5 coaches who could replace Billy Donovan at Florida

Billy Donovan is off to Oklahoma City to coach the Thunder, which means one of the 14 programs in Division I with multiple national championships now has a head coaching vacancy. For all the talk about Florida’s place in the hierarchy of college basketball, the fact remains that the Gators have two national titles and a Final Four appearance as the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed, all in the last decade. That being the case, this coaching search is a big deal.

With Donovan’s departure still extremely fresh, here are the top five names who could wind up assuming his throne in Gainesville.

Miller seems to be the first name on everyone’s list, and with good reason. He’s arguably the hottest young coach in college basketball, and he’s coming off a season in which he won two NCAA Tournament games with just six scholarship players and nobody taller than 6’6. Taking a shot at a big-time program will certainly be appealing to Miller, but people underestimate the Dayton job, which is the sport’s No. 23 revenue-producer, 15 spots ahead of Florida. Then there’s also the fact that Miller recently re-upped with UD on a contract extension through the 2021-22 season.

Mack is right there with Miller when it comes to accomplished coaches who seem ready for a top-tier job. He’s led Xavier to the Sweet 16 three times in six seasons, and watched the Musketeers go from the Atlantic 10 to the Big East without losing steam. But Mack, like Miller, has a good thing going at his current school, where he’s held three different positions since 1999. Xavier is home for Mack, and it’s going to take an extremely effective pitch to make him head south.

It might seem strange to give the gig to an assistant who was fired after four relatively unsuccessful seasons at another prominent SEC school, but it’s not like Pelphrey didn’t have any success as a head coach. He completely turned South Alabama around in two years, and more than a few people believe he didn’t get a fair shake at Arkansas. Still, if you’re looking for the type of hire that’s going to be universally applauded and will deeply resonate with the top players in the 2016 and 2017 classes, this isn’t it.

There isn’t any real connection here, and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of buzz around this possibility, but eventually Hurley is going to be a coaching star somewhere, and Jeremy Foley could decide to get ahead of the curve and make sure that place is Florida. He’s never been to the NCAA Tournament, but the remarkable turnaround jobs he’s pulled at Wagner and Rhode Island speak louder than that.

Pitino’s cred took a bit of a hit this season when the Gophers limped to a disappointing 18-15 finish, but the 32-year-old has experience at Florida and a head coaching resume that is still far more positive than negative. He’s also got the connections and the last name to flourish at a big-time program.

Five more names to watch:

Michael White, Louisiana Tech
Anthony Grant, Florida (assistant)
Steve Prohm, Murray State
Brad Underwood, Stephen F. Austin
Ben Jacobson, Northern Iowa