Billy Donovan took a team with no promise in 1996, and turned them into a two time National Champion by 2007. Just 8 short years later, the former Kentucky assistant seized an opportunity that he could not pass up. Billy Donovan was offered the job at Oklahoma City, and passing up on the chance to coach both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook was just not an option.
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Some Kentucky fans might see this as a good thing. At times, Coach Donovan dominated the Wildcats, even pulling off a sweep in the 2013-2014 season. However, any fan of high competition will tell you that this is not only a big loss for Florida, but the SEC as a whole.
Florida was a team that the conference could always depend on to be respectable (despite a poor season this year). The SEC was so high on the Florida-Kentucky match up that they made the two “rivals” so that they were promised to play each other at least twice each season. Towards the end, it was becoming tough for Billy Donovan to compete on the recruiting trail.
Billy Donovan told a friend he consulted with this week that a losing SEC recruiting struggle with Kentucky was wearing on him
— Ian O'Connor (@Ian_OConnor) April 30, 2015
The SEC is still trending in the right direction. Just in this off season alone, per ESPN, four top 20 recruits committed to SEC schools not named Kentucky… in basketball. The loss of Billy Donovan will hurt the rivalry with the Cats, but the conference is on the rise.
"The SEC is certainly losing its marquee matchup between its two highest-profile coaches. They’re the only two in the league who’ve won a national championship, after all. But with Bruce Pearl beginning to build at Auburn, Ben Howland already landing arguably the best guard in the country (and beating out Calipari for said guard), Alabama has a former pro coach in Avery Johnson, and Tennessee just brought on Rick Barnes."
Who is next in line for Florida? It would be hard to find any coach to perform at the high level that Donovan has. Coach Donovan has made Florida a prime target to play and coach, so the Gators should look big. A few names that strike interest are Archie Miller, Chris Mack, and Bryce Drew.
"Along with Miller and Grant, FOX Sports mentioned Miami’s Jim Larranga, Baylor’s Bryce Drew and Duke assistant Jeff Capel as potential candidates in the search.Along with Miller, AlligatorArmy.com also suggested Xavier’s Chris Mack and three coaches mentioned during Alabama’s coaching search: Minnesota’s Richard Pitino, Louisiana Tech’s Michael White and Murray State’s Jeff Prohm."
Richard Pitino would keep the rivalry alive simply because of his father Rick Pitino. Archie Miller, Brother of Sean Miller at Arizona, has done a great job with Dayton recently and is just waiting for the big name job just like his brother has gotten. My favorite name on the list might be Bryce Drew. Drew has proven his ability to recruit at a high level and compete in tough conference. He might be the most ready for instant success. Which ever coach they choose, Billy Donovan will be missed by the SEC.
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