Billy Donovan going to Magic

I do think it was a very good move for Billy Donovan. He gets to stay in Florida and now he goes to an improving NBA franchise. I can't see how any one wouldn't like this move from a career stand point. Most coaches want to win at the highest level of competition and if even things do not go as smoothly as he would like in the NBA, he will always have a good job in the College game. Low risk, High reward move for Billy Donovan.

 

Roy Williams, Larry Brown, Nick Saban, Bobby Petrino, Mark Turgeon, Billy Gillispie ... just sub in different names to reflect the school at the time. It's happened before, it's sure to happen again.

 

"BILLY HAS 36 MILLION REASONS TO LEAVE GAINESVILLE...."

 

Coaches can be dropped at any moment so why would they feel any responsibly to stay. Coaching is not an easy profession to be involved with. You always have to coach your players on the court or playing field and have to worry about them outside of it. Not to mention how you are constantly under pressure to win every game and sign major recruits. I will never criticize a coach for looking for better opportunities because they are always on the hot seat.

 

If the players in that program could immediately leave, just the same as their coach, I wouldn't have a problem with it.

 

That is what is hilarious to me -- the same fans who put together www.fireinsertcoachesname.com web-sites, threaten to cut off their donations, flood talk shows and e-mail inboxes with complaints about a coach in an attempt to get him fired think coaches should have undying loyalty to their favorite team and are offended when they don't.

 

And before dinner too... thanks, zag...

 

We'd all do it, too, if we could.

 

the rule could be very simple -- if your coach leaves or is fired you can transfer anywhere you want without penalty --except for the school he is headed to.

 

And when he comes back to the college ranks somewhere, he'll be able to still recruit the best of the best because he can tell them "I was in the NBA, I have NBA ties that will help you in the draft, etc etc."

 

Here's some sourceless speculation for the sake of gossip: Recently hired Arkansas coach John Pelphrey was a very popular assistant at Florida under Donovan. Wouldn't Pelphrey trying to back out of his Arkansas commitment for the UF job, and Arkansas once again being spurned for that job, make some fun drama?

 

The handwriting was on the wall for this the minute Donovan turned down Kentucky.

Suck-ups like Mike Bianchi and Andy Katz went on and on and on and on about how Billy turned down Kentucky because he just just llllllloooooovvvvvvvveeeeeeedddddddd Florida and how it was a better program now than Kentucky.

Please.

Billy's choice was Kentucky or the NBA. He chose the NBA. It was only a matter of which team and how much money.

Billy already has his legacy in college ball. He was at the mountain top at Florida. There was no place to go but down. Will he work out in the NBA? Probably not. But he'll coach for three years and make $36 million and set up his family for generations. Then he'll get fired and will have his pick of college jobs. It's the way of the world, and there's nothing wrong with it. The worst thing that can happen is he'll get fired, which is OK because every NBA coach gets fired. Big deal.