Tuesday brought us the news that Billy Donovan would be stepping down after six seasons as the head coach of the Chicago Bulls. In recent weeks, the Bulls have cleaned house in their front office, albeit with the hope and expectation of retaining Donovan’s services. However, it seems that Chicago’s NBA franchise will truly be heading in a new direction.
Back and Forth
Donovan has spent the last eleven years coaching in the NBA, but he’s of course best known for his earlier work in college basketball. A former point guard at Providence, he played under Rick Pitino and was one of his first hires at Kentucky in 1989, the very first step of Donovan’s long coaching career. After a few years with the Wildcats, Donovan would take the top job at Marshall and begin a more than three-decade run helming programs and franchises.
His most prolific success obviously came at Florida, building the basketball success for a Gators program largely absent of history and prominence before his arrival in 1996. Donovan took the Gators to the national title game for the first time ever in just his fourth season before more notably winning consecutive national titles in 2006 and 2007. Near the end of his tenure, he got Florida to a fourth Final Four among several dozen tournament wins in Gainesville.
Donovan took the opportunity to jump to the NBA in 2015, one year after that last Final Four appearance. He took the Oklahoma City Thunder to the playoffs five years in a row, but couldn’t quite match that progress in his time in Chicago. The issues with the Bulls and their franchise ran beyond Donovan’s control and his work there certainly hasn’t hampered his career outlook.
After his resignation, Donovan is put in an interesting position. The NBA playoffs only just began and the offseason for the sport is still weeks away. Donovan could very easily wait around and snag another head coaching gig in the NBA. Even after trouble with the Bulls, he’s still a very attractive candidate that would get offers from across the league. However, what if another NBA gig isn’t in the cards?
What's Next?
There’s always the possibility that Donovan returns to college basketball. Barring something unforeseen, it’s not happening immediately, as every prominent coaching opening has already been filled this offseason. That doesn’t mean that Donovan would be against sitting out or broadcasting for a year and then jumping at an opportunity, though maybe he won’t even have to wait.
There have been rumblings that if Steve Kerr steps aside from the Golden State Warriors that Todd Golden is an emerging candidate. The young coach just took Florida to the national championship twelve months ago and has accomplished quite a lot in his brief head coaching tenure. If that crazy move was to come to pass, could Donovan return to Gainesville and lead the Gators into the future once more?
Additionally, what if the brass in Lexington decides to make a change, especially with such a high-profile coach on the market? Mark Pope has done fine work in his first two seasons at Kentucky but perhaps the Wildcats want a more established coach. As we mentioned earlier, Donovan was on the Wildcats staff three decades ago and his familiarity with the SEC and professional ball would be attractive.
A lot could happen in the coming weeks, months, and years but it’s hard to imagine that Donovan’s coaching career is over. We could have all of this speculation just for him to grab another NBA job, but both Florida and Kentucky would be appealing landing spots and he could really revolutionize both of those programs again. Do you think we see Donovan on college sidelines again?
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