[flamesbball84]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=4021232

It's official folks. BG out.

Top three targets are Donovan, Travis Ford, and Rick Barnes

[jcmanson]

I hope it's Donavan

[flamesbball84]

I hope it's Donavan

Apparently Grant has accepted the job at alabama, so sounds like Donovan might not be the guy. Unless Donovan is still on the fence about it and Grant didn't want to risk losing out on the Alabama job since he had to decide by today...

Word is that Travis Ford is the #2 choice.

[jcmanson]

I hope it's Donavan

Apparently Grant has accepted the job at alabama, so sounds like Donovan might not be the guy. Unless Donovan is still on the fence about it and Grant didn't want to risk losing out on the Alabama job since he had to decide by today...

Well, hopefully they're wrong. I want Grant at UF not bama.

[ALAFlamesFan]

I hope it's Donavan

Apparently Grant has accepted the job at alabama, so sounds like Donovan might not be the guy. Unless Donovan is still on the fence about it and Grant didn't want to risk losing out on the Alabama job since he had to decide by today...

Word is that Travis Ford is the #2 choice.

No word from the Tuscaloosa News on Grant accepting the job at UA. Where's your source?

[blwall1416]

GAINESVILLE - - A source close to the University of Kentucky athletic program tells Fox 35 Sports that Billy Donovan will resign as Florida Gators' head basketball coach to take the same position at Kentucky.

http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/03 ... eaving_UCF

[blwall1416]

No word from the Tuscaloosa News on Grant accepting the job at UA. Where's your source?

Anthony Grant has accepted the position at Alabama,

http://www.truebluekentucky.com/index.p ... tucky.html

[flamesbball84]

No word from the Tuscaloosa News on Grant accepting the job at UA. Where's your source?

Anthony Grant has accepted the position at Alabama,

http://www.truebluekentucky.com/index.p ... tucky.html

That's my source. It's on the front page of truebluekentucky. The news was broken by Marc Maggard, that guy is typically money on the stuff he reports...

[flamesbball84]

--A two-engine Cessna, flight FIV342, landed in Lexington, Ky., from St. Augustine -- close to Donovan's condo in Crescent Beach -- a little after 1 p.m. The friendly folks at the Blue Grass Airport said they haven't seen a Mr. Billy Donovan walking around the concourse.

Interesting...

[flamesbball84]

Sounds like Alabama kept Anthony Grant to a hard deadline of today. I guess it was "let us know today or you won't be wearing the elephant" and he didn't want to risk losing out on this job waiting on Donovan...

[ALAFlamesFan]

Thanks. Still no confirmation here in T-Town.

[blwall1416]

Thanks. Still no confirmation here in T-Town.

Just keep looking here:

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=14&f=2818

[flamesbball84]

the official source at true blue kentucky, marc maggard, still hsa yet to deny the report on grnat going to bama and donovan leaving UF for UK...

[flamesbball84]

maggard from TBK has this to say...

MM EDIT: I have spoken to numerous sources who all say Donovan will be named UK's head coach. I have not personally confirmed this, but trust the opinions of those who have. I also would not be surprised if the amount of money paid for Donovan is of the historic nature. There is a lot of money coming together to make sure this is a grand slam hire from what I hear.

I am now hearing that there is an effort underway to get the paperwork in order to actually announce Billy Donovan as the UK head coach at the 4:30 presser despite the announcement that no coach would be named. I cannot confirm this, but have heard it from multiple good sources.

[LUconn]

UK presser coming up on ESPN news in like 2 minutes.

[flamesbball84]

no announcement made on new head coach. guess they didn't get the paperwork done...

[LUconn]

yeah this is like the most boring press conference ever.

[flamesbball84]

Billy Donovan is quoted on on ESPN as saying he is staying at UF. of course that is coming from the same man who was originally going to go to UK two years ago then backed out, and the same man who went to orlando for three days then backed out, so we'll see...

[LUconn]

This is gonna be a train wreck when Billy turns them down. I will enjoy watching the aftermath.

[flamesbball84]

This is gonna be a train wreck when Billy turns them down. I will enjoy watching the aftermath.

It will be interesting for sure. However, given his history, I don't believe Billy Donovan's statement until someone else is hired at UK...

[LUconn]

What about his history of turning down the UK job makes you think he won't turn it down again?

But seriously, they really should have had their replacement lined up first so they don't look so stupid scrambling for a coach. I believe this is exactly what they did last time.

[olldflame]

They need to hire Travis Ford. The fans still love him from his playing days and he has done a terriffic job at every stop as a coach, but he is still young, so expectations won't be quite so high and they'll give him a little time.

[flamesbball84]

What about his history of turning down the UK job makes you think he won't turn it down again?

But seriously, they really should have had their replacement lined up first so they don't look so stupid scrambling for a coach. I believe this is exactly what they did last time.

He has a history of backing out of his word. What makes you think he won't do it again?

[flamesbball84]

They need to hire Travis Ford. The fans still love him from his playing days and he has done a terriffic job at every stop as a coach, but he is still young, so expectations won't be quite so high and they'll give him a little time.

You do realize you are talking about Kentucky right? At Kentucky, expectations are always high and it doesnt matter who the coach is...

Travis Ford will be a had hire plain and simple. I'm not sure what you define as terrific, but he's only been to the NCAA Tournament twice - this year as an 8 seed with OK State and one year with Eastern Kentucky. His resume is not even as good as Billy's was when Billy was hired and there are a lot of people that don't like Travis Ford. How is that going to be considered a good hire, it's a worse person based on resume than what we had the past two years? If he hadn't played at Kentucky his name wouldn't even be in consideration...

Mitch Barnhart will catch major heat if he hires Travis Ford. Sure a lot of the UK fans will be excited because they hired Ford, but once the initial "awe factor" wears off people are going to be ticked that we hired a guy that had a worse resume than what we already had, especially if we end up losing any of the prized recruits due to the coaching change.

I think it would be better for UK if they pursued all the top coaching candidates around like Calipari, Izzo, Capel, Sean Miller, Jay Wright, and other people who actually have a long resume of success. Travis Ford should only be the safety pick in case all the other top notch candidates decide to stay where they are.

[Sly Fox]

As far as Billy Clyde is concerned, I think I have been clear about how this would turn out from the moment UK gave him a call. What has surprised me is his carousing wasn't as overlooked by the UK faithful as has been intimated about prior coaches.