Florida head basketball coach, Billy Donovan’s name has been linked to several NBA vacancies this year and in season’s past. Although he hasn’t made the leap yet, that doesn’t mean he’s completely ruling it out.
When asked at SEC meetings recently, Donovan said he plans on returning to Florida, but will not make any guarantees.
¨I think when you start making guarantees about life and start making guarantees about where you’re going to be, that’s not good,” he said. “If for some reason I ever change my mind and did something, I wouldn’t want (people) saying, ‘Well, he promised, he guaranteed, he said this on record.’ I just think when you start doing that, that’s a mistake.¨
“I’ve seen a lot of coaches over the years come out and say, ‘No, no, no, no, I’m not going anywhere, I’m not going anywhere,’ and then all of a sudden they go somewhere and it’s like, ‘Well, this guy is a complete liar.’ I don’t want to get into that situation. There’s been some teams that have called, but that’s really it.”
Although this may not be a popular opinion in Gainsville, I respect Billy’s reluctance to make guarantees. There’s nothing worse than a coach that makes promises to the fans and more importantly his/her players while interviewing for jobs behind their backs. Donovan admits that there has been interest and justifiably so. I wouldn’t be surprised if he tested the NBA waters in the next few years.