Billy Donovan Is Returning To Florida

Billy Donovan was the head coach of the Orlando Magic for a few hours, but Billy Boy changed his mind and will now be returning to Gainesville.

Donovan had reservations about leaving the Florida Gators for the NBA on Friday and spent all weekend trying to find a way to get out of his contract. On Saturday, Orlando Magic General Manager Otis Smith went to Gainesville to try to convince Donovan to honor the deal. Smith talked with Donovan again on Sunday, and so did Magic President Bob Vander Weide.

The source said -- barring a change of heart -- the Magic will let him go.

Donovan will be leaving behind $27.5 million to return to Gainesville, which if you weren't aware, is a lot of money.

It's probably the best move for Donovan because I just don't think he'd have had any success in the NBA. It's a completely different animal, and many a college basketball coach has had to learn that the hard way. Donovan's strength is dealing with young men and molding them into good basketball players, not managing the egos of a bunch of millionaires who all think they're more important than you anyway.

There's also the fact that by staying at Florida, Donovan can cement his name as one of the greatest college basketball coaches of all time. Before all is said and done, we could be mentioning his name up there with Wooden, Coach K, Dean Smith, Lute Olson, and Pete Bell.