As if the NCAA Tournament wasn’t interesting enough…
The Cats’ Pause, WLEX-TV in Lexington, WAVE-TV in Louisville and, I’m told, WPSD-TV in Paducah are all reporting that Billy Donovan has at least been offered if not agreed to a seven-year, $28 million contract with the University of Kentucky, to be officially announced as soon as Florida loses.
If this is true, I will be a happy, happy boy. If it’s not, Mitch Barnhart had better blow everyone away with his hire, and I don’t think Jay Wright or Billy Gillespie is gonna do that.
And now, the inevitable backtracking.
The reporter at TCP who broke the story (and who, I suppose, is technically a colleague, since we both work for the same parent company) is saying that WLEX ran with the story beyond what he was saying originally.
Still, I had heard the same rumors this afternoon from other people, right down to the contract length and money, so I’d say there’s definitely something to it.
Reporting here says that Donovan and UF are examining is contract. I’m sure that he’ll have a comparable offer here to whatever they can offer him in Lexington. And I’m sure Kentucky will have to offer more if he repeats. As to the OP “as soon as Florida loses”, that might not be until next season.