We're At The Nightmare Scenario - Kentucky Being 'All In' On Billy Donovan, The Same Guy Who Turned Us Down Twice In His Life Before
We knew Hurley wasn't coming. His wife made that very clear. But now it's official and Kentucky lost its top two candidates. Hurley and Drew. They were 1 and 2. Now where do we? The nightmare scenario:
Oh, look. I'm back in 2007 and 2009 just like that. Great years for sure, I was in college with no cares in the world. Now I have zero hair and two kids. Life is different. You know what's not different? The terrifying scenario of being all in on Billy Donovan, a man who rejected us twice. A man who hasn't coached college basketball in a decade. A man who got out of the game to live NBA dreams and not worry about recruiting.
Why?
Because Mitch Barnhart is a terrible athletic director. Without a doubt he thought Scott Drew was the smart, safe hire. Now Drew said no and he's trying to win the name game. Yes, Billy Donovan was fucking awesome at Florida. But we're talking about 2024 Billy Donovan, not 2006-2014. Why go all in on a guy, who you can't even hire until the Bulls season is over? You don't punt on year 1 like suggested above. With the transfer portal, guys have had plenty of success in year 1. You can't punt any year anymore in the college game.
Not to mention going all in on anyone that isn't named Hurley is as dumb as it gets. I keep hearing you can only hire guys with Tournament success - so that leaves Tom Izzo, Tony Bennett, Rick Pitino and Bill Self. Numerous Final Fours? That leaves Jim Larranaga, Kelvin Sampson, Thad Matta and Mark Few. You get my point here, right? Hell active coaches with 1 Final Four include - Dusty May, Matt Painter, Kevin Keatts, Mick Cronin, Porter Moser, Bruce Pearl, Brian Dutcher, Hubert Davis and Shaka Smart.
If you're Kentucky and you hire any name there besides the legends and people will freak out. My point is there's not a lot out there in terms of historical success in the NCAA Tournament. Donovan has that, Pitino has that. But there are fears of how long they've been out of the game or age.
This was my biggest fear with this coaching search. Mitch Barnhart, freaking out if his two dream hires said no. He's trying to go back to the well and get a guy who turned him down twice. There's no surefire anything in this sport, but people acting like Donovan will come in and immediately be awesome are crazy. There's hesitation. And again, you're waiting nearly another week, maybe longer, for the season to end. Don't be all in on any guy right now.