{"id":681817,"date":"2026-03-27T09:44:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T09:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/681817\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T09:44:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T09:44:38","slug":"billy-donovan-addresses-rumors-about-north-carolina-job-says-focus-is-on-chicago-bulls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/681817\/","title":{"rendered":"Billy Donovan addresses rumors about North Carolina job, says ‘focus’ is on Chicago Bulls"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the rumors swirl about the North Carolina<\/a> head coach vacancy, Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan addressed the speculation. He reaffirmed his focus is on the Bulls ahead of Wednesday night\u2019s game against the Philadelphia 76ers.<\/p>\n

Donovan\u2019s name has been front and center through the first 24 hours since UNC announced Hubert Davis\u2019<\/a> departure. He has not coached at the college level since 2015 at Florida<\/a>, where he led the Gators to back-to-back national championships in 2006 and 2007, but is considered a potential top target for the Tar Heels as they start their search.<\/p>\n

Speaking with reporters before Wednesday\u2019s game, Donovan said he knows there\u2019s chatter. But he said he\u2019s trying to keep his attention on the Bulls entering the final stretch of the NBA season.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy main focus is on these guys and this new team,\u201d Donovan said, via The Athletic\u2019s Tony Jones<\/a>. \u201cI understand that there\u2019s stuff out there, and I understand that there is going to be certain speculation. But, I have to concentrate on this group, and really, my focus is on what we\u2019re doing here in Chicago and having a game tonight, and traveling to go and play in a back-to-back.\u201d<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first time Donovan\u2019s name has come up during a college coaching cycle. He was rumored to be a potential target for Kentucky<\/a> in 2024 before the Wildcats hired Mark Pope<\/a> to replace John Calipari<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Donovan acknowledged the overtures from college teams during his time in the NBA. He noted the differences in the college game from his time at Florida, but said change is simply part of the game at any level.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the years, I\u2019ve had a lot of college guys reach out to talk to me,\u201d Donovan said. \u201cIt\u2019s different in dealing with players who are being paid now. I also think the cycle of the NBA today is totally different than the cycle of college. I\u2019m focused on what I have to do right now. Like anything else, things are always changing in the game of basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amid speculation about the North Carolina vacancy, rumors are also swirling around Billy Donovan\u2019s future with the Bulls. The Chicago Sun-Times reported he could step away after this season<\/a>, given multiple factors, and perhaps take a season to regroup. However, The Field of 68\u2019s Jeff Goodman said Donovan could be a \u201cwild card<\/a>\u201d in UNC\u2019s search to replace Davis, who spent five years at the helm of his alma mater.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the rumors swirl about the North Carolina head coach vacancy, Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan addressed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":681818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3771],"tags":[7,920,919,329,3824,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-681817","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-bulls","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bulls","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-chicago-bulls","12":"tag-chicagobulls","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116300498152366045","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=681817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/681818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=681817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=681817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=681817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}