For full disclosure: I am a huge Florida fan and my opinions are skewed accordingly.
I would be very suprised if Billy Donovan left Florida for Kentucky. He has a very proactive AD who will pay whatever it takes to keep him, great fan support and has Florida playing at a higher level the Kentucky for the forseeable future. At Florida he is the man who put UF basketball on the map. At UK he would be the next guy who isn't quite Adolf Rupp. After witnessing the treatment of Ron Zook first hand and seeing how Kentucky fans likewise treated Tubby (after a NC and something like 14 strait tournament appearances) he would be foolish to leave. I'm not saying its an impossible idea because you never know but it just doesn't make sense to anyone outside of Kentucky. He should use this while renegotiating his contract however. I would expect this to play out after Florida's tournament run is complete this year. Other things to consider: - The mythical out in Donovan's contract for Kentucky is made up by Kentucky fans. There is no such thing. - Donovan does have an out for any school as long as it is done in the month of March. So if Florida is able to make the championship game (big if), Billy will be busy until the 31'st leaving only a few hours to get a deal done. However since Kentucky won't have to buy out Tubby now, they may be able to buy out Billy instead. - FYI Link to his contract: http://images.usatoday.com/sports/graphics/basketball_contracts/pdfs/florida_bb.pdf - He has been the head coach at Florida for longer then he was an assistant at Kentucky. - Florida's talent, even after the 3 juniors go pro after the season is better then Kentucky's talent given the underclassmen in school and the current recruiting classes. So it will be harder for Donovan to win at Kentucky as soon as he would be able to win at Florida. Would he be given the time to lose short term with inferior talent? I wouldn't give Kentucky the benefit of the doubt. Just like I wouldn't give Florida the benefit of the doubt in football. On 3/23/07, Nick McClure <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I don't think Mark Few has what it takes to live in the spotlight. > > And ESPN commentator said something that I agree with. To paraphrase: > There > are only two coaches capable of the spotlight that is Kentucky Basketball. > One of them was the coach before Tubby and the other one is Billy Donovan, > who was an assistant here. > > For a while I didn't think Billy Donovan would come here until I read that > they don't sell out home games in Florida, where they only have a 13,000 > person arena. We put 23k plus in the stands for exhibitions. Now I think > he > just might. > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: G Money [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Sent: Friday, March 23, 2007 7:49 AM > > To: CF-Community > > Subject: Re: NCAA News - Tubby Smith becoming a Gopher > > > > I'm happy for him. Not waiting around to see if UK was going to fire > > him > > with all that speculation. A good job came open, they wanted him, so he > > took > > it. > > > > Kentucky's problem over the last few years has been talent, not the > > system. > > They still don't have a top 50 recruit signed for next year. Maybe > > that's > > Tubby's fault. > > > > As for replacements, I've heard tons of names, but the one that > > intrigues me > > is Mark Few from Gonzaga. > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Upgrade to Adobe ColdFusion MX7 Experience Flex 2 & MX7 integration & create powerful cross-platform RIAs http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion/flex2/?sdid=RVJQ Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:231172 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
