Exactly, who the hell has that much experience anyway. Basically we are throwing big money at free agents. That seems hard.
Donovan’s Press Conference Today…
- Thread starter wfc7
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Listen to the whole press conference and that’s not the impression I got at all, especially from his body language and the tone he used to address the job. Lastly, the last statement is what he has to say. Many coaches who have left for other offers have used that exact statement to address questions from the press about another job. If he were not interested at all and didn’t want to be considered, he’d have said, “No, UK is a great place, but I am not interested in coaching there at all.”
I predicted Cal was our coach in 2009 and something in my gut tells me this is when we get Donovan. I've been saying that in coach threads all year. He's scratched the NBA itch and is realizing it's just not going to go his way in the last decade of his career. He has turned us down twice but hell, third time is a charm.
This. 1000%. Not to mention the rumored (don't know if it was ever confirmed) reason he went to the NBA...he got tired of recruiting, especially against Cal. It's only gotten worse since he's been out of the college game. Oh, yeah, and the fact that he's already turned us down twice before...
The "Has John even left?" comment while immediately looking for a laugh from the room was interesting. That sounds like someone who's been invested after how hilarious yesterday's events were.
Do you want to go all-in on somebody who has turned us down twice and says they aren’t interested for a third time. That strategy gets us BCGII.
Billy Donovan in either the want or need version is a much better fit for UK than Hurley or Drew. And where do you get the information he was so tired of recruiting against Cal (as most coaches were back in 2010-2014) to the point back then, that here 10 years later, he isn’t ready to leave the NBA and end his career at UK?
We’d not be going all-in like that if Mitch has learned anything from the past and Donovan is interested, as I believe he appears to be.
Which 2 times was the job offered to him? I've never heard him say the job was offered to him
To be honest I don't know. It's just always been the general consensus on this board that he's been offered twice and turned it down. If I'm wrong then, well no harm no foul. I doubt Donovan cares what I think. Lol
I have no clue if Donovan has been contacted or if Mitch is even going to but that press conference was a thing of beauty watching him dance around those questions. I am no body language expert nor do I typically like reading between the lines(just ask my wife) but he was uncomfortable with those questions for one reason or another. Either he’s been contacted and is trying not to lie about it or expects to be.
As I said in my post, it's based on rumors that to my knowledge were never substantiated, but that was the word going around when he left for the NBA. And if he's ready to end his career here, he could've done so 10+ years ago, but he turned us down, twice. And I don't know how you can say that about Hurley. He's exactly what we need. A fiery, proven coach who's as crazy about basketball as we are.
Yeah. I've heard it repeated over and over, but no one has ever showed where he said he was offered the job once, much less twice.
Pretty sure Tubby Smith and Cal were both THE guys they wanted when they were hired. IF my friend is right when he told me before BCG was hired that BCG was in fact who they would go after if Tubby left. I had no idea whonhe was whatsoever, and my friend knew very little the first time he mentioned it.
I never saw anything where Donovan was or said he was offered the job. If I recall he said he wasn't leaving or it wasn't an option or something.
Just bugged me and pissed me off that he might never have been offered when we hired BCG. Still does actually. Sure we wonna title with Cal, but I always thought BD was a better coach
I'd rather have Drew over Donovan now that I know he has a top recruiting class. Who wants to wait around a couple of years for Donovan to put a contender on the floor?
It’s clear in the press confernce that he did not say he wasn’t interested in the UK job, in fact, using the “coach speak” that is “I’m committed to the team I’m coaching” in response to a question from the press while also going on about the other job for over a minute strongly implies the opposite.
Otherwise, look, you don’t have to believe Donovan is interested. You can certainly believe Drew is the choice and the best choice. But what I do hope will end is the adversarial “agree or leave” tone and posts between UK fans. We all have opinions, and often very strong ones, about UK Basketball and what’s best for its success. I think we can agree to disagree regarding those ideas and do so with civility and kindness.
Again, as others have said, with NIL, transfers, and the allure of Donovan and UK to recruits, UK could very easily be in the Final Four mix this coming year. There’s no evidence to show Drew can do that faster with a freshman class and NIL. He’s certainly not done it before. I’ll have Donovan’s UK, Florida, and NBA experience over Drew’s single national title pre-NIL every day of the week and twice on Sundays. And that’s not a knock on Drew. He’s just not in the same class as Donovan.
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Donovan just has to recruit and coach. He can hire people to handle NIL and the portal. I'd think Donovan would actually excel at the portal given his ability to coach up moderate talent.
It’s Donovan. Hurley info is a smoke screen. The agent is back dooring right now and details are being sorted out. I don’t know how they’re going to handle this, maybe he resigns. But there’s no way to keep a lid on this for a week if it’s Billy.
man everything lines up. Billy would have killed it immediately he’s in the damn playoffs. He signaled to Kentucky.
WOW man, is this real?
man everything lines up. Billy would have killed it immediately he’s in the damn playoffs. He signaled to Kentucky.
WOW man, is this real?
Donovan is better than Hurley as he 1. Knows the UK landscape better, 2. Is equally as skilled and fiery as Hurley, and 3. Won’t leave for the Knicks in 3-4 years. He would very likely want to end his career at UK, not use it as a stepping stone to the NBA. And don’t get me wrong, I’ll be thrilled if we get Hurley. I just don’t want to see us settle for Drew because the best efforts weren’t made to get Donovan or Hurley.
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Establishment/Barnhardt vs people/fans: the nerds in charge want Drew. The fans want Billy. That's all this is. Hopefully the boosters support billy.
Thank you!!! That's my point exactly!! I remember reading that after the 2nd rejection, he said he hated UK. It was in the press. Why would he say that? I said before, I want someone who is ALL IN for UK!!! After Cal, that's all I want...to put UK first!!!!!
I’m getting tired of reading he turned us down in the past. A lot of things change in 15 years and we’re at a point that we really need a coach like him to turn this thing around. His time spent in the NBA will help him with recruiting, imo. It would be great timing for him and us right now. He’s not very well liked in Chicago from what I’ve read.
Nerds want drew. Boosters want hurley and i'd say billy also.
Where has Billy Donovan ever stated he “hated Kentucky”??
People say anything on here. Dude said he was flattered to be linked with us. He also said we were a great program. Dude literally got his career going here.
Outside of the 2 title teams which were the same team, was Billy that good? A lot of coaches catch lightning in the bottle and can pull off wins (Donovan, Wright, and now Hurley). But prove to me that you can build winners plural.
Because that's what we need here.
Because that's what we need here.
No source But a very wealthy friend of mine who gives a lot of money to UK believes it too. He’s not privy to that kind of thing but he knows his way around. We both believe it I mean it’s kind of directly in our faces.
My issue is, if we want Billy to move now, he has a tendency of getting cold feet. I could see him saying he’s just gonna hang in the NBA because of the situation. The guy sent a signal to UK there’s no doubt. 6 million with the Bulls and about to be unemployed, 10/11million and a brand new job? And he’d be the talk of the basketball world
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I'm half mast right now. Those ESPN ****s in Bristol, CT and their UCONN hype machine will be floored.
Billy knows this is his last chance at UK. Hopefully he’s sick of 82 games a year and not being any good.
So for the people that are still mad he turned us down 15 years ago. Are you still the same person today as you were in that span of time? A lot can change in 15 years.
I just can't agree with you about Donovan over Hurley. One has been out of the college game for nearly a decade, and the other is coming off of back to back championships. And I don't know that Donovan is fiery when he hasn't coached college for 10 years, and has no experience dealing with current college recruiting (NIL, transfer portal). I can agree with you on one aspect however, Drew just isn't it. And the whole Hurley going to the NBA thing...How many NBA jobs was Cal rumored to be involved with over the years? Just because people speculate about it, doesn't mean it's going to happen.
Yep. I’d say it’s actually Barnhart vs
Good points.
As I’ve already noted, I actually think Donovan’s NBA experience managing younger rosters, drafts, and salaries / personalities makes him better equipped than Hurley per NIL / transfers. And Hurley’s championship success has caught fire after some lean starting years. That’s a push with Donovan esp as he’s coaching NBA players who play a lot like the college game is played now, but he likes defense as much as Hurley and a heck of a lot more than most NBA players do. And having been at UK and getting the culture isn’t something a person knows they can handle until they are here. I think Hurley would be okay. I KNOW Donovan would be. Drew would likely have some challenges.
So, I prefer Donovan over Hurley, yet both are what UK needs. Drew is good, but I see him as a Barnhart safe hire that isn’t on the same tier as Donovan and Hurley.
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Since it seems a point of contention whether or not Billy D turned the job down twice, here's what a quick search turned up in the coaching search post Gillispie. Per ESPN:
"Nearly two months after turning down Kentucky in 2007, Donovan took a job with the NBA's Orlando Magic but changed his mind after just a couple days on the job."
www.espn.com
"Nearly two months after turning down Kentucky in 2007, Donovan took a job with the NBA's Orlando Magic but changed his mind after just a couple days on the job."
Florida's Donovan spurns Kentucky interest
Billy Donovan made it clear Friday he has no interest in the Kentucky job or any other opening, reaffirming his desire to stay in Gainesville and get the Gators back to the NCAA tournament.
You just hire Billy Donovan and let him figure out NIL/Transfer portal stuff. He’s a smart guy. UK clearly has a higher ceiling with Donovan than Drew. He’s basically a Jay Wright level hire
