I just watched the replay of the 1997 championship game. What a pivotial time that was when RP left. For the millioneth time I thought again of what heights we would have reached if CM Newton had signed Billy Donavan. Basically a whole decade was lost. When Florida won those two national championships I was mad enough to spit nails. I liked CM but that was a mistake of lifetime.
Donavan or Smith
- Thread starter Swimcat20
- Start date
Is this hindsight or did you truly want Donovan hired in 1997?
I honestly wanted him or Cal (Cal was my first pick in every opening 97, 07 and 09)
I like Donovan. But if he had the same run here that he had in Florida, he never would’ve survived to get to those back to back titles. In the 5 years from 2001 to 2005, he lost in the opening weekend each year and only had 3 tournament wins in those 5 years. He was a punch line on this board. And don’t say “he would’ve recruited much better at UK” - recruiting wasn’t his problem. He wouldn’t have lasted here to see the growth and development he eventually achieved...
There was no reason to hire Billy Donovan in 1997 to coach the University of Kentucky.
He had been a head coach for 3 years.
He had never made the NIT, let alone the NCAA.
He had a career record of 48-37.
He had completed his first year at Florida going 13-17.
Oh, but he won two national championships. Yes, in his 10th year after getting hired at Florida. You think he would have lasted that long at Kentucky. That's when most guys quit.
Oh but he was so good, we would give him time. For 5 years in a row before that first championship, Donovan lost in the round of 32 or quicker. 2 opening round losses. People were mad at Tubby for losing in the Elite Eight. You can argue Kentucky talent changes that, but are you telling me he couldn't get it to Florida for 5 years and win two games in the tournament?
Donovan is a great coach. Would have been super replacement instead of Billy G and adequate for Cal. But 1997 was too early for him and would have been a lose lose situation.
He had been a head coach for 3 years.
He had never made the NIT, let alone the NCAA.
He had a career record of 48-37.
He had completed his first year at Florida going 13-17.
Oh, but he won two national championships. Yes, in his 10th year after getting hired at Florida. You think he would have lasted that long at Kentucky. That's when most guys quit.
Oh but he was so good, we would give him time. For 5 years in a row before that first championship, Donovan lost in the round of 32 or quicker. 2 opening round losses. People were mad at Tubby for losing in the Elite Eight. You can argue Kentucky talent changes that, but are you telling me he couldn't get it to Florida for 5 years and win two games in the tournament?
Donovan is a great coach. Would have been super replacement instead of Billy G and adequate for Cal. But 1997 was too early for him and would have been a lose lose situation.
Agree with this here. You don’t give the keys to the greatest program of all time, who has been to back-to-back national championship games, to a 32 year old who hadn’t even been to the NIT yet after 3 years as a head coach. You just don’t. could you imagine us doing that now? People would flip!
Exactly. He would have been gone long before he ever got a chance to produce titles in 2006 and 2007.
Thank you. Finally some sanity instead of revisionism. Tubby had just taken friggin Georgia to the Sweet 16. He made sense. I dont remember anyone clamoring for Billy Donovan at the time.
How many Championships did Donovan win after those two? How many NBA championships has he won?
What a mistake the hiring of Tubby was.
Donovan took Florida from the basement floor and won titles. Tubby inherited the most dominant program and couldn’t even crack the elite 8 after year 1.
With the position that UK was in when Pitino left, Donovan would’ve kept the train rolling over everyone. Tubby = failure
Donovan took Florida from the basement floor and won titles. Tubby inherited the most dominant program and couldn’t even crack the elite 8 after year 1.
With the position that UK was in when Pitino left, Donovan would’ve kept the train rolling over everyone. Tubby = failure
We'll never know. In the ?2016 Western Conference Finals, Rookie NBA Coach, Billy Donovan, coached Oklahoma to a 3-1 lead over Golden State. If not for the choke job by Kevin Durant who knows what The Thunder could have achieved. The next year in 2017, Durant surprisingly left Oklahoma and joined Golden St for his one-and-only NBA Championship.
As a Florida fan, it was bittersweet to lose an all-time college coach in Billy Donovan to the NBA. However, I and many Gator fans everywhere will forever be grateful & appreciative in what Donovan established and achieved for UF basketball. We can only wish Donovan the best as he is a classy individual.
Donovan's offensive system (which he learned under Rick Pitino as both a player at Providence & later as an assistant coach at Kentucky) is conducive in bringing out a player's best ability in a team-oriented concept. Recall, Russell WestBrook averaging a triple double for an unprecedented two straight years. Now, that Westbrook is at Houston, his number have gone down again.
At Florida, he had 2-3 players that had a triple-double with the gators: Nick Calathes, Corey Brewer and I believe David Lee, also.
As for what Donovan did after those post-two, back-to-back national titles, from 2011-2014, Donovan had Florida winning three regular SEC titles in four years. In 2014, Florida had also gone 21-0 in the SEC, retained the #1 overall seed for the NCAAs for only the 2nd time in their history and a Final4 in 2014. Prior to 2014, UF went to three straight E8's.
During that period, Florida's toughest competition as always was Kentucky/Calapari. During that 4-year stretch (2011-2014), the only year that UF did not win the SEC was when UK won their last NC in 2012 with Anthony Davis & co.
As a Gator fan, those were good times to follow college basketball.
My problem at the time with the Tubby hire was that CM never talked to anybody else. Why not explore all possible options. You could have taken Tubby Smith from Georgia anytime you wanted to. That option was never going away.
We can argue all night long about what we knew or should have known in 1997. Obviously, we know now that Billy Donovan is a far superior coach to Tubby Smith. The dumbest person in the world can see that now. But it wasn’t so clear in 1997.
Wasn't Donavon a Pitino assistant at Kentucky. Maybe he didn't want the pressure of coaching here.
In hindsight, the biggest red flag about hiring Tubby was that he received Pitino’s endorsement.
What wasn’t clear then was that Pitino would never endorse someone he thought could challenge his legacy here.
What wasn’t clear then was that Pitino would never endorse someone he thought could challenge his legacy here.
I agree with your point but we did hire BCG ten years later after he beat UofL to go the elite eight.
False.
Assuming Donovan put up similar numbers at UK as he did at UF, he likely would’ve been fired sometime between 2002-2005.
You're talking about the Pitino after the NBA flameout, post-UL hire who would've possibly had this type of hate for Kentucky. Upon his departure, I doubt that was his intention, to punish UK further by endorsing a bad coach.
Totally agree. Tubby was lazy and UK kept him far too long.
His hire was compounded by the terrible hiring of the drunken Clyde.
The hire of Cal was genius however and has brought UK back to prominence with another title to boot.
Tubby just had the better resume at the time.
Some people forget that before going to georgia, tubby had taken tulsa to the s16 twice during his four or five years there. he was a well regarded coach at the time he came to ky.
I think you meant Final 4. Tubby cracked the Elite 8 in 1999, 2003 and 2005 after winning it all.
I don’t think Pitino was motivated by hatred of UK to endorse an okay but likely not great coach, but by love of his own ego. He always has that, and he knew a great coach succeeding him would cause him to lose some shine.
Yeah, he came close to the f4 a few times. 2ot loss to mich st in regional championship
Yeah, he came close to the f4 a few times. 2ot loss to mich st in regional championship
Probably my #3 heartbreaking loss behind ‘92 and ‘15. I was too young when ‘84 happened. Seems almost criminal Chuck Hayes never played in a Final 4.
Even if UK had made it, Chuck would have missed playing in the FF because Tubby would have forgotten that he was still on the bench![winking]
What’s wild is Donovan turned down the UK job not once but twice but that doesn’t fit the narrative for the OP or anyone else clamoring for Billy D.
People forget the man ran back to Gainesville because Orlando put up a billboard welcoming him. Can you imagine what Kentucky would have done to him? As Cal says, Kentucky isn’t for everybody.
That goes for coaches too.
People forget the man ran back to Gainesville because Orlando put up a billboard welcoming him. Can you imagine what Kentucky would have done to him? As Cal says, Kentucky isn’t for everybody.
That goes for coaches too.
Absolutely. He had done that and then replicated it at UGA. It seemed like an absolute no brainer at the time.
Pitino SAID he endorsed Tubby. But CM later said that Pituno recommended Donovan.
And if that sounds odd, remember he did the same with Cal. Where he says he recommended him to take the UMASS job, but everyone else inn the search said he did the opposite. They thought Pituno was jealous of guy younger than him taking the job.