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Billy Donovan is where he belongs — in the Hall of Fame.
On Saturday, the legendary head coach who won more games than anyone at Florida and led the Gators to consecutive national championships in 2006 and 2007 was officially inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Donovan has the only 2 national titles in Gator basketball history. Fittingly, Saturday’s announcement came hours before Florida plays for the right to go back to the national championship game.
Across 19 seasons as the Florida head coach (1996-2015), Donovan won 467 games, 6 SEC regular-season championships, and 4 SEC Tournament titles. He led Florida to 4 appearances in the Final Four and positioned the Gators atop the AP poll in 5 different seasons.
His 467 wins as an SEC head coach trail only Adolph Rupp, and only Rupp and Joe B. Hall have won more SEC championships.
When Florida repeated as champs in 2007, it became only the seventh team in NCAA history (at the time) to win back-to-back national championships. On Feb. 28, 2015, Donovan became just the second coach in college basketball history to earn his 500th Division I win before his 50th birthday.
Florida made March Madness appearances in 14 consecutive seasons under Donovan and it won 20-plus games in 16 consecutive seasons.
In 2015, Donovan left Gainesville to take the head coaching job with the Oklahoma City Thunder. He spent 5 seasons in Oklahoma before joining the Chicago Bulls in 2020. Across 10 NBA seasons, Donovan has gone 434-361. He has made 6 appearances in the NBA Playoffs.
Donovan is joined in the 2025 Hall of Fame class by Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Sue Bird, Maya Moore, Sylvia Fowles, referee Danny Crawford, Miami Heat owner Micky Arison, and the 2008 US Olympic Men’s Team — also known as “The Redeem Team.”
The official induction ceremony will take place Sept. 6 in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
