Billy Donovan

William John Donovan Jr. (born May 30, 1965) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He previously spent 19 seasons at the University of Florida, where his Florida Gators teams won back-to-back NCAA championships in 2006 and 2007. Donovan has more wins than any other coach in the history of the Florida basketball program, and he coached the Gators to more NCAA tournament appearances, NCAA tournament wins, and Southeastern Conference (SEC) championships than all other Florida coaches combined.\n', ' Donovan was born and raised in Rockville Centre on Long Island, New York. As the starting point guard for Rick Pitino\'s Providence team, Donovan led the Friars to the 1987 Final Four. As such, he is one of only four men (Dean Smith, Joe B. Hall and Bobby Knight being the others) to appear in the NCAA Final Four as a player and win the NCAA national championship as a coach.\n', ' After college, Donovan spent the 1987–88 and 1988–89 basketball seasons split between the developmental Continental Basketball Association and the National Basketball Association\'s New York Knicks, who were led by his college coach, Rick Pitino. Donovan left professional basketball in 1989, and briefly worked as a Wall Street stock broker before following Pitino to his new job at the University of Kentucky. Donovan served as an assistant coach for the Kentucky Wildcats men\'s basketball from 1989 to 1993 under Pitino, working his way from serving as a graduate assistant to Pitino\'s top assistant. He accepted his first head coaching position at Marshall University in 1994 and led the Thundering Herd to a 35–20 record over two seasons.\n', "