Old school, new wave: Florida's Billy Donovan knows how to win the crucial recruiting wars of today's college game - basketball coach

Basketball Digest, March, 2002 by Peter Abraham

FOR A STOCKY KID FROM LONG Island, Billy Donovan had a whole lot of game. Sometimes too much for a passionate young coach named Rick Pitino.

The year was 1987, the place was Providence College, and the Friars were the darlings of college basketball, riding a wave of three-pointers to New Orleans and the Final Four.

The three-pointer was a new invention back then. Pitino, in his first big-time job, turned his offense over to Donovan and the shots started to fly. "Billy the Kid" had no fear, growing more daring by the game. Behind-the-back passes, absurd reverse layups, jumpers from 25 feet--Donovan had the entire package.

Jeff Van Gundy, who went on to coach the New York Knicks for six-plus seasons, was an unknown graduate assistant coach from upstate New York, learning his craft under Pitino. He has vivid memories of watching Pitino try to rein Donovan in.

"Coach Pitino would be screaming at Billy, really letting him have it. But Billy never backed down or shirked. He would stare right at coach Pitino, taking in every word," Van Gundy says. "Billy never once rolled his eyes. He was the least sensitive really good player I've ever been around. Nobody in the country could press us because of Billy. He could run as fast with the ball as he could without it, as fast as anybody there was. I still haven't seen anyone as good against pressure."

Now 36, Donovan is still stating down the big names of college basketball--Pitino back among them--as the coach of Florida. The pressure has intensified, but his response hasn't changed.

Florida stormed through the first two months of the season, but it wasn't easy. Starting point guard Teddy Dupay was told to leave the team just a few weeks before the season when he was tied to gamblers. The Gators also had to make do without center Kwame Brown, a McDonald's All-American recruit who spurned Florida for the NBA and became the first pick in the draft.

No matter. Donovan took junior Justin Hamilton, who missed much of last season with a knee injury, and developed him into a sure-handed point guard. Junior Matt Bonner, one of the most improved players in the SEC last season, has gotten even better this year and has become a go-to scorer. Senior center Udonis Haslem and junior shooting guard Brett Nelson have maintained their double-digit scoring.

"You can't sit around and worry about who's not here," Donovan says. "You have to move on and move on quickly."

That was evident when Brown decided to jump into the draft. Most coaches would have sharply criticized NBA commissioner David Stern for allowing such a thing to happen, then questioned the player's judgment and told reporters what a mistake it was. That's the standard response these days.

Donovan? He congratulated Brown and invited him to campus so he could work out with the Gators and get into better shape. After Brown was picked first in the draft by the Washington Wizards, he bought a house in Gainesville, Fla., cementing his friendship with Donovan and his staff.

"It was all very positive and good for our program," Donovan says. "Kids talk to each other."

And they check Web sites; Donovan is one of the few coaches with his own Web page. By the time some programs start recruiting certain players, Donovan and his staff already have made a connection and established themselves.

As other coaches tread lightly through the everchanging culture of the game, Donovan embraces it. He is unabashedly different than his competition.

"If a guy can really, really play, he's not going to be in college very long. Let's not kid ourselves," Donovan says. "In recruiting, we tell kids they're family and they can count on us and trust us. When a kid makes a decision that's not pro-Florida, I have a chance to uphold the things I told him during the recruiting process.

"Kwame and I were close. He asked me to help him, and I said I would. It seemed like the right thing to do.'

That attitude has allowed Donovan to recruit in places where SEC coaches normally don't go. His current roster includes players from New Hampshire (Bonner), Maryland (James White), Missouri (David Lee), and West Virginia (Nelson). And his reach hasn't come at the expense of keeping Florida's blue-chippers in Gainesville.

"Coach Donovan is different than other coaches," says Lee, who picked the Gators over North Carolina, Duke, Kentucky, and Missouri. "He's not as young as we are, but he acts like it. His intensity is like that of a player. He talks to us in a language we understand."

Donovan knows what it's like for Lee and his other players. Initially, Donovan played sparingly at Providence and was considering transferring to a Division II school until Pitino arrived. When Pitino showed up, Donovan lost 30 pounds and became an All-American. He even played a season for the Knicks before going into coaching. It's a story he tells often.

"The kids now have the same dreams I did," he says. "The difference is the lure of the NBA is so much closer for talented young players. As a college coach, you have to adapt to that. You might only have a player for two years. If you're not prepared to replace him, you're going to fall behind."