In the last couple of weeks I actually found myself hoping that Billy Donovan would go to Kentucky. I’m not sure why exactly. Maybe I wanted Florida’s championship run to be over. Nah, the NBA draft did that. Maybe I secretly want Kentucky to be competitive again. The Kentucky game has always been the game to circle on Tennessee’s schedule every year. More than likely, it’s because I was one of the few that kept predicting that it would happen.
Much to my surprise, when Donovan turned the job down, I have to admit that I smiled a little. The anguish and embarrassment of Kentucky fans everywhere was astounding. With a single shot, somehow Kentucky basketball was a little bit less important to the world. Everyone else really already knew that. But now, deep down, Kentucky fans knew it as well.
After Billy number one made the announcement that he was staying at Florida, Kentucky message boards were absolutely flooded with outraged Wildcat fans. How could this be, they asked themselves? There was no logical explanation in their mind.
Tennessee fans know what it’s like to have a really bad coaching search that ends with a guy who no one really wanted. Pretty much every time Doug Dickey got involved in basketball it was a catastrophe. We set our coaching standards pretty low and still couldn’t land our top choice.
Now it’s Kentucky that couldn’t hire their number one candidate. According to reports, they couldn’t even lure their second choice, Rick Barnes, to Lexington. They had to settle for that other Billy. The one whose last name is not Donovan.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Billy Gillispie is a good recruiter and a solid coach. He just wasn’t the guy they really wanted. Honestly, I don’t think Billy number two looks like a Kentucky basketball coach at all. But then again, neither did Joe B. Hall.
Tony Jones staying put: Marshall hired Florida assistant Donnie Jones to be their new head basketball coach on Friday. Current Tennessee assistant, Tony Jones, had been considered a finalist for the position.