Florida Gators: Billy Donovan’s Gone, Now What?

According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, Florida Gators head coach Billy Donovan is nearing an agreement to become the new head coach for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the NBA. An announcement is expected sometime Thursday or Friday.

All of this happened rather quickly as it was first reported that Donovan and Thunder brass were meeting earlier Wednesday. Within hours the soon-to-be-former Gators coach was ready to take over a golden opportunity in the NBA.

Apparently coaching Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook is more enticing that coaching Kasey Hill and Dorian Finney-Smith. To each their own, but this does present a gaping hole for the Gators’ basketball program moving forward.

The timing is rather unfortunate as most of the top coaches available have already found homes (Rick Barnes to Tennessee, Shaka Smart to Texas, Gregg Marshall staying with Wichita State) and the coaching carousel has all but died down over the last few weeks. That was, of course, before the news of Donovan’s exit from Florida.

While Florida had a down year compared to recent history, coaching the Gators is still a very desirable job. A prominent college basketball program in the SEC with access to one of the best states in terms of recruiting, Florida still has a lot of pull in college basketball. Plus, who doesn’t want to live in Florida, really? The big question is, who is Florida going to target?

Several names come to mind immediately, most notably Dayton’s Archie Miller. Miller’s name has been floating around for the last year or so since leading the Flyers to the Elite Eight during the 2014 NCAA tournament. The team that knocked off his Flyers? Donovan’s Gators.

Another name to potentially watch is Steve Prohm of Murray State. Though his name hasn’t come up yet, Prohm was a name that circulated when the Alabama and Texas jobs were still available.

So far he hasn’t received much buzz, but he, as does Miller, has a winning track record with the Racers and with Cameron Payne possibly becoming a first round pick after just two years, will have sent two talented guards to the NBA within the last three drafts. Quite an accomplishment for a mid-major of Murray State’s status.

Along with Miller, ESPN’s Jeff Goodman has another name the Gators could be looking at to replace the departing Donovan: Xavier’s Chris Mack.

Mack’s another name that’s been floating around for a while but nothing has really come of it the last year or so. He’s helped Xavier build itself into a national contender every year, including three Sweet 16 appearances since taking over in 2009.

Florida missed out on the NCAA tournament in 2015. Prior to that, the Gators reached four straight Elite Eights and a Final Four in 2014. Unlike between the 2014 and 2015 tournaments, though, the Gators won’t be trying to replace most of their production from the previous season.

While they do lose Michael Frazier II, Chris Walker and Jon Horford, Florida still brings back Kasey Hill, Dorian Finney-Smith and Devin Robinson and bring in four four-star recruits (according to ESPN Recruiting): 6-foot-8 forward Noah Dickerson, 6-foot-3 guard KeVaughn Allen, 6-foot-9 Kevvarius Harris and 6-foot-7 wing Keith Stone.

This recruiting class is No.9 according to ESPN Recruiting and No. 17 according to 247 Sports.

The talent is there for the Gators to have a turnaround season, but the coach they decide to bring in could also swing this roster one way or another. If Florida brings in the wrong guy, these recruits could ask to have their recruitment open up again and look at their options, which happens quite frequently with coaching changeover.

Bring in the perfect guy and those numbers could grow steadily throughout the years, making the Gators another hot landing spot for big-time recruits to consider.

Scheduling can also become an issue if the process of finding a new coach drags on. While Florida does have a few games lined up in their non-conference schedule already, the rest of it will likely be filled out in the next month or two with it being finalized in August or September.

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If a new coach isn’t hired in a relative time frame, some teams will likely have their big games already scheduled and will be less willing to add Florida to the mix. Should that happen, though, Florida could just fill up their schedule with more home games, paying smaller schools to play them for a guaranteed pay day.

There’s a lot of factors at play here and, really, Florida has their pick of coaches. They have the money (Donovan signed an extension last year worth $3.6 million annually), the recruiting base, a history of winning, the Florida sunshine and a chance to coach in one of the most popular conferences in college basketball.

The process is just beginning and it won’t be easy to fill Donovan’s shoes once he heads off to Oklahoma City, but it can be done, though Florida is better off making a move quickly rather than waiting.

Waiting could present problems, not just for the reasons already mentioned, but getting time with their players over the summer, getting to know them and building a relationship before players return to school is incredibly valuable, especially for a new coach.

Clock’s ticking, but it shouldn’t be ticking for too long for the Gators.

Next: NCAA: Where Will Sterling Gibbs, Other Top Transfers Land?

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