USA Today came out with its voluminous list of athletic department finances on Thursday.
The list included the top paid college basketball coaches in the country in 2014. Florida’s Billy Donovan ranked fifth on the list at $3.905 million, a shade ahead of Michigan State’s Tom Izzo (sixth at $3.893 million).
The full list
can be found here. Donovan ranks fifth behind Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski ($9.682 million), Louisville’s Rick Pitino ($5.758 million), Kentucky’s John Calipari ($5.511 million) and Kansas’ Bill Self ($4.960 million).
Donovan signed a contact extension a few months ago that will pay him an average salary of $3.7 million through 2019. Donovan’s salary was $3.9 million in 2014 due to a $250,000 loyalty bonus he received in March, but his salary will stay steady at around $3.6 million from 2015-19.
Throughout his 18-year tenure at UF, the 49-year-old Donovan has been worth the investment. He just led UF to its fifth Final Four appearance in school history last April. Four of those Final Four appearances have come under Donovan (2000, 2006, 2007, 2014), who led the Gators to back-to-back national titles in 2006 and 2007.
Other notes:
– Scout.com came out with its
latest list for top 100 prospects in the 2015 class. Florida 2015 shooting guard commit
KeVaughn Allen ranks 91st, while power/forward center commit Kevarrius Hayes did not make the top 100. Scout.com’s Evan Daniels ranks the 6-foot-9 Hayes as the 21st best center prospect in the 2015 class. Daniels said he likes Hayes’ mobility and athleticism and wouldn’t be surprised if he made it back into the top 100 with a good showing over the summer.
– Looking ahead to 2016, ESPN.comranked Florida power forward commitment John Mooney as the
34th best prospect in the 2016 class.
– Remember when Donovan’s name was mentioned for the Minnesota Timbewolves’ coaching opening? Well, it turned out T’wolves team president Flip Saunders found a suitable replacement to try to convince Kevin Love to stay in the great white north.
Himself.
