and the program that he feels he fits in with the most. I think it would be wrong for Florida to do what you are suggesting because they would ultimately be impeding a player from going where he feels he will have the most success. If Donovan goes to UK, only the uniform changes, his program is still the one that the recruit chose.

[jmac]

Originally Posted by Razor Shines

He could rule for as long as he wants at Florida.

This last week....the headlines in the Fla paper was on spring "football" practice with no mention on front page of the NCAA.

He will always be second fiddle to football there.
Also they had one sellout...guess who it was against?

[macro]

Two more things to consider in response to those wondering why Donovan would want to leave Florida and come to Lexington:

1) If I heard correctly on WHAS radio in Louisville tonight, Florida sold out their 12,000-seat arena only eight of 18 times this season, and this coming off a championship season.

2) Donovan met his wife while working in Lexington, and she is reportedly involved with the horse industry. I thought I heard the WHAS guy say that her parents live in Kentucky, but their wedding announcement from 1989 states that her parents are from Long Island. I'm not sure where the "her parents live in Kentucky" rumors are coming from?

I'm not saying that either of these, in and unto themselves, would be a determining factor, but they shouldn't be overlooked, either. It doesn't matter what Donovan accomplishes at Florida, he will always be the coach of the basketball team at a football school in a football state. In Kentucky, if he had success and brought a championship, he would be the most powerful man in the state this side of Mitch McConnell.

[Slyder]

Originally Posted by macro

Two more things to consider in response to those wondering why Donovan would want to leave Florida and come to Lexington:

1) If I heard correctly on WHAS radio in Louisville tonight, Florida sold out their 12,000-seat arena only eight of 18 times this season, and this coming off a championship season.

2) Donovan met his wife while working in Lexington, and her parents live there. She is really big into the horse business.

I'm not saying that either of these, in and unto themselves, would be a determining factor, but they shouldn't be overlooked, either. It doesn't matter what Donovan accomplishes at Florida, he will always be the coach of the basketball team at a football school in a football state. In Kentucky, if he had success and brought a championship, he would be the most powerful man in the state this side of Mitch McConnell.

We could play this game all night long if we wanted.

His children are High School and Junior High (I heard on the news) I doubt they would be too thrilled leaving the people theyve known probably their entire lives, along with all their friends .

Honestly though prediction time:
Donovan "listens to" Kentucky (Insert youre own definition of listens to).
Donovan goes the UF's AD and says "I want A, B, C, D... or I'm going to Kentucky."
UF's AD blinks a couple times says "You are Guru, here you go"
UF sings kombaya.