Billy Donovan is staying at UF!

[estreetposse]

my wife's 3rd cousin's best friend, she heard from her brother's sister in law's uncle whose son happens to be friends with the stepbrother of the waterboy for Eastside High School Basketball team that he overheard his sister's father(not his father) say that his Aunt's gynecologist bestest friend in the whole wide world heard from the bartender at the Ale House that...

BILLY WAS GOING NOWHERE!!!

[whorstman]

Originally Posted by Pointg5

This is all speculation and this is all from the media, but here's how I believe it went down:

Local sports talk radio guy is a UK Grad and was the beat writer for UK for the Cincinnati Post, he's good friends with Mick Cronin(he didn't mention his source, but I would say this is straight from Cronin) and Cronin was Pitino's assistant at Louisville. He was told that Pitino did get involved in this with Donovan and basically told Donovan: "Look what those fans did to me after I left, look what they did to Tubby, you want them to do that to you" and while it wasn't the only reason he didn't take the job, the actions of the fans weighed heavily on it.

Dude, Pitino did the one thing that you do not do. He broke the hearts of many to bolt for the NBA in the middle of a historic run. Then, had the nuts to come back and coach the most hated rival of the blue. I would not be a bit suprised that he told Billy D that. Pitino is a used car salesmen that always down plays everything to make himself look like a genius. He probably also told him that it's not that bad coaching at a football school

My take is that I would have loved to have gotton Donovan to KY, but he really did have no earthly reason to do so. Now Billy Gillespie looks like a good hire. I think he will be motivated and the change will be refreshing.

On the subject of the UK fans, we are very passionate about our team, no doubt. But, go to Rupp Arena for a game and you will never, ever hear a boo that is directed at the team or coach. We stand behind our team no matter what. Even this season after losing 3 in a row and sleepwalking thru the game against LSU, the team did not get booed.

Anyway, the future looks good for the Big Blue and I'm happy with the Billy we got!

[saucon17]

Originally Posted by whorstman

My take is that I would have loved to have gotton Donovan to KY, but he really did have no earthly reason to do so. Now Billy Gillespie looks like a good hire. I think he will be motivated and the change will be refreshing.

On the subject of the UK fans, we are very passionate about our team, no doubt. But, go to Rupp Arena for a game and you will never, ever hear a boo that is directed at the team or coach. We stand behind our team no matter what. Even this season after losing 3 in a row and sleepwalking thru the game against LSU, the team did not get booed.

Anyway, the future looks good for the Big Blue and I'm happy with the Billy we got!

Right on this is a great hire for UK, This guy turned around a below average
A&M teams into a powerhouse in the Big 12. As for the fans when I lived
in Lexington in themid 90's for a couple of years went to quite a few games at
Rupp and I couldn't believe how supportive the fans were towards their team
when they were not playing well.

[pmayjr]

Gillespie is an interesting hire. I think it could work, but I'm not quite convinced. The first few years he will have to make a big impact. It will help if they can capitalize on a somewhat weaker Florida team (Florida will still be good eventhough they lost everyone), and get in a big recruiting class going into 2 seasons from now.

The guy that I think has been flying under the radar all along, and I think could end up in Arkansas, is Lon Kruger (the UNLV coach). I think he could've been very good for Kentucky too. He almost seems to have a Parcells type of M.O. to him. At every COLLEGE program he's coached at, he's won. But more than that, he's resurrected each program he's coached.

What was Florida before him? Billy Donovan has taken Florida to new heights, but Lon Krueger put the program on the map in the early-mid 90s. Then when Illinois went in the dumps in the mid 90s (when Lew Henson retired... temporarily), he made them a powerhouse. He's the one who's started this 10-year run that Illinois has been on. He laid the ground floor for that. It wasn't Bill Self, it wasn't Bruce Weber, it was Lon Kruger.

Then Krueger made the mistake that Pitino, Tarkanian, Mike Montgomery, Tim Floyd, etc etc etc have made: They took the big NBA $$$ and failed. right when Illinois was about to become a big-time national powerhouse, he left to coach the Atlanta Hawks... and failed just like every other Hawks coach in the last 10-15 years.

But then he turned up at UNLV, and in 2 seasons has made them a formidable team again. Vegas isn't such a bad place to be, and he could make UNLV into a Mountain West powerhouse. Just like Rick Majerus and Utah in the late 90s. BUT THIS IS WHERE THE PARCELL'S COMPARISON COMES INTO PLAY: He resurrects down programs, and then doesn't stick around for the long-term success.

If UK would've given him a chance, I think he might've finally found his permanent home. I think Arkansas would be smart to give him a look. They have a core group coming back, and Krueger can build that team for the future as well.