Birthday: Former Gators coach Donovan turns 55
“Billy the Kid” Donovan’s fast-paced, sharp-shooting style captivated basketball fans as he led an unlikely run by Providence College to the 1987 Final Four.
At the age of 28, Donovan became the youngest head coach in the game at Marshall University before leaving three years later for UF, where he would make basketball relevant at a football school.
Today, Donovan turns 55. Billy the Kid is now a father of four, with a Hall of Fame coaching résumé and the Gators’ home court named after him.
Donovan left Gainesville in 2015 for the Oklahoma City Thunder, fulfilling a dream to coach in the NBA.
While he has failed to duplicate his success with the Gators, Donovan has won more than 60 percent of his games and appeared in the playoffs all four seasons.
Despite losing two of the NBA’s best players the past three years, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, Donovan’s Thunder were one of the league’s surprise teams before the coronavirus shutdown.
But until OKC contends for a title, Donovan’s greatest coaching moments occurred on the UF sideline. A native of Long Island, Donovan arrived in SEC in 1996, the year the Gators would win their first national title in football.
Following a pair of sub-.500 finishes, Donovan’s teams posted 16 straight 20-win seasons, reached four Final Fours and won the 2006 and 2007 national titles. Those title teams featured three-first round picks — Al Horford, Joakim Noah and Corey Brewer — and are considered among the greatest ever assembled at the college level.
Just six coaches have won more national men’s titles than Donovan, and eight have won as many. Donovan’s 502–206 (.709) record at the college level includes 467 wins with the Gators — an average of nearly 25 wins a season.