Donovan going back to Florida?!?!

[bills217]

Cliff notes: Donovan having second thoughts, wants out of his Magic deal to return to Florida, Magic expected to make a decision tomorrow.

Link

[MicroBob]

weird.

[dw2006]

Why would the Magic try to force him to stay? If he doesn't want to be there he isn't going to do a very good job. They should just let him go.

[bills217]

Somewhere, Dick Vitale is hyperventilating.

Edited to add: Not that that's unusual.

[jah7_fsu1]

What an idiot if he turns this job down after accepting it. I think he should have stayed at Florida, but he looks like an idiot if he accepted the offer, had a press conference, and then a few days later says "whoops, I didn't MEAN to do that!"

[LesJ]

Generally speaking, Donovan staying would be great for the SEC and college basketball in general. That being said, it prob would have been slightly better to have made this decision BEFORE being announced as the new coach of the Magic.

The Kentucky job opening came at a very poor time from a Donovan perspective, but generally speaking it seems as if he has handled these courtships very poorly.

[bills217]

[ QUOTE ]
generally speaking it seems as if he has handled these courtships very poorly.

[/ QUOTE ]

QFT. How could they have been handled worse? Billy is a graduate of the Nick Saban School of Coaching Changes obv

[Hoya]

So can Orlando try to get some money out of him? Donovan looks like a jackass here.

[bills217]

[ QUOTE ]
So can Orlando try to get some money out of him?

[/ QUOTE ]

They absolutely can. He has a signed contract. I doubt they will take that route though - teams in similar positions in the past typically haven't.

But who knows - maybe tomorrow he will want to coach the Magic again. Or maybe the Kings. Or maybe the LA Kings.

[MicroBob]

Magic will certainly let him out of it. No way they would want him there if he doesn't want to be there.
They just have to consult with their lawyers and figure out what the hell to do about all this before they let him off the hook.

They may also be continuing to talk with him to be sure that he's officially not-fingers-crossed sure about it this time.


But what is up with these Saban/Donovan flip-flops?
I understand it's an emotional issue leaving the people you've been working with, the program you've been devoting 80 hour weeks to, the community that doesn't want you to go and the other community that so bad wants you and wants to pay $27 mil to get you.

But you would think a guy like Donovan would talk about all this stuff with the Florida officials and his family a bit more before letting Orlando give him a giant standing-ovation and make his move to the NBA the lead story on Sportscenter.

Seriously, what on earth is his deal? It's just weird.

Will be interested to hear his explanation no matter what happens regarding ORL trying to sue him or whatever it is they do about this.