Now that the NCAA tournament is over, let the real madness begin. The rumor mill about where (if anywhere) Florida head coach Billy Donovan will end up might be more interesting than the Final Four itself.
In case you are just emerging from a coma, Kentucky is apparently interested.
Reaaaaallllly interested, if you know what I mean.
There are, of course, compelling reasons why Donovan might want to return to the school where he spent five years as an assistant under his former Providence coach, Rick Pitino. Let me summarize them.
1. It's KENTUCKY.
2. See No. 1.
Despite today's ESPN-driven obsession with Duke, let's not forget that Kentucky was Duke before Duke became fashionable as the face of modern college basketball.
And no, what Tubby Smith did was not good enough. I don't blame Kentucky fans, nor do I think they were unreasonable. Dynasties, expect to be dynastic. Tubby was just "good." This would have been fine at, say, Minnesota. Where, oh look! Tubby has just landed!
The fashionable opinion it seems leading up to the Final Four, was that Donovan would not leave the Gators. OK. That's very possible. But, I want to see your math on that one.
The most common "reasons" why the "experts" are saying this, are laughable at best, insulting at worst. Let me run through a few, with actual names attached to them.
"The Football School Theory"
(Dick "Hoops" Weiss of the New York Daily News)
This "theory" basically says the following: because Florida is a "football school" they basically don't care what the hoops program does. While nobody will say that Florida and its athletic department, alumni, and fans care MORE about hoops, this is a widely overstated angle. And besides this overstated angle, the implied notion is that Donovan would know this and seek to take cover under less than intense expectations than would exist at Kentucky.
Which makes sense. IF YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT A BAD COACH LIKE STEVE LAVIN!!
Sorry to yell, but this point really, really, insults me. Billy Donovan is a coaching BAD ASS. His record and his championship rings should end any argument that he's a coach who is afraid of his own ability to hold a job in college basketball.
Donovan's wild success at a "football school" like Florida, only underscores how GOOD he is. The Gators' dominance these last two years was not the product of happy accident, or done with somebody else's players.
Donovan built this monster at a place that had none of the mystique and drawing power of a traditional college basketball Mecca. So why the hell would he doubt his ability to do it at a place like Kentucky?
What? Do people think Donovan will go to Kentucky, FAIL, and then NEVER get another college coaching job? The statistical chances of that are just about the same as Rosie O'Donnell winning Trump's Miss USA.
Those who use the "just lay low at the football school" argument for Donovan staying at Florida, severely underestimate the drive and talent of a top flight coach.
"The Money Is Not An Issue Argument"
(Pete Gillen, Westwood One)
I heard former coach Gillen uncork this gem during the radio pre-game show Monday night. Doesn't need the money? Well, he should know. Gillen made off with a Brinks-sized robbery at Virginia on his way out the door. Surely HE doesn't need the money, and didn't earn it.
But who the hell is he, or anybody else to say Billy Donovan doesn't "need" more money? How does Pete Gillen know what Donovan's financial goals are? How rich does he want to live and how long does he want to work? How many generations of Donovans does he want to take care of?
It cracks me up how some people try to say "it's not about the money." Usually, these people will only say that when it's about somebody ELSE'S money, not their own.
Wrong.
It is always about the money, and there's nothing wrong with that.
(For the record, I am writing this column for monetary gain and I sure would like to make more doing it.)
Don't quote me on these figures, just follow the logic. Let's say Billy Donovan is making / could make roughly $2.5 million now at Florida.
Or, he could make $3.5 at Kentucky.
The typical reaction, for 99.99% of us, is "I'd be so happy with $2.5 million, who the hell cares about the extra million."
Well, of course. But once you are making $2.5 million and somebody offers you an EXTRA million per year at a better basketball school, why the hell wouldn't you bend over to pick it up?
It's like a big ol' bag of cash lying on the ground!
"The Good Weather Theory"
(David Aldridge, Washington Post Radio)
This angle is the most ridiculous one ever. Yeah, the weather in Florida is nicer than Kentucky. So what? Like Billy Donovan never takes a vacation?
Does he need to work on a year-round tan? Last time I looked, he's not college basketball's version of George Hamilton.
My personal belief is that Donovan will take the Kentucky job. He will turn the Wildcats into a national power in a relatively short time. And that the time is right for him to make this move.
If he doesn't, however, I tend to think the reasons will be deeper and more nuanced than good weather, an indifference to millions of dollars or a fear that once he's out of the shadow of a "football school" that he's bound to fail.
Steve is a native Washingtonian and has worked in sports talk radio for the last 11 years. He worked at WTEM in 1993 anchoring Team Tickers before he took a full time job with national radio network One-on-One Sports.
A graduate of UC Santa Barbara, Steve has worked for WFNZ in Charlotte where his afternoon show was named "Best Radio Show." Steve continues to serve as a sports personality for WLZR in Milwaukee and does fill-in hosting for Fox Sports Radio.
