William John "Billy" Donovan, Jr. (born May 30, 1965) is the head coach of the Florida Gators men's basketball team. He has taken the Gators to three NCAA championship game appearances, in 2000, 2006 and 2007. The Gators lost to the Michigan State Spartans in the 2000 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball final. The Gators won the national championship in 2006 with a 73-57 win over UCLA and again in 2007 with an 84-75 win over Ohio State, making Donov...
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William John "Billy" Donovan, Jr. (born May 30, 1965) is the head coach of the Florida Gators men's basketball team. He has taken the Gators to three NCAA championship game appearances, in 2000, 2006 and 2007. The Gators lost to the Michigan State Spartans in the 2000 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball final. The Gators won the national championship in 2006 with a 73-57 win over UCLA and again in 2007 with an 84-75 win over Ohio State, making Donovan the first coach since Mike Krzyzewski to win back-to-back titles. He is one of only four (Dean Smith, Joe B. Hall and Bobby Knight being the others) to play in the Final Four and win the national championship as a coach.
After a brief stint as head coach of the Orlando Magic that lasted only five days, Donovan re-signed with the Gators on June 7, 2007, with a deal that makes him the highest-paid head coach in college basketball, at $3.5-million per year.
Donovan was named the 2010 winner of the John R. Wooden Award's "Legends of Coaching...
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