Thursday, May 31, 2007

Donovan, Patel Both Out!
Updated: Billy Out...For Real!

UPDATE: Full breakdown of the Billy Donovan news in the morning. My good-news/bad-news afternoon: I was stuck on a JetBlue flight, so I had nothing to do but watch ESPNews and contemplate the developments. As you can guess, I have many opinions. Coming in the a.m.

ORIGINAL: For the record, I am infinitely more disappointed and distressed that Billy Donovan is out at Florida (bound for the Orlando Magic and the lure of the NBA) than I am that Samir Patel is out at the Spelling Bee (though there was some drama, which always helps).

However, I wish Billy D all the best: How can you begrudge a move after two straight titles? Presuming the report is right, I hope Florida acts quickly to hire Donovan protege Anthony Grant from VCU.

As for Patel, the Bee should have upheld his sketchy appeal, if only to totally amp up the drama for tonight's finals.

- D.S.

23 comments:

Unknown said...

No way!

Patel deserved no second chances! Besides, it was his mom who appealed...not him.

....

Anyway, I like that ESPN just now put up their "Breaking News" bulletin that says Orlando has made an offer. A bit slow eh? Especially if Donovan has already accepted.

Btw, this is a no-brainer. He can do nothing more at the collegiate level. He lost his best talent. May as well give the NBA a shot. If he fails, he'll return to college ball with no bad marks.

Unknown said...

Question: It sounds like it's merely an offer that he has not even accepted...6 years at $6M per is a lot, but it doesn't seem as done as Dan would indicate.

RevScottDeMangeMD said...

Anthony Grant frommmmmmmmmmmmmm THE University of Dayton. That would be a fantastic hire...I wish Dayton had him instead of fucking Brian Gregory.

Clinton (Indianapolis) said...

Forsake the legitimacy of the competition so that we have drama?

What is this, professional wrestling?

Geoff said...

Gotta remember, Dan isn't so much about the events as he is about the drama surrounding the events. Having said that, it was a really dumb statement to make.

Unknown said...

I still commit the sacrilege of wishing Charlie Coles was out at Miami...

Jingoist said...

Too bad the Magic don't pick until #9.... IN ROUND 2. Not the way to get pumped for your first HC gig in the NBA, Billy.

RevScottDeMangeMD said...

Rafael...you will burn in hell for that comment. Haha!

My roommate and I took Charlie Coles' coaching class at Miami and it was the most fun I've had in college. The stories he told made me laugh so hard that I cried. We decided that Charlie Coles is like the grandpa that everyone has that is 1 very inappropriate comment away from being sent to a nursery home. Meaning Coles still have it...but he is one slip up away from being booted.

One assignment for class was to give a halftime speech. I gave the speech from Van Wilder word for word. I got an A.

Unknown said...

NO brainer for Donovan, you can stay at florida and never live up to what is now expected of you, or you can move down the road...make twice as much money...and develop a young team with a young superstar in Dwight Howard...Congrats Billy, you got paid, now let's see if you join the long list of coaches failing with this jump.

AriB said...

Sorry...I can't wish Billy D the best. He may have given Florida basketball its proudest years, but at least Spurrier gave notice early enough to give the the school all the time it needed to find a replacement and not KILL the program (not that Zook was a good choice).

Billy made the UF basketball program from scratch and now he's just single handedly destroyed it by leaving so late that every big time coach (notably Gillespie and Beilein) are taken. A classless act for a guy who was nothing but classy for years.

Unknown said...

He made a decision quick enough for them to bring in the VCU guy...seems like that's what they want.

Matt Miller said...

Question: If you were running a pro team (basketball/football), would you rather have Billy Donovan or Urban Meyer?

Unknown said...

Is it just me....or did the kid who finished second drop the f-bomb when he missed his word?

Johnny b said...

Dan is there any way that you can make two posts tomorrow; one the normal quicky and one about Donovan for those of us who don't really care much about Florida

thanks

I didn't notice an F-bomb but i wasn't paying that much attention

Unknown said...

it would have been better if he had spelled it out.
*ding*
f-u-c-k

Mikepcfl said...

I watched the first couple minutes of the spelling bee just out of curiosity. Watching the first kid ask for the pronunciation like 10 times was the most boring thing I've ever seen. I had to turn it off after that. But let me say, I'm impressed with the effort and smarts those kids put forth. But it just isnt interesting tv.

Unknown said...

Why are there so many canadians in the Scripps NATIONAL Spelling BEE. I just don't get it!

Big D said...

Nice Raf....

BTW - To me, wouldn't the Kentucky job have been better, aside from the money? Program on the rise, MAJOR recruiting appeal... But no Dwight Howard.

TJ said...

Going to the Magic is absolutely the right move for Billy. If we get Anthony Grant to replace him, then no harm no foul. And if not Anthony Grant, it will be Larry Shyatt, who would be acceptable. (Of course, in my own little fantasy world, if we couldn't get Anthony Grant, I'd want Bruce Pearl.)

Unknown said...
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NA said...

AriB said...

Arib, seems a little unfair, no? He was only offered the job last week. It's not like the job was open a month ago, when he could have taken it. You can begrudge him for leaving Florida, but you can't blame him for taking a long time to make a decision, the job was nopen for a week.

RevScottDeMangeMD said...
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RevScottDeMangeMD said...
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