"You just got to hope and pray you made the right decision and you won’t know that for three or four years."
A quarter century ago, the University of Florida made what turned out to be one of its greatest hires in school history when they pried away a 30-year-old head coach from a mid-major school at Marshall to take over its basketball program.
That was the birth of BillyBall, an up-tempo, entertaining style of play that evolved into a spectacular 20-year run in Gainesville for Billy Donovan, now the head coach of the NBA Chicago Bulls. The personable New Yorker became wildly popular and produced two national championships, a feat that eventually compelled UF to put his name on its basketball court.
The Gators hit the coaching jackpot on that Billy. They took a chance on a promising young coach, who had acquired a vast depth of knowledge from hoops savant Rick Pitino, and he became a rock star in the profession.
It remains to be seen whether that hiring formula will work as Florida gets ready to welcome another ascending Billy with a similar pedigree – 42-year-old Louisiana head coach Billy Napier – as its next football coach.
Read more at the Florida Times-Union