Donovan too good for Magic, why would he ever come here?

[New Managment Please 0]

I think it would be great to have Billy Donovan here as coach, irregardless of the coaching success of previous college coaches. His potential success is up for debate. However, even if we were interested and offered him something like a 5 year 25 million dollar deal. Why would he come to this franchise. Yea, we have a great center in Dwight, but realisticaly, he is the only sure piece to the puzzle. We have to realize that we are in the league of franchises like the sonics, bobcats, golden state, clippers and other prenial underachievers. I sadly just came to this realization after wathcing the championship last night and wondering if we had a shot at Donavan. He would never come to this franchise. High profile, in demand coaches have their pick, and with this dysfuntional management team, we would always be overlooked. Bottom line, even if we wanted him, he is too good for this franschise.

[New Managment Please 0]

I think it would be great to have Billy Donovan here as coach, irregardless of the coaching success of previous college coaches. His potential success is up for debate. However, even if we were interested and offered him something like a 5 year 25 million dollar deal. Why would he come to this franchise. Yea, we have a great center in Dwight, but realisticaly, he is the only sure piece to the puzzle. We have to realize that we are in the league of franchises like the sonics, bobcats, golden state, clippers and other prenial underachievers. I sadly just came to this realization after wathcing the championship last night and wondering if we had a shot at Donavan. He would never come to this franchise. High profile, in demand coaches have their pick, and with this dysfuntional management team, we would always be overlooked. Bottom line, even if we wanted him, he is too good for this franschise.

[davcivic 11]

I think the college and the NBA games are different, so different that it leads to more than a few coaches to fail in the big leagues. I think he is a good coach, but he should make his name there in college. He can make big bucks and be very succesful in college like some of the other greats. If he would jump to the NBA I think he would go to a franchise that can win. A team with a huge deal of talent that just needs direction. Something like the bobcats, yes I said it. The bobcats have a lot of talent that needs to be directed correctly. If not it would be a big market.

 

I don't see him coming to Orlando, unless he has family issues that would make him stay in Florida.

[DroppnDeuces 0]

I think Donavan would do a good job here, definatly better than Hill. Unlike some of the other college to pros failures, he is young and adaptive. Pitino and the others were much older, stuck in their styles, and had been in the college game for too long. I believe Donovan would really ignite this franchise, but I agree with the first guy. I think if he leaves for the pros it would only be with a top notch franchise like the heat, not this one. Management is embarssing. He would be too good to come here.

[D-BoFats 5]

We need a coach that will take advantage of his players' strengths. I think Billy Donovan could be that guy. You can't argue with back-to-back NCAA titles. At the very least, the Magic should make him an offer. He would bring a lot of excitement to this team and city.

[Adam_Magic 56]

The Memphis Grizzlies may be ready to offer Florida head coach Billy Donovan a multiyear deal.

 

Donovan is just 42 years old and would be young enough to take the NBA money and still be a candidate for any major college job if things don't work out

 

http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/45455/200704...d_coaching_position/

[ball junkie 277]

Here's the latest on Billy Donovan from Peter Kerasotis of the Florida Today. I think this article pretty much sums it up.

 

 

quote:

Donovan Unsure About His Future

 

 

ATLANTA

 

Billy Donovan is definitely going.

 

No, he's staying.

 

Your guess is as good as his.

 

Are you interested, Billy? Are you interested in Kentucky?

 

"I don't know," he said. "I really don't know."

 

This was while he stood at a podium Tuesday morning, moments after accepting the Siemens Trophy, awarded to the best team in all of college basketball. In this case, it's his Florida Gators, the basketball program Donovan lifted from nothing to something dynastic and fantastic.

 

Billy didn't play dodgeball with questions on this day, not like he'd been doing the past 11 days, ever since his friend Tubby Smith abdicated what many believe is the coaching throne of college basketball.

 

The University of Kentucky.

 

Still, Billy didn't give any direct answers. At some point, though, he will have to. At some point he'll have to stop playing The Clash -- "should I stay or should I go now?" -- and accept the cash. And lots of it, too. From either Kentucky or Florida.

 

I asked Urban Meyer during halftime of Monday night's national championship game what he thought of the prospect that if Donovan stays at Florida, he'll be paid more than the football coach, more than him.

 

"No comment," Meyer said.

 

A lot of people aren't commenting these days, which is very telling if you ask me. And even if you don't.

 

Eleven days ago, a lot of Florida folks seemed absolutely, positively sure that Billy Donovan wasn't leaving the Gators.

 

But now . . .?

 

Billy was asked yesterday about an ESPN.com story that said Kentucky has already talked to his agent.

 

Billy could neither confirm nor deny that.

 

"I have somebody who represents me, and I haven't talked to him in a week," he said.

 

You can bet, though, that he's talked to him by now. Billy is scheduled to leave the country on Saturday, staying in the Caribbean with family for the good part of a week. You'd think that a decision will be made by then.

 

You'd also hope that if Donovan does leave, Florida isn't caught flatfooted, like it was when Steve Spurrier left for the NFL, and UF athletic director Jeremy Foley flew around the country in an unmitigated and unplanned panic. Only to return with Ron Zook.

 

You see, Billy Donovan saying that he doesn't know if he's interested pretty much means he is. He just doesn't know how much he's interested. He's been at Florida 11 years, won back-to-back national titles. Does he want to make Gainesville his finish line, or just another pit stop on an ongoing journey?

 

He is, after all, only 41.

 

Billy, what more can you accomplish at Florida?

 

This one stopped him. Usually, Billy the Kid is quick on the trigger. Question. Answer. There isn't a gap.

 

"Um," he said. Thought for several seconds. Then talked about how the Gators basketball program has never had "sustained success" but how, instead, they've had "pockets of success."

 

The pockets don't get any deeper than winning back-to-back national titles. Repeating as champions has only been done six times in college basketball history. Do you try to do it again, or do you try and do it somewhere else?

 

That's the question Billy will have to answer for himself this week.

 

And it isn't just Kentucky that beckons. It's also the NBA.

 

Only 41. Does anyone really believe that he plans on spending the next 20, 25 years at the same place, climbing the same mountain?

 

Be assured that Florida's officials wonder about that same question. And worry.

 

UF handed out a press release before Monday night's championship game, spelling out details of when the Gators' plane returns to Gainesville. The headline on the release said, "Gator Fans Invited to Welcome Home Coach Donovan and the Men's Basketball Team."

 

Interesting that it would put Billy Donovan's name in the headline. It was almost as if they were saying, "Please, please come and tell Billy how much you love and adore him. Pretty please."

 

Equally as interesting is that Kentucky doesn't have to put out such press releases when they win national championships. Oh, perhaps they do just as a cursory gesture. But at Kentucky, the fans already know when the plane will arrive. And they show up. En masse. Basketball means something different there. Something more. Florida's two national championships notwithstanding.

 

Kentucky is a basketball school first, and Florida is a football school first. There's nothing wrong with that. It just is what it is.

 

At Kentucky, they fill all 23,000 seats at Rupp Arena for Midnight Madness, a practice. At Florida, they still don't sell out every home game at the dinky 12,000-seat O'Connell Center.

 

There really is no comparison. The only difference between the two schools is that Billy Donovan is at Florida. At least for the time being.

 

There's no orange-and-blue disrespect here. Don't take it like that. Think of it this way. Think of it as if Kentucky had a hotshot, young football coach and Florida had a job opening. No difference, really.

 

What this means is that whenever the Kentucky job opens up, and it doesn't happen very often, just about every coach in the country turns into steel, feeling the pull of the magnet that is UK basketball. They can't help it. Certainly, Billy can't.

 

That's why he is going to listen this week. He's going to listen to Kentucky. To Florida. To his family. To his heart.

 

Perhaps not in that order.

 

It helps (or hurts, depending on how you look at it) that Donovan coached five years at Kentucky, under his mentor Rick Pitino, helping Pitino win a national championship there.

 

In fact, Billy spoke yesterday of his fondness for the school.

 

"There's a feeling in my heart that is very strong about Kentucky," he said. "That's where I got my start. But that was awhile ago. I've been removed 13 years. Eleven years here and two years at Marshall. Things have changed."

 

Yes, they have.

 

And no they haven't.

 

It's a job that demands your attention.

 

Most certainly, it now has Billy Donovan's.

 

Contact Kerasotis at 242-3694 or HeyPeterK@aol.com. Listen to him Friday mornings from 8:30 to 9 on WMEL-AM 920

 

 

I'm sorry Gator fans but I gotta say it. When your O'connel Center only holds 12,000 people and your team is the defending national champions how can you not sell out every home game?

 

Kentucky would get 20,000 people to watch a "midnight practice session"!

 

I don't necessarily think he's going to Kentucky but I do think he's leaving. And continuing with my bluntness the Florida hoops program will go right back down to mediocre status like it was for 50 years before Donovan got there.

[FENDI 4]

okay, so is junkie the only guy who wants Donovan in Kentucky? We need to suspend him for that. just kidding.

 

Donovan is too good for the NBA. thats why he isn't coming, at least, anytime soon.

[Rico 0]

BILLY DONOVAN is on top of my wishlist for this summer. MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE PUNCH BRIAN HILL IN THE FACE.

[Drain-O 369]

He just won back to back championships with UF and this is the "prime" of his coaching career. He is not to good for the Magic since no college coach has proven to be to good for any team. If Donovan was going to go to the NBA this would be the year. He would be offered 5-7 million dollars a year for 5 years and even if he is fired he gets all that money. Any college team would then be willing to hire him. I am a Nole but he has to be given tremendous credit for getting 3 lottery picks, a potential first round point guard, a shooter, and another bruising big man to play all together and be completely and utterly unselfish. The most talented team does not always win the NCAA but UF did this year and impressively. My point is is Donovan is now at the pinnacle of his career and can really go wherever he wants. There really is no way that UF can match NBA or UK type money so it will be interesting for sure. Do I want him here, not really since so many have failed with higher profiles but hey you never know.

[FENDI 4]

Going for Billy Donovan is a huge risk, mainly because there are only few successful coaches in NCAA that survived the NBA.

 

My wishlist for new coach is Carlisle.

[Rico 0]

quote:

Originally posted by FENDI:

Going for Billy Donovan is a huge risk, mainly because there are only few successful coaches in NCAA that survived the NBA.

 

My wishlist for new coach is Carlisle.

Fendi I dont understand, your first post says he is too good for the nba, and the next one says it would be a huge risk. I say that if we go all out this summer and get the talent we need why not? This guy is a great motivator and he is a players coach, I understand that other college coaches didnt do good on the nba but to be fair they did not have the talent that we have, and it could only get better over the summer.