Good move, Billy Donovan.
The UF men's basketball coach passed up the Kentucky job for the second time in three years Friday.
The never-ending speculation surrounding now-former Wildcats coach Billy Gillispie had Donovan in the running well before Gillispie was officially fired at 4:30 p.m. Friday.
Donovan did not take long to quell the rumors.
Donovan, a former Kentucky assistant coach under Rick Pitino, released the following statement shortly after the Wildcats formally announced one of the worst-kept secrets of last week: Gillispie's firing.
"In response to the rumors circulating about my interest in other jobs, I wanted to address this as quickly as possible. I am committed to ?the University of Florida and look forward to continuing to build our ?program here."
My editors, in fact, found it so insignificant (or perhaps old) that they put no mention of the incident in Monday's paper.
I beg to differ. This is an important decision for both Donovan and UF.
Listen, the grass isn't always greener. An ironic but obvious example of this is the Kentucky problem itself. Wildcats boosters ran Tubby Smith out of town in 2007 because he didn't meet their expectations. Whether those expectations are in any way realistic in this day and age - where parity is higher and no power ever really stays at the top anymore - is a topic for another column.
In 10 seasons, Smith won a national championship and made the Elite Eight on three other occasions. He won the Southeastern Conference regular season and SEC Tournament titles five times each. He averaged more than 26 wins per season and won more than 75 percent of his games.
That brought Gillispie to Lexington, Ky., after Donovan, who reached unprecedented status among the coaching ranks after winning back-to-back national titles, turned down the Wildcats' offer before his Orlando Magic fiasco.
It's hard to believe Donovan will ever make his way to Lexington now. He has spurned the Wildcats twice, clearly letting them know the Kentucky job does not mean more to him than his current beloved status in Gainesville.
I would be the first to agree that Donovan underachieved the past two years by missing the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons after making nine straight appearances in the field of 65.
Some have pointed out how much better the Gators would have been if Donovan had been able to beat out Gillispie for All-SEC big man Patrick Patterson. It is a valid point.
Still, the Gators had plenty of talent to get to the Big Dance this year, but it was unfortunately only shown in too-short glimpses. Not being able to get the most out of his players is a knock on Donovan, and his revelation March 23 that this year's team "overachieved" is, quite frankly, ridiculous.
But if Donovan (rather than his players) receives most of the criticism for the failed rebuilding effort, he cannot also be denied the praise earned for two straight national championships.
It's one of the terrible double standards in America: Players get the praise, and coaches get the blame.
So celebrate the news that Donovan is returning to Gainesville because now his name will remain synonymous with UF.
And that's best for all parties involved.
