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Grass isn't bluer in Lexington for Billy the Kid

By GARY SHELTON
Published March 23, 2007

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ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Brian Cassella] Coach Billy Donovan walks his Florida Gators through practice Thursday in St. Louis.

ST. LOUIS - Today, he needs to see the floor.

Today, he needs to make a play.

The Sweet 16 is like that. It encourages the stars to shine. It invites the big players to step up and take over. It asks for them to calm their team, their fans, and to guide them through the nerves. It allows them to become the face of their program.

Today, it is that way for Billy Donovan.

Today, he needs to assure the Gators that he will still love them tomorrow.

Given the one-and-done nature of the sport, this is a nervous time for the University of Florida. There is a national title on the line, and tonight, there will be a plucky little underdog on the other side of the court. Also, the message boards are thumping.

Could this really be Billy the Kid's last shot?

Even as Donovan took his Gators through their practice Thursday afternoon, the question was bouncing around the Edward Jones Dome. Word had just reached St. Louis that Tubby Smith had jumped from the University of Kentucky to Minnesota, and by the time you heard the echo, people were wondering what it meant to Donovan.

For years, Kentucky has been the job vacancy that Florida fans feared most, and now it was open. When Donovan declined to immediately bat down the notion, you could almost see Gator fans brace for the noise to come. If Joakim Noah decides to leave this time around, if Al Horford follows him, if Corey Brewer decides the same, that would be tough enough. But Donovan? The coach who believed when no one else did? That would be tougher to swallow.

Well, relax. The gut feeling here is that Donovan wants a better job than the one Kentucky would offer.

He wants the one at Florida.

When you compare the jobs at Kentucky and at Florida, that's the first thing you have to realize. Times, and perceptions, have been changed. This is no longer a situation where Kentucky is the major-league team calling up Donovan from the minor leagues. Florida is the better job. For crying out loud, according to Tubby, Minnesota is the better job.

What can Kentucky really offer Donovan? Pressure? Certainly. Prestige? Maybe not. Reaching the NCAAs every year is a big deal at Florida. Not so much at Kentucky, where a great many people are ecstatic that Tubby is gonie.

Donovan could have made it easier on himself Thursday. He wouldn't comment to two dozen reporters outside of the team's locker room. The only reaction was by athletic director Jeremy Foley, who said tersely, "He's trying to coach his team. Anything else would be highly inappropriate. He's trying to win the national championship and get ready for Butler."

Translation: Donovan didn't want to talk about it, not even if Ashley Judd was on the line.

Okay, maybe then.

Once, perhaps the last time Donovan led a Florida team onto the floor to play Butler in 2000, you could see him leaving for Kentucky. No more. He's built Florida into a program that equals Kentucky in every way except history and histrionics.

Remember a couple of weeks ago, when Donovan defended Tubby in a news conference. "It isn't him," Donovan said then. "It's whoever sits in that chair."

Two weeks later, do you really expect Donovan to strap in?

It's hard to blame Kentucky for trying, though. At 41, Donovan has turned into one of basketball's top 10, maybe top five, coaches. Given his age and his resume, he might be No. 1 on the list of a lot of athletic directors.

Do you remember that last game against Butler? Donovan was so impossibly young then, and he was seen more as a recruiter than a coach, more as a salesman than a general.

No more. Donovan has the look of a man who can grow into Florida's Krzyzewski. His teams have been overachievers, and for a while underachievers, and last year, ultimate achievers. Finally, the job and the man seem to fit together.

"I certainly hope I'm better than I was six or seven years ago," Donovan said at his news conference (before Smith's announcement). "I think that's the goal for anybody in life. If you're not trying to get better, if you're not trying to grow, you're not trying to develop. To me, you're either getting worse or you're staying the same."

Look at the way Donovan handled last year's team, when no one knew how good Horford or Noah were going to be. Donovan coached that team to a national title.

Look at the way Donovan handled this year's team, too. With three stars putting off the NBA, the Gators' season could have been taken over by ego. It didn't.

If I was Donovan, I would listen to what Kentucky had to say. I would call Rick Pitino, who I worked with as a Kentucky assistant. I would call Tubby. What the heck, I would call Ashley.

In the end, however, I would think about this. Suppose Donovan were to lose this game today? At Kentucky, the rage would begin. At Florida, that contract extension would still be waiting.

When you get down to it, it's not a difficult play to call.

Gary Shelton can be reached at (727) 893-8805.

[Last modified March 22, 2007, 22:37:38]

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