"According to Kyle Tucker of The Athletic, despite earlier reports to the contrary, Kentucky did indeed make contact with Billy Donovan. It was unclear if the contact was made directly or through his representatives this week. The former Florida Gators’ head coach decided to not pursue the UK vacancy, according to the report." Donovan built Florida into one of the most dominant programs in college basketball history during his time there (1996-2015). Under his guidance, the Gators won back-to-back national crowns in 2006 and 2007, cementing their right place as one of the greatest teams in college basketball history. They also punched their tickets to the Final Four four times (2000, 2006, 2007, and 2014). Individually, he won three SEC Coach of the Year Awards with Florida (2011, 2013, and 2014). He also guided the Gators to six regular season championships (2000, 2001, 2007, 2011, 2013, and 2014) and four SEC Tournament crowns (2005, 2006, 2007, and 2014). Report reveals update on Kentucky's interest in Billy Donovan before Mark Pope hire
No way, especially now with NIL and the portal. He left primarily because of recruiting taking up all of his time. In this new climate of college basketball, it's now all about one-and-done rosters. Billy absolutely hates the way college sports have devolved. No amount of money Kentucky threw at him would make him say yes.
I totally agree with this and share this same feeling. I am hoping with Pope we have some stability in the program.
There seem to be competing reports about this and even Kyle Tucker stated UK didn't pursue "aggressively", whatever that means. Either way, I do agree Billy's decision would have been the same either way. I'm glad some are saying we kinda got a "no" from him. I don't blame UK for approaching him any of the 3 times. As y'all know better than I do, he's legit.
