Colleges

Donovan will wait for his reward

By ANTONYA ENGLISH
Published August 22, 2006

GAINESVILLE - Billy Donovan said Monday he wants to remain the men's head basketball coach at Florida for "as long as the administration wants me here," but right now it's more important to get his team prepared for the season than to worry about a long-term contract.

Donovan has had sporadic conversations with athletic director Jeremy Foley about a long-term contract agreement, but he said he wants to make sure the time is right. Immediately after the Gators won the national championship in April wasn't the right time, he said.

"There's a part of me that doesn't feel right when I see some of our players make sacrifices like they did financially to come back and play here, for me then to take advantage of what happened to our basketball team this year," Donovan said. "I'm going to sign a long-term contract, but I'm going to do it at the right time. ... I felt uneasy personally capitalizing off of what happened, while the players were sacrificing."

All five starters from the national championship team return this season. Foley said the fact Donovan wanted to wait doesn't surprise him.

"He made it clear early on," Foley said. "It was obvious he was not comfortable with the timing, saying I need to focus on these guys. They're the ones coming back and who won the national championship. ... He's not going anywhere. He has total confidence in the university and the administration."

NO EASY PICKINGS: Florida's schedule was released Monday and includes games against 16 teams that competed in postseason tournaments (10 NCAA, six NIT). Among the early highlights are a Las Vegas tournament with games against Western Kentucky and Kansas during Thanksgiving weekend and games against Providence (Dec. 6) and Ohio State (Dec. 23) at the O'Connell Center. The Gators also play FAMU at the St. Pete Times Forum on Dec. 17 and UAB in the Orange Bowl Classic on Dec. 30. The Gators play three of their first four Southeastern Conference games at home.

"We've always tried to make sure that we have balance," Donovan said of the schedule. "The opportunity to play against a team like Kansas and Western Kentucky in November gives us an opportunity to find out exactly where we're going to be at very early. I think people feel Kansas is going to be a top 5 team."

IT'S A NEW YEAR: Donovan doesn't like the term "defending national champions," saying the idea of defense is to step back and put up your guard. The Gators, he said, won't be doing that.

"Everything that we're going to have in front of us this year is purely based on what we did last year," Donovan said. "I know we won, but we need to get better. If we don't have something to prove, then we're never going to improve."

RILEY'S LONG ROAD: It has been a long two weeks of preseason camp for freshman receiver Riley Cooper, but the former Clearwater Central Catholic all- state receiver is determined to earn some playing time.

"It's going," Cooper said Saturday night. "I didn't really know what to expect coming in and it's been hard, but I'm just trying to win a spot."

Cooper said he had been warned about college two-a-days, but ultimately it's something you have to experience to understand.

"There's really just no words to describe it," he said. "It's tough."

Cooper, who has received occasional praise from coach Urban Meyer, said he's concentrating on learning the concepts of the offense and all the plays, hoping the rest will come naturally.

"Receiver is receiver," he said. "Once you've got the whole concept down, then you can go out there and give it 100 percent and go all out. If you don't know what you're doing, it's hard to get out there and do it fast."

Antonya English covers University of Florida athletics. She can be reached at (813) 226-3389 or english@sptimes.com.

[Last modified August 22, 2006, 01:34:49]