Sorry, I don’t have any juicy rumor to spread around. Kentucky Sports Radio and The Cats Pause seem to have those well covered. Billy Donovan seems to be the leading candidate not only on our informal poll but also the collective opinion from the UK related sites. So as we commonly like to do around here I thought I would take this chance to play devils advocate and point to some contrary opinions of two coaching candidates.
First up is this Donovan article in the Chicago Sun Times. It contains this this juicy morsel of a quote:
A few years ago, his image was of a slick, underachieving, cheater. Now, he’s one of the coaching gods.
Four years ago, Mike Montgomery, Stanford’s coach at the time, told The Washington Post there’s ”one coach we all know cheats, everyone knows it.” And while he didn’t name names, he gave details that pointed right at Donovan. North Carolina coach Roy Williams dropped hints questioning Donovan’s ethics, too.
It’s amazing what a couple of Final Fours can do for you.
No one has pinned anything on Donovan. So you can ignore the accusations as jealous ramblings, or do as I do and fold the whole thing up and place it somewhere neatly in the back of your mind.
Hmmmmmmm, definitely interesting. Also in that article, the latest rumor involving Donovan is that he’s next in line to replace Pat Riley in Miami.
So you have a rumored cheater vs a proven cheater in John Calipari. Oh wait, maybe not.
Calipari has been painted with a tar brush ever since Camby’s confession. The NCAA deleted the school’s Final Four appearance from the record books for using an ineligible player. But there were no sanctions. And, in a letter obtained by the Daily News, dated June 8, 2004, Tom Yeager, the chairman of the committee on infractions, told Calipari: “The committee fully recognizes you had nothing to with the violations of Marcus Camby during the 1995-96 season. In a sense, you were an innocent victim.”
That was from the New York Daily News. Food for thought anyway.
March 26th, 2007 at 9:53 am
I think every university cheats in some way, even Smith at UK. I saw too many players with no pro potential driving expensive cars while I was there. Webmaster, you need to start a firedickvitale.com site, I’m so sick of hearing his dumb mouth. I think he knows nothing about basketball, at least not much more than the average fan. I hope he gets booed next time he covers a game at Rupp for some of the stuff he’s said about us lately.
March 26th, 2007 at 11:01 am
Here I am Danny Baby, Watcha gonna do DB, you are classless, I’m so sick of hearing your dumb mouth!!!
March 26th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
Are you kidding me, Dan?!?!?
First off, Dukie V. gets booed everytime he is at Rupp.
Second, there is no way Tubby was cheating….we didn’t have to cheat to get those scrubs. (OK, maybe he cheated once, to get Tayshaun Prince.) It’s like they say in school, if you are going to cheat on a test at least cheat off the smart kid. Either that or Tubby is the dumbest coach alive (to cheat and still have the worst recruiting ever).
March 26th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Off topic, but…
According to ESPN, Rick Pitino is not interested in the Kentucky job. Smart money says that Donavan won’t be, either. Both of those coaches have a pretty good thing going where they’re at right now.
March 26th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
There have been many coaches in recent years that said they are not leaving then the very next day…..they leave. Talk is cheap, even with Rick, or maybe I should have said ESPECIALLY with Rick. I’m not so sure that he was even contacted. Donovan may be happy at Florida, filling 10k seats in a 12k seat arena, having to hear about football and fball recruiting 350 days a year. Half the kids going to UF probably don’t even know who Donovan is. But, I guess he has enough money down there to live happily ever after…..not. Donovan is an ego maniac, just like Rick was when he came to UK. Do I think Donovan would retire at UK IF he came here?…no. Ultimately he will try NBA land after 6 good years. If he doesn’t then we will look for the next guy available.
getting somewhat back on topic:
What I don’t get is everyone talking about the pressure here at UK. Tubby was here 10 years, only the last 2 years he had a little pressure. Can we ask for 1 final four appearance every 8 years? Arkansas just FIRED their coach after 5 years, and he had 21 wins this year. You guys call KY a pressure cooker, wow.
March 26th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
Just heard on 18 news that Donovan is IN, DONE DEAL!!!!!!
Just hope it is true.
7 years $3.5m per year plus bonus after 7. They said deal was done last Friday. The source was the Cats Pause. http://kentucky.rivals.com/ I didn’t see an article there yet, but the source was Darrell Bird. Again this was from wlex18.
March 26th, 2007 at 11:26 pm
I cant belive it why in the hell did they report that Billy”s Deal is done this was suppossd to be on the downlow now all you idiots have speeled the beans dont be supprissd if it is true that he backs out now becuse it is causing distratioins for his team Why cant you guys keep your mouths shut!
March 27th, 2007 at 1:33 am
i guess it dosent make any difference to me who coaches at uk as long as they can get the recruting back to the way it used to be and coach good fundamental defense and a high paced offense that draws these young stars.
March 27th, 2007 at 6:39 am
So I heard a rumor this morning on the radio that UK has already signed a deal with Billy D. for 3.7 million dollars for 7 years. I was just wonder if anyone new any truth on this?
March 27th, 2007 at 6:46 am
Welcome Coach Donovan! Now, we can start enjoying our UK Basketball again.
March 27th, 2007 at 9:56 am
Heard a lot of rumblings from a lot of independent sources that all say that this 7 year deal with Donovan has been completed … as Darrell Bird put it on catspause.com
“[News of this $3.5M per year deal with Donovan] not coming directly from the horses’ mouths – i.e. UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart or president Lee Todd – but if this were the Kentucky Derby we’d be close enough to smell the blanket of roses. Numerous attempts to verify a rumor through independent sources have all reached the same conclusion. Kentucky is reportedly poised to name Billy Donovan its new basketball coach shortly after Florida’s final game in the NCAA Tournament.” — Darrell Bird, kentucky.rivals.com
March 27th, 2007 at 10:47 am
Darrell Bird make a pretty good retraction of the story as everyone picked up his post as a news story which it isn’t. Just another grind in the rumor mill.
March 27th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
… what retraction? there wasn’t a retraction. he just wanted to make sure that everyone understood that this did not come from a UK source … sure it is still speculation, but I haven’t heard anyone dispute this yet.
March 27th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
If this is so, it will be like the secong coming of Jesus Coach….. All of us fans have been drooling at the mouth for the coach that has seemed to own our little team of Tubby’s Mcdonald dollar menu all americans that he has recruited. Not to knock on the Tub, but he hasn’t got Uk caliber players, and in the last few years has not got a UK type Quality win. Anyone can win at UK, hell it’s UK! A blind man with a 3 legged guide dog could win at UK….. well at least an old alcoholic did (Sutton)….. but to WIN against the BIG BOYS…(at least once a year) hasnt been done…… Donovan has proved he can recognize TALENT, and mold that talent into a basketball machine… Just look at Noah, he WAS a smaller, uncoordinated tennis punk, then he hit a growth spell, and Donovan molded that hot head into a STAR!! Like him or not…… Well if Billy dont come, a coach that IS interested is Izzo. He is a nose to the grind stone recruiter, that doesnt let home state talent (like lofton) get away….what you guys thionk about IZZO??
March 27th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Izzo’s style is too much like Tubby (i.e. defense-oriented) … if we are going to lose 12 games in a season, I’d rather have the score 92-88 than 57-53 …
March 27th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
I don’t like Izzo either, booo. Maybe we’ll hire Ernie Kent from Oregon since Barnhardt is in love with the state. I can’t believe Dicky V got on here, wow.
March 27th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
I agree with Daniel - Dicky V should never even be mentioned on any site that deals with Kentucky basketball. Let that ACC lovin Wimp continue to sleep with his nose up Coach K’s a–!!
March 27th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
are you kidding me, dickie has always been ubsessed with uk…his two favorite teams, uk and duke…do you watch college bball Am4UK?
March 27th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
Dick Vitale likes every team in the nation. Every player is special, every coach is fantastic. The dude is a walking machine of roundball love. Of course, the priority of his love starts with coaches, then players, then fans.
March 27th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
Well said G-Mart!!!Dick Vitale is a college Basketball icon and he has more passion for the college game than anyone…On a side note I hear when billy the kid is announced as UK’s coach the Erruption Zone will be renamed too D’s Nuts…
March 27th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
The minute Ricky P. left Dukie V. jumped the UK bandwagon and went back squarely to the ACC camp, with a “nose” towards Coach K.
Yeah, Dick loves bball, but he knows where the talent is and tries to get in with the “in” crowd whenever he gets a chance.
ANYONE that has followed college bball for awhile knows this. This is very common knowledge in the college bball world, even on the Duke sites. As some form of proof, there is an article he wrote on on ESPN.com when VCU beat Duke and 95% of the article talks about Duke and how they will rebound and what a great coach Coach K is. He barely mentioned VCU. Anyone that has watched a game on TV when he is announcing, will notice that, no matter who is playing, Duke and/or UNC will be mentioned at some point. I think in the last few years he has realized he has been getting a bad rep for this and has toned it down a little.
But I digress… on to the real story..Billy D. all the way…I hope they lose on Saturday so we will know on Sunday of all this is just rumor.
March 27th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
Dick V. thought Tubby was a good coach…. enough said
the man knows nothing….
March 27th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
Dicky V an icon? Only because people find him entertaining, not because of any sort of knowledge of the game. I don’t fill my bracket out until he makes his predicition so I know to go with the exact opposite. I wonder how much drinking him and Packer have been doing since the ACC was bounced out of the tourney. I really thought Fudge Packer was going to cry. So sad.
As for Dicky V, I think sometimes we mistake passion for desperation. As in, if I don’t act like a complete idiot and say baby every two seconds I’ll be working at Shoneys.
March 28th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Spooner
I would never disparage another UK fan, but ya gotta be out of your mind man! I agree that Dickie V. is obsessed with UK basketball but only because he likes to point out how much better Duke is than UK! The man has ACC burnt into his forehead! (Either that or Coach K has pictures of Dickie doing bad things to small woodland creatures)
Gotta give him credit though, he loved Pitino! (Oops, my bad. Thats a negative, not a positive) He’s nothing more than a failed college coach who makes a very good living acting like a fool on TV.
As to me watching college bball - I’ve logged more time in Rupp than you have been on this earth young’en, and I still say Tricky Dickie sleeps with his nose up Coach K’s backside!!
April 4th, 2007 at 1:20 am
you have to remember packer went to wake forest so he is always gonna be pro acc espically duke and unc