Billy Donovan stood about where his name will probably be immortalized one day on the O’Connell Center court.
It’ll be Billy Donovan court soon enough.
In fact it probably should already be to pay homage to the man that took Florida from a football school to a millennial basketball powerhouse.
It wouldn’t be a bad move to include that on the list of upgrades when the renovations get going next March.
As Kanye West once said “people never get the flowers while they can still smell em.”
He is the second-youngest coach in Division 1 history to coach 500 victories, and joins Bob Knight as the only one to do so before their 50th birthday.
This court has seen Donovan’s teams do special things, the current hardwood is the one the Gators won its second of back to back national championships on in 2007.
Last season, the Gators finished out their 18-0 romp through the SEC regular season with a victory over Kentucky at home.
Those achievements are just a couple of the many highlights of Donovan’s tenure here, but after the game instead of the other way around the team stood back while Donovan raised his hand in salute to the crowd and addressed them over the PA system while doing an interview with the Gator Radio Network.
To this point, the high moments have been seen largely been more about the players than the coach.
Of course Donovan gets the credit for being the architect of the Noah-Horford frontline and the move from frenetic Billy Ball to more methodical defensively focused Florida basketball teams.
But big wins are often more about players, this victory in the midst of one what will probably go down as one of the three worst seasons he’s had since arriving in Gainesville in 1996, was all about him.
It meant a lot to him, he even said so postgame, calling the reception from the fans “touching,” and “very, very meaningful.”
Eddie Sutton, Coach K, Pat Summit, Knight, John Wooden, Garry Williams, Jim Boeheim.
Those are the names that get emblazoned on hardwoods for eternity and Donovan’s credentials stand up with all of them (incidentally, Duke dedicated its court to Kryzewski shortly after he coached his 500th victory back in 2000).
Two national championships, four Final Fours, three 30-win seasons, three time SEC coach of the year, winningest NCAA tournament coach in conference history.
He’s led teams to six conference regular season titles and four conference tournament crowns. ESPN named him the best coach in college basketball last summer coming off the heels of UF’s fourth Final Four appearance under his watch.
You learn not to root for teams in this business, objectivity and all that good sports writer stuff (that I take very seriously).
But one thing I do as I grow as a member of the media is to root for people, for good people and Billy Donovan is most certainly that. He’s a good man — an admirable man.
A man that demands as much of his players on the court as he does off of it. A man that’s shown even during this season he won’t compromise a few wins for the culture of his program, he’s a man that stands for what he believes in and he’s a damn good basketball coach too.
If I have a son, and the good Lord blesses him with the freakish athletic ability he didn’t give me, I’d be more than happy to send him to play for Billy Donovan, it’d be nice if he was playing on the court named after the man at the end of the bench though.
Follow Richard Johnson on Twitter @RagjUF
Billy Donovan looks down the court during Florida's 66-49 win against Tennessee on Feb. 28 in the O'Connell Center. Donovan will be named the head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
During the Billy Donovan era of UF basketball, the Gators went from pretenders to annual national title contenders. Donovan capped his illustrious career by becoming the second-youngest coach to win 500 games at the collegiate level before deciding to head to the NBA to become the head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Here's Jordan McPherson's game story on the milestone win (http://www.alligator.org/sports/football/article_94b217d2-844a-11e5-8f45-db4dc66bc8e8.html) and Richard Johnson's feature looking back at Donovan's first career victory (http://www.alligator.org/sports/basketball/article_9689ab94-b8ce-11e4-a82b-5f0651981129.html).
