Third Time Is The Charm: Reports Are Saying Billy Donovan Is Finally Interested In The Kentucky Job, NIL Could Tempt Him To Take It
Hello, old friend. The white whale that eluded Kentucky before. The guy who was supposed to be Kentucky's coach but has his name on another SEC team's floor. A guy who has been out of the game for a decade. This is where we are at less than 24 hours in to the Kentucky coaching search. It was a guarantee that Billy Donovan would be mentioned, I don't fully get it, but it was a guarantee.
What I can't get over is now we're talking about Billy Donovan being interested because of NIL? The one reason people keep talking about why guys are leaving the game and Billy Donovan is willing to jump right back in. What the hell does Billy Donovan know that no one else knows?
It's simple to me, but I'm not Mitch Barnhart. Step 1 is call Dan Hurley until he says yes or gets a restraining order. Big brain move so you don't have to play UConn again either way. Just accomplish step 1. If he says no then it's Nate Oats. Rico is banned, no matter what he thinks, and we embrace launching threes. After that it's the group of Scott Drew, Billy Donovan, Tommy Lloyd, Sean Miller. It shouldn't go any longer than that. I'm skeptical of Donovan. The fact he has been out of the game for so long, the fact that he turned us down before, it feels like a desperate move. It feels like calling your ex at 2am, it working out one weekend and then you immediately remember why you can't stand each other.
I've never been part of a coaching search. I was there when we hired Billy Gillispie, but that wasn't replacing Calipari. I was a senior when Calipari got hired. That was the no-brainer. That was one call and Calipari immediately saying yes. Not really a search when you know what's happening. So when I see something like this with Donovan and a bunch of people saying his name, I'm gonna get nervous. Titus and Jeff D. Lowe are talking about shitting their brains out in Arizona, how do you think I feel?
Let's just make sure Billy Donovan knows a couple things first. Can't trade guys, Zach LaVine isn't a thing and Jerry isn't coming with him from Chicago. If we get that cleared up and he's interested, I'll listen. Not my first call, not my first three calls. But I'll listen.