Billy Donovan’s Remarkable Trip to the Hall of Fame — Kevin Stacom
Kevin Stacom, Sports Analyst
Billy Donovan’s Remarkable Trip to the Hall of Fame — Kevin Stacom
Although there are five people closely associated with the school that have made the Hall, Lenny Wilkins, John Thompson, Dave Gavitt, Rick Pitino, and now Billy Donovan, Donovan shares the more exclusive list of being only one of three who are actual graduates of PC - Wilkens, Thompson, and Donovan.
Lenny Wilkens is only one of 2 people ever inducted as both a player (1989) and as a coach (1998), and is the only player in the history of Providence College to be inducted as a player.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTA lot of basketball fans in Rhode Island and Providence College fans in particular are very familiar with Billy Donovan’s legacy as the key player with the 1987 Cinderella Final Four team; an unlikely group of unselfish, unheralded guys who bought into the ingenious early adoption of the 3-point shot strategy of their young coach, Pitino. This, at the time novel approach, combined with a relentless full-court pressure defense, caught a lot of the more talented teams tremendously off-guard.
His journey from a gutsy, overachieving college point guard to his installation into the HOF primarily for his achievements as a college coach at the University of Florida has been characterized by a consistency of approach and personality.
Billy was drafted in the 3rd round by the Utah Jazz after his sensational senior year at Providence When he was released by them he was picked up by the Knicks and his former college coach, Pitino during the ‘87-‘88 season where he appeared in 44 games before again being placed on waivers.
For a brief three month period he resigned himself to the possibility of a life without basketball attempting a career with a Wall Street financial firm commuting from his native Rockville Center into the City by train on a daily basis He quickly realized that wasn’t for him and put a call into his old coach and mentor, Pitino to see if he had any advice on how he could possibly get into an entry level coaching position.
Luckily for Billy, Pitino had just quietly agreed to take the head coaching job at Kentucky and was able to offer him an unpaid graduate assistant job there. Pitino has always said that he was not initially sure how well Donovan would fare in the coaching world, but was quickly very impressed with his work ethic, which especially became evident when one of his assistants, Ralph Willard, took a job at Western Kentucky and at 25 Donovan became a full time assistant with all the expanded responsibilities that came with that position He said Billy practically took up residence in the office and worked relentlessly.
He was with Pitino at Kentucky for five seasons which included experiencing a Final Four appearance in ‘93, before leaving for Marshall University in Huntington West Virginia to become the youngest Division I head coach in the country at 28 years old, in time for the 1994-95 season, whereby he took a previously 9-18 team to a reverse 18-9 team that year, winning Southern Conference Coach of the Year in the process In what was to be his 2nd and final year at Marshall he tallied another respectable 17-11 record but more importantly, the aggressive 3 point shooting, uptempo, defensive onslaught approach and style that he learned as a player and coach under Pitino’s tutelage was about to open up the opportunity of a lifetime as the out of the box thinker, Athletic Director, Jeremy Foley, at the University of Florida took notice.
Another accomplishment of Billy Donovan that year was the successful recruiting of local West Virginia prodigy Jason Williams, the future “White Chocolate” of future NBA stardom, who would eventually follow Donovan to Florida, sitting out a year and then playing one season in 1997-98 before being drafted # 7 by the Sacramento Kings.
That successful piece of recruiting high-level talent was a portent of things to come It was also a telltale harbinger of one of his greatest strengths as a coach- the ability to allow a talented but freewheeling player such as Williams to develop without crushing his creativity with a need to impose a system that was more important than the player himself.
In the ensuing years, Donovan convinced such NBA-level talent as Al Horford, Joakim Noah, Bradley Beal, Corey Brewer, Mike Miller, Matt Bonner, Donnell Harvey, Dorian Finney-Smith, Chandler Parsons, and Patrick Young to join him in his successful quest to build one of the strongest programs in the country.
His coaching record at Florida is definitely HOF worthy. He had a 467–186 record in the 19 years between 1996 and 2015. He made the NCAA’s 14 out of those 19 years. In those years, Florida made the Final Four four times: 1999-2000, 2005-2006 (Championship), 2006-2007 (Championship), and 2013-2014.
The only two other coaches to win back-to-back NCAA Championships in the modern era are John Wooden at UCLA ( during the ridiculous stretch of 7 in a row from '67 to '73), and Coach K at Duke during the 1990-91 and 1991-92 seasons.
What makes Donovan’s back to back Championships even more impressive is the fact that after the 1st one in ‘06, of the four key starters on that team ( Al Horford, Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, Taureen Green), I remember that three of the four were projected to be Lottery picks (Horford, Noah, Brewer), and one an early 2nd (Green), and they ALL decided to come back for a chance at a repeat, which they did.
They also didn’t hurt their draft status, as in the 2007 NBA draft, Horford went # 3 to Atlanta, Brewer went # 7 to Minnesota, Noah went # 9 to Chicago, and Green went # 52 to Portland.
Yes, that’s a credit to the character and mentality of those special players, but it’s also a testament to the kind of relationships that Coach Donovan forms with his players. Whenever you speak to anyone who knows him even a little bit or well, whether it’s former teammates, colleagues, players that he coached, or NBA people that are in his orbit, it’s always the same - a very down-to-earth, sincere person who will never big-time you, no matter what the situation.
Red Auerbach would say at times, one of the key traits he looked for in people, whether it was a player as a prospect or anyone in general, is someone who’s experienced some success in life, but remained a decent person. Billy Donovan has passed that test of character with flying colors.
When I had a chance to personally congratulate him before he went up on stage for his acceptance speech that night, the 1st thing he said was “did you get a chance to say Hello to my Father yet?” I said, “Not yet, but I plan on it!” That’s who he is. He knew that through the years, whenever
I would scout a Florida game, whether it was home or away. I would always catch up with Bill Donovan Sr for his very knowledgeable take on the players and what was going on with the team. A great guy whose consistently positive personality represents an authentic precursor of his successful son.
Another testament to the respect he garners from his players is that 5 of the current Chicago Bulls players showed up for his induction: Matt Buzelis, Dalen Terry, Ayo Dosunmi, Patrick Wilson, and Corey White.
White, who had a considerable breakout year this year, probably said it best in an interview taken at the ceremony with Chicago Sports News, which I happened to be standing near when it took place:
“He’s honest, he pushes you, he’s going to get the most out of you.” He’s always been up front with me. But he also believes in his players. He builds a relationship with his players, which often you don’t see a good amount of in the NBA.”
It’s not an accident that Billy Donovan has survived 10 years as a coach in the unforgiving world of the NBA - 5 with OKC and just finishing his 5th with Chicago The front office knows he knows what he’s doing and there is zero to deal with in terms of the prima donna factor He’s also the perfect guy to help develop all the young talent that Chicago has, which is why they just rewarded him with a contract extension.
When you saw Pitino beaming with pride on the stage as one of Donovan’s presenters, you could only imagine the many thoughts going through his head as he sat there like a proud parent or big brother, and how unlikely it all seems, but then, knowing the qualities of his former pupil, maybe not so much…
I know myself, with all of the Providence College people who attended were also very happy and proud of him. He’s the kind of person who makes it easy for you to root for.
PS - a bit of trivia I discovered researching Billy Donovan’s college coaching career
He’s the only College coach in history other than Bobby Knight who achieved 500 Division One wins before his 50th Birthday.