The True Story Of Billy Donovan And The Kentucky Wildcats

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Kentucky has their man in John Calipari, make no mistake about that, but just how close were they to actually landing Billy Donovan?  The answer may just surprise you. 

After talking with some people who know something in the athletic department over the past week or so, the timeline that they have presented me with actually had Billy Donovan as a Wildcat, for at least a small window of time.  For once, all of those rumors about it being a “done deal” may actually have had some legs to them.  What exactly went down in Gainesville?

Shortly before Billy Gillispie was fired in Lexington, officials from Kentucky made contacts with Billy Donovan’s agents to see how interested Donovan would be in the job.  Gillispie was gone either way, but the Kentucky officials at least wanted to have a head start on finding a replacement before they announced that he was gone.  Donovan, by all accounts, was very, very interested in heading back to Kentucky and leading the Wildcats.  One of my sources even told me “his bags were packed and he was all but gone to Lexington.”  But one thing kept Donovan from heading there.

It was not his family, surprisingly, that kept him from going.  I’m not sure where his wife stood on the issue, but she was not the stopping force that she was when Donovan went to the Magic.  Instead, that force was actually none other than Anthony Grant.  Many Gator fans held, and I even wrote about it, that Grant would not go to Alabama if Donovan had went to Kentucky and Grant, instead, would have headed to Gainesville to replace his former boss.  Apparently, we were all misled there.

Instead, Donovan made contact with Grant to see if he would indeed be there to follow Donovan if Donovan were to leave.  Surprisingly, Grant said that he did not see how he could leave Alabama high and dry after they had already made him an offer and he had already visited the campus.  My sources are a bit hazy on exactly why Grant would not leave Alabama, perhaps it was image, or perhaps Donovan had a change of heart.  For whatever reason, though, Grant informed Donovan that he would not head to Gainesville if Donovan were to bolt for Lexington.  Certainly an interesting twist as it went against virtually everything that we thought we knew.

Perhaps those rumors of Grant accepting the Alabama job in the early afternoon, almost directly after Gillispie was fired, were true, after all.  Maybe that was why Grant would not head to Gainesville, could he have already have accepted the Crimson Tide’s offer?  That seems very, very likely, even though the media timing does not quite match up, but we know how those things go.

Shortly after making contact with Grant and learning that he would not come to Gainesville, Donovan changed his mind about heading to Lexington.  If Grant was not coming to Gainesville, Donovan was not leaving the University of Florida without a clear-cut successor.  Shortly after that, the statement came out that Donovan was staying at Florida and would not pursue any other job openings.  Then, yesterday, Kentucky landed John Calipari and the saga was over.

Why was Donovan seriously considering and, indeed, planning on leaving Florida?  He built this program, after all, and Florida basketball will someday be playing in Billy Donovan Arena, so why leave?  Donovan was mad, essentially, at the Florida fan base.  According to my sources not only was he mad at the poor NIT attendance, but what really made his decision for him was the fact that Florida couldn't sell out their allotment of SEC tournament tickets when the tournament was just down in Tampa, that really bothered him.  For the record, Kentucky was the only team to sell out their entire allotment of 1200 tickets for the tournament.

But what might have been had Kentucky contacted Donovan just a little bit earlier and Grant had not accepted that Alabama job before?  Well that’s a great story for one of those “what if” stories somewhere down the line.