Immediately following Tuesday night’s announcement that North Carolina was parting ways with head men’s basketball coach Hubert Davis, one name was atop of every Tar Heels fan’s wish list: Billy Donovan. Donovan, who won back-to-back national championships at Florida in the mid-2000s, is routinely a hot name whenever a premier college basketball job comes open, and this is no different.
Except, according to The Field of 68 insider Jeff Goodman, the 60-year-old Chicago Bulls head coach is reportedly being pressured to return to the college ranks after more than a decade in the NBA. The Bulls are currently in the midst of a fourth consecutive 40-loss season and have just one playoff appearance in Donovan’s six seasons in Chicago. Meanwhile, the Hall of Fame coach still has a sterling reputation in college basketball after making four Final Four appearances between 2000-14, including winning back-to-back NCAA national titles in 2006 and 2007.
“I would assume, from all the people I’ve talked to, (North Carolina is) obviously going to swing for Billy Donovan,” Goodman said on Wednesday’s The Field of 68 podcast, “somebody like that … who’s won titles back when he was at Florida. And a lot of around Billy are telling him, ‘Now’s the time, you should take this one.’ But you just never know with Billy.”
Donovan compiled an incredible 467-186 record in 19 seasons at Florida, including 14 NCAA Tournament appearances and eight different Sweet 16s, but opted to leave the college ranks following the 2014-15 season to take over the NBA’s Oklahoma Thunder. But Donovan hasn’t experienced the same level of success in the NBA with a 466-403 record overall and making it out of the first round of the playoffs just once — in his first season (2015-16).
Is this the year Donovan decides to reverse course and return to college at one of the sport’s premier destinations? Only time will tell.
“The wildcard here is Billy Donovan. I was texting with him earlier, he didn’t give me anything,” Goodman continued Wednesday. “The Bulls stink, we know that, he’s got a lucrative contract with the Bulls right now. … But, however, there are a ton of people in Billy Donovan’s circle right now that have told Billy Donovan: ‘Get the hell out of there. You can’t win with what they’ve given you. … So go to Carolina and have a chance to win the whole thing again and change your legacy a little bit.’
“… The question is, again, would Billy Donovan leave mid-contract? Would (Bulls owner Jerry) Reinsdorf be OK with it? … He’s got a lot a lot of people right now pushing him, telling him: ‘Hey, go back to college now, go to an elite level job and you can run this thing.’”