Billy Donovan Leaving Florida Gators for NBA’s Thunder a Blow to SEC

Billy Donovan, the Florida Gators head basketball coach, has reported reached a contract agreement to leave the college ranks to take over coaching duties with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

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In an expected but still surprising turn of events, Florida basketball coach Billy Donovan is leaving Gainesville after 20 years with the Gators to take over in Oklahoma City as the Thunder head coach. Donovan had just signed a 3-year extension with Florida this past March.

The loss of Donovan is a tremendous blow to the SEC as he was one of the top coaches in the league, leading the Gators to 14 of the 19 NCAA Tournaments to which the team had ever been. His record speaks for itself, and among his accomplishments Donovan became the second youngest coach in NCAA Division I history to earn 500 career wins, accomplishing the feat in the Florida Gators’ 66-49 victory over the Tennessee Volunteers this past February, joining Bob Knight as the only two coaches to reach 500 wins before turning 50 years old

Billy Donovan is the new Thunder coach. He had more 20-win seasons at Florida than every other FLA coach combined. pic.twitter.com/oyR7JJgmJu
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) April 30, 2015

This leaves a vacancy in a premier SEC school coming out of a season where the conference flexed some basketball muscle as a league for the first time in quite some years.

The Oklahoma City job is a very visible post on a team loaded with stars who have underachieved. It will be Donovan’s task to help bring the Thunder to that next level before megastars like Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook decide to move on to other places.

From 1996-2015, Donovan compiled a 467–186 as the Florida head coach, going 202–109 against the SEC. He guided the Gators to three Final Four appearances, winning two national championships, back-to-back in 2006 and 2007.

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