Image courtest of the AP via CNN/Sports Illustrated.
According to various media outlets, Billy Donovan and the Orlando Magic are close to voiding the contract he signed with the team on Friday. Some have spoken out against Donovan due to the impact that voiding this deal has on the Magic. In Luke Winn's SI.com article, a source told Winn, '"What [Donovan] did was not taken lightly around the league. It was publicly embarrassing, and for the Magic, it was personal. If he had done this at Memphis [to the Grizzlies], it would have been forgotten more easily. But he did it in Florida, on his home turf. He gave them a ton of momentum for a new arena, for turning around the franchise, and then killed it. There are a lot of GMs that would be hesitant to offer him a job. They took it to mean he was backing away from the challenge, and that he was insecure about coaching in the NBA."' While some of their charges are legitimate, we the general population do not know the complete details from Donovan's perspective, since he has been mum for the duration of this dispute. We need to consider that he has been at Florida for 11 years and just won two national titles there. Also, Gainesville is 1 hour and 44 minutes away from Orlando, so his family wouldn't be living in the same home or town that they had been in for the past 11 years. This clearly was not a money issue (U of Florida was offering 3.5 million, the Magic offered 5.5 million a year, according to Winn). Yes, the Magic will be embarassed by this and they'll have to refund the season ticket holder who bought tickets based on Donovan's hiring, but would you want a coach who doesn't have his heart in it? It's unfortunate that he figured out where his heart was after he signed the Magic contract, but until he publicly says what happened, all we can do is speculate as to why he changed his mind.
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