There is a big job opening down in Lexington following the departure of John Calipari as head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats. Several names are being linked to the Kentucky basketball head coaching position, including Chicago Bulls mentor Billy Donovan, who is a familiar face for the Wildcats organization. After all, Donovan served as an assistant at Kentucky during the time of Rick Pitino — another figure being rumored as a potential Calipari replacement.
“Donovan was an assistant coach under Rick Pitino at Kentucky from 1989 to 1993 and eventually won national championships at Florida in 2006 and 2007 — right around the time Kentucky reportedly pursued him to replace Tubby Smith. Donovan has been in the NBA since 2015 and currently has the Bulls in the play-in tournament,” writes Jeff Borzello of ESPN.
Apart from ESPN, another major sports website that has the Bulls bench boss as the possible next head coach of Kentucky basketball.
“The dream candidate for Kentucky fans ever since … oh, about 2007. Donovan was a Kentucky assistant under Rick Pitino and doesn’t have the baggage of his former boss. But would he leave the NBA for the fishbowl of Lexington? Does he have any interest in returning to college? It seems unlikely, but Barnhart has to at least make the call and make him say no.”
Will Donovan leave the Bulls and return to Kentucky?
While Donovan is one of the best ever to coach in the college basketball ranks, success has been hard to come by for the former Florida Gators head coach. Chicago made the playoffs just once in his first three seasons under Donovan. The Bulls will have something to play beyond the regular season this year, but will likely have to go through the Play-in Tournament. Either way, the Bulls are not expected to go deep in the postseason if they clinched a playoff berth, especially with Zach LaVine sidelined and the scary compositions of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.
Considering how Chicago has fared under Donovan and the unclear future of the Bulls, there can be sufficient reason to believe that he would at least consider going back to college, particularly with the Wildcats, who are coming off an embarrassing first-round exit in the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
In what turned out to be Calipari's final season at Kentucky, the Wildcats entered the Big Dance as a No. 3 seed but struck out from March Madness right in the first round, as they got embarrassed by Jack Gohlke and the No. 14 Oakland Golden Grizzlies via an 80-74 score.
Going back to Donovan, if the Wildcats end up hiring the current Bulls bench boss, they would be getting someone who has won two national titles in back-to-back fashion with the Gators in 2006 and 2007. He also led the Gators to a Final Four appearance a total of four times and steered Florida to four SEC tournament titles. Donovan's college resume speaks for itself
Reactions to Donovan being linked to Kentucky job
“There's a post out there that Billy Donovan has interest in the Kentucky job. Would Billy Donovan make BBN happy? For the record, that's one coach on my list that I could get excited about,” posted @awireman on X (formerly Twitter).
“Billy Donovan to Kentucky? Bulls are going no where and would be a pay raise for the two time NCAA national champion if he wants to go back to college,” shared @HoopInformatics.
Here's another reaction from @kstate_kj: “Billy Donovan would be a HOME RUN for Kentucky. Their fans are too stupid and will waste their time lusting for Dan Hurley (who has no reason to leave UConn)”
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