Billy Donovan
It’s paramount not only for Indiana to get this coaching search right but to hire someone with relevant coaching experience. Woodson was a former Hoosier player and remains an important part of the program’s history, but his lack of collegiate coaching experience was a stain that was clearly ignored four years ago. However, there is one very relevant name currently coaching in the NBA that would fit their interests.
Donovan played point guard under Rick Pitino at Providence and later began his coaching career on Pitino’s Kentucky staff in the early 90’s. After brief success in his head coaching debut at Marshall, Donovan would spend 19 years building immense prosperity down in Gainesville, taking Florida to a pair of national championships and four Final Four appearances. Donovan left for the NBA in 2015, spending five years with the Oklahoma City Thunder and is now in his fifth year leading the Chicago Bulls.
Out of college ball for a decade, there may be some concerns about Donovan readjusting to the college game, let alone if he even wants to dive into the world of NIL and the Transfer Portal. Life in this sport was much different for coaches when he left Florida in 2015. The price wouldn’t be cheap to lure someone like Donovan back to the college game and it really depends on mutual interest. Donovan is likely satisfied continuing his career in Chicago, but he’s worth a call.