Bio Blast: Billy Donovan

For the first time since 2009, Kentucky is looking for a new head men’s basketball coach. The Eddie Sutton coach to be named later trade was completed on Sunday night when John Calipari decided to leave Lexington for Arkansas after 15 seasons in the Bluegrass. After a 410-122 (198-65) run with four Final Four appearances and six SEC regular-season titles, Calipari has found a new home.

Kentucky Director of Athletics Mitch Barnhart is now tasked with finding the program’s next head basketball coach. For the third time during his tenure, Barnhart will be conducting a search. The Calipari hire was an absolute home run, but the Billy Gillispie hire was the worst in program history. Every possibility in this search appears to be on the table.

As soon as Calipari made his move to Northwest Arkansas, some candidates have started to emerge. After Scott Drew and Dan Hurley each turned down the job on Thursday, there is just one name remaining in Tier 1. It is a name that has appeared in every Kentucky search since Tubby Smith left for Minnesota.

Billy Donovan has been in the NBA for a decade now working for the Oklahoma City Thunder and Chicago Bulls after spending 19 seasons in the SEC at Florida.

Championship Pedigree

Billy Donovan was a star player for Rick Pitino at Providence from 1983-87 and led the Friars to the Final Four first-team All-Big East honors in his final season. After a short professional playing career, Donovan joined Rick Pitino’s first staff at Kentucky and spent five years in Lexington helping the Wildcats get to a Final Four in 1993. After leading Marshall to a 35-20 mark over two seasons, Donovan got his first big job at 30 years old.

After consecutive losing seasons to begin his tenure in Gainesville, Donovan quickly built what ended up being a top-five college basketball program at a true football school. The Gators went to eight consecutive NCAA tournaments from 2000-07 going to three Final Fours, and winning two national titles. Donovan was the last college head coach to repeat until Dan Hurley accomplished the feat in 2024.

After a two-year reset, the Gators again ripped off five consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances with four consecutive Elite Eight appearances. Donovan finished his Florida career with a .715 winning percentage, two national titles, four Final Four appearances, four SEC Tournament titles, six SEC regular-season titles, and a 34-12 record in the Big Dance.

Udonis Haslem, Al Horford, Joakim Noah, and Scottie Wilbekin each became All-Americans under Donovan. The 58-year-old has been out of the college game for a decade, but was undoubtedly a top-five coach in the sport during his long stint at Florida.

Moderate NBA Success

After Florida won its second national championship under Billy Donovan in 2007, the long-time head coach turned down Kentucky after a long pursuit by Mitch Barnhart in March. Two months later, Donovan had contact with the Orlando Magic and accepted the position on June 1. Donovan had an introductory press conference that day with the Magic but backed out of the position the very next day.

Donovan would stay at Florida for eight more seasons before officially making the professional basketball jump.

Following the 2014-15 season, Donovan left Florida for the Oklahoma City Thunder where he got the opportunity to coach Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook after the Western Conference franchise moved on from head coach Scott Brooks. The Thunder made the Western Conference Finals in 2016 blowing a 3-1 lead against the Golden State Warriors.

After that season, Kevin Durant left Oklahoma City in free agency and signed with the Golden State Warriors. Donovan coached the Thunder when Russell Westbrook won the MVP in 2017 and made the playoffs surprisingly in 2020 after trading Westbrook and being left with Chris Paul and a super young roster.

Following another early playoff exit, Oklahoma City did not renew Donovan’s contract allowing both parties to go their separate ways. Two weeks after that decision, the Chicago Bulls hired Donovan. The Providence alum is now in year three in the Windy City with two losing seasons and zero playoff wins. However, the Bulls have a tough roster situation and recently gave Donovan a contract extension.

Donovan has had success with seven postseason appearances in 10 years but only truly had one title-contending team during this run. Is that enough to force him back to the college game?

One Big Wild Card

After Billy Donovan left Florida following the 2015 season, NIL and the transfer portal were not a thing. They are a big thing now. That creates an unknown variable if the 58-year-old ever decides to return to college hoops.

Donovan had some strong recruiting results at Florida to make you believe that he could figure out this new era, but building rosters is different now. There will be some adjusting needed. Donovan has no player relationships right now due to his long stint in the pros and would need to build a Kentucky roster from scratch. Many would have serious legitimate concerns about what his first team would look like.

Is Kentucky ready to sacrifice a potential rough start early for a late pay off? Donovan will need to adjust on the fly quickly, and his staff hires (which also need to occur fast) would need to be excellent early. There might be a pretty low floor for year one.