Billy Donovan

Billy Donovan (born May 30, 1965)

Current position: Head coach
Current team: Chicago Bulls (NBA)
Other teams coached: Marshall Thundering Herd, Florida Gators, Oklahoma City Thunder
Marshall record: 35-20 (.636)
Florida record: 467-186 (.715)
Overall record^: 502-206 (.709)

Career Accomplishments:

  • NCAA National Championships:  2  (2006, 2007)
  • NCAA Tournament Appearances:  14  (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014)
  • NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen:  8  (1999, 2000, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014)
  • NCAA Tournament Final Four:  4  (2000, 2006, 2007, 2014)
  • NIT Championships:  0
  • NIT Appearances:  3  (1998, 2008, 2009)
  • SEC Regular Season Champion:  7  (2000, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2014)
  • SoCon Regular Season Champion(1995)
  • SEC Tournament Champion:  4  (2005, 2006, 2007, 2014)

Awards:

Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):

2020-present Chicago Bulls
2015-2020 Oklahoma City Thunder
1996-2015 Florida
1994-1996 Marshall
1989-1994 Kentucky (asst)

Billy Donovan Facts

  • William John Donovan, Jr.
  • Born May 30, 1965
  • Hometown: Rockville Centre, New York
  • Alma Mater: Providence College (BA, 1987)
  • Grew up on Long Island, attending St. Agnes Cathedral HS and winning the Long Island Catholic High School Championship in his senior year; Donovan was the team’s starting point guard
    • Played at Providence for head coaches Joe Mullaney and Rick Pitino, the latter was hired between Donovan’s sophomore and junior years
    • Drafted 68th overall by the Utah Jazz in the 1987 NBA Draft; eventually played for Pitino and the New York Knicks during the 1987-88 season
    • Also played for the Wyoming Wildcatters (1987) and Rapid City Thrillers (1988-89) of the CBA
  • Entered the coaching ranks in 1989 as an assistant at Kentucky, where Pitino had just been hired as the new head coach
    • During his time at UK, the Wildcats went from a 14-14 team banned from the postseason in 1990 to one of the 1993 Final Four teams
    • Though Donovan had already left for Marshall, the Wildcats won the NCAA Championship in 1996 with a roster filled with his former recruits
  • Spent two seasons at Marshall, going 35-20 (18-10 SoCon) overall, before becoming the Florida head coach in 1996
  • Donovan’s tenure at Florida is one of the most successful in college basketball history, featuring four trips to the Final Four, two NCAA National Championships and six SEC titles over 19 seasons
  • Following the Gators’ 2007 NCAA National Championship season, Donovan accepted the head coaching position with the NBA’s Orlando Magic; after being introduced as head coach on June 1, Donovan decided to stay at Florida and was released from his contract on June 7
    • Part of the agreement for terminating the contract was that Donovan would not coach in the NBA for the next five seasons
  • In April 2015, Donovan became the head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder; in his first season, the team reached the 2016 Western Conference Finals behind superstars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook
    • Has won 47+ games in each of his first four seasons, then went 44-28 in the COVID-19 shortened 2019-20 season
    • Eliminated from the Playoffs in the first round every year from 2017-2020; in Sept 2020, the team announced it would not retain Donovan
  • Later that same month, Donovan was hired to be the new head coach of the Chicago Bulls
    • Went 31-41 in his first season (the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign) and missed the Playoffs
    • The Bulls lost in the First Round of the 2022 NBA Playoffs and then reached the 2023 NBA Play-In Tournament but were eliminated
  • Donovan is active with USA Basketball, serving as the head coach of the US U-18 team at the 2012 and 2014 FIBA Americas Championships and the US U-19 team at the 2013 FIBA World Championship; his overall record in those three tournaments is a perfect 19-0

Billy Donovan Coaching Tree

 

^ overall record includes head coaching positions at the NCAA Division I level only