Billy Donovan to pull a Tubby?

Florida Gators head coach Billy Donovan instructs his team as they take on the Kentucky Wildcats during the semi-final round of the SEC men's NCAA basketball tournament in New Orleans

I'm talking about the former UK coach, not the kid on the left. To anyone but a Kentucky fan, the headline to this article would sound a little scandalous. To those within the BBN, though, it still raises questions, but ones of an entirely different, and less salacious, variety. But CBSSports.com reports that Billy Donovan, a longtime Lexington favorite, will be bringing his son (also named Billy) onto the Gators team as a walk-on this coming season. As we've seen firsthand through four years of our own hoops nepotism, having your son on the team is not always a great thing. Saul Smith had some struggles throughout his four years at UK, most notably with a career shooting average of 35.9% while averaging between 13 and 25 minutes a game. According to the report:

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida coach Billy Donovan will have his oldest son on the bench this season -- and maybe on the floor the following year. ... Don't expect the younger Donovan to be like dad, though. Donovan averaged 4.0 points and 1.7 rebounds in two years at Catholic. He averaged 5.9 points and had 49 assists as a sophomore last season. The elder Donovan says it's "going to be great to have Billy here, both for our team and for our family." The coach adds that he hopes "this will be a great experience for him."

This didn't work out all that well for Tubby, it certainly didn't work out well for Bruce Pearl (although the NCAA didn't care that Steven was hanging around his dad's barbecues all the time), but Donovan is apparently under the impression that it will work out just fine for him. Even some posters on Gator message boards (I was curious) were a little uneasy:

tupacbiff: the more he plays the bigger the potential disaster. This same situation essentially cost tubby the uk job and a ton of respect.

Believe it or not, this Florida fan seems completely logical. There seems to be an inverse relationship between wins and the coach's son's playing time, but Billy, Sr. knows best, right? Just don't say we didn't warn you.