Kentucky basketball coaching search: ESPN insider reveals 'aspirational' name for Wildcats
Kentucky now finds itself on the hunt for a new basketball coach following reports that John Calipari is preparing to take over the Arkansas Razorbacks’ basketball program.
According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan is the top name on the Wildcats’ board.
“Billy Donovan is the home run hire. Billy Donovan is the aspirational hire,” Thamel said Monday during an appearance on The Paul Finebaum Show. “He was an assistant there under Rick Pitino, there’s ties there for Billy Donovan. He obviously dominated the SEC in the mid-2000s and has been a generally successful NBA coach.”
Thamel points out one key factor to keep in mind with any potential Donovan courtship — the NBA season isn’t yet over, and it might not be for several weeks for Donovan. The Bulls are currently in the Play-In picture and will likely find themselves in the 9-10 matchup when the postseason begins on April 16. Chicago would need to win twice to make it to the NBA Playoffs. Any movement on the Donovan front would likely have to wait until after his season has ended, which means the Wildcats could be tipping their hand if the search drags on in the days that follow the national championship.
Who’ll replace Coach Cal in Lexington? @PeteThamel breaks down the early names in the search, including an NBA coach with Big Blue ties… pic.twitter.com/ZJoRJJniZ4
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) April 8, 2024
Donovan spent 5 years on Pitino’s bench as a Kentucky assistant before getting his first head coaching job at Marshall. After 2 seasons with the Thundering Herd, Donovan took over as the Florida Gators’ head coach in 1996.
He went on to win 467 games, make 14 NCAA Tournament appearances, advance to 4 Final Fours, and win 2 national championships. He is the Gators’ all-time leader in career wins by a wide margin, and he has produced 7 of the school’s 9 regular-season conference championships in basketball.
Donovan has been coaching in the NBA since the 2015-16 season. In 5 seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Donovan went 243-157. He coached to a Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals during the 2015-16 season and then coached the league MVP the following year.
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Success has been tougher to come by in Chicago, but the Bulls have had issues that extend well above Donovan during his tenure in the Windy City. He’s 154-160 in 4 seasons with the Bulls.
In September 2020, Chicago signed Donovan to a 4-year, $24 million deal. If the Bulls were to make a move, this would be the year to do it. The question becomes whether Donovan wants to return to a college landscape that is significantly different from the one he left.
UConn coach Dan Hurley joked ahead of the national championship on Monday that he has been motivated to keep winning because he doesn’t want to deal with “the portal shit.” Obviously an attempt at humor, but there’s some truth in there as well. With ongoing antitrust litigation impacting the NCAA’s ability to do much of anything, NIL and transfer portal activities will go even further off the rails this spring.
Donovan never had to deal with the transfer landscape to this degree. NIL will be an entirely new frontier. Does he want to deal with all of that? Or would he prefer to remain in the league coaching professionals? That’s certainly worth considering. So, too, is Donovan’s status as a Florida icon. The O’Connell Center floor was named after him in 2020. Does he want to return to that arena every year as the enemy?
Related Reading: Ranking the Wildcats’ options to replace John Calipari
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“In September 2020, Chicago signed Donovan to a 4-year, $24 million deal. If the Bulls were to make a move, this would be the year to do it.”
He signed a 4 year extension last year…. What fabulous reporting
Billy D didn’t like recruiting before it got exponentially worse with NIL. Not happening.
Sounds like the job is his if he wants to deal with the New Era of Recruiting and NIL. UK has a collective with plenty of money to use at Donovan’s disposal. They have to right? They had to keep the collective kept up with the bucks to sign all CJC recruiting classes to all of their NIL deals.
Forget Donavan, in today’s age you have to hire a coach that can bring some players with him.