<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Sources: Donovan wants out of Magic deal Billy Donovan is having second thoughts. According to two sources close to the situation, the former Florida coach, who accepted the Orlando Magic job on Friday, is attempting to return to Gainesville.Donovan agreed to a five-year, $27.5 million contract with the Magic late last week, but has approached both sides about getting out of the deal.According to one source, Donovan was forced to make a rash decision by the Magic management ? and he regretted it shortly after agreeing to the contract. Speculation centered on VCU coach and former Gators assistant Anthony Grant replacing Donovan quickly. In fact, Grant was slated to meet with Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley on Saturday morning. However, shortly after landing in Virginia, Foley had to return due to an emergency. One source confirmed that the emergency was that Donovan contacted Foley about returning.Grant addressed the situation in a statement released by VCU. "Due to the amount of media speculation regarding my involvement with the University of Florida coaching vacancy, I felt it necessary to address the situation," Grant said in the statement. "I have been contacted by the University of Florida regarding the coaching vacancy."I have not had any in-person contact with any Florida representative, nor have I been offered the job," Grant continued. "At this point, I will have no further comment on the situation. All my focus is on my responsibilities at VCU."Grant, 41, is considered the clear-cut favorite to take the place of Donovan. Grant coached alongside Donovan for a decade at Florida and two seasons at Marshall and led VCU to the second round of the NCAA tournament this past season after a first-round upset of Duke. Donovan, 42, led the Gators to consecutive national titles over the past two seasons and was slated to sign a seven-year deal worth approximately $3.5 million annually. The deal was still in the process of being approved when he accepted the deal with the Magic. Donovan was introduced by the Orlando Magic at a news conference on Friday.</div>http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/6883162
For the love of God, I hope he goes back to Florida and stays. He seems to obviously love it in Gainesville, and even more than that, he seems like he loves the college basketball game. I don't want what happened to the Dolphins with Nick Saban to happen to the Magic. A great college coach comes up, doesn't have his heart into it 100 percent, and ends up back in college two years later.Furthermore, minus Larry Brown, college coaches do not work in the NBA. I don't want the Magic to be the ones to expirement with a college coach, even if he did turn out to be a great coach.
What the hell? Didn't he already sign the contract? Can he even do this? Can Orlando just terminate his contract like that, this quickly?
<span style="font-family:Courier New">This is really shocking, I really didn't see this coming, I don't think anyone did. One thing that annoys is if your so unsure of something, why did you sign the contract in the first place? Why not wait a little until your fully sure? It just make no sense at all to me. I hope they let him go without a penalty though, its only been a couple of days. I want to know if anything happened to cause him to say "Hey, this is not for me. My home is in Florida". I guess we will be finding out sooner or later. I wish him luck back in Florida. </span>
Wow, this IS shocking. I wonder how this is going to work out with the contract. Maybe theres a clause or something where it hasnt gone into affect. Wow...unexpected.I saw this topic a while ago and didnt think much of it. Then I saw "Donovon wants back to FLA" on ESPNews. Wow...this is crazy.
Same hereThis piss's me off, I thought billy would bring sum extra excitement to the magic along with a chance to make them greater than they are at this point.
but didn't they already name a new head coach? I saw on ESPN that they already have someone in mind for the replacement and like someone else said I think Don already signed a contract that can't just be terminated like that can it? This is confusing.
This doesn't make any sense..he's most likely gonna have a few bad seasons at Florida now with all of his starting five leaving. He could of gone out a winner.
There was a good freshman class coming in this year, plus the Gators have good returning basketball players in Walter Hodge, Marqueese Speights, Dan Werner, Brandan Powell, and Jonathon Mitchell. All of these guys can step in and be ready to play next season. Plus Donovan is a great recruiter, as well as a great coach and perfect for the college atmosphere. I think staying at Florida for many years, he could build a legacy and become one of the all time great coach's at the college level, right up there with the likes of Coach K.
