It is like a soap opera down in Florida ... as Billy's World Spins!

It comes down to this. Does Orlando want someone on the sidelines that doesn't want to be there? This has happened before where a coach took a job and then had second thoughts. I remember when Rollie Massimino took the Nets job but changed his mind and returned to Villanova. Bobby Cremins decided to accept a position at his alma mater, South Carolina. Then he did an about face and returned to Georgia Tech.

If I am the Magic, do I want to pay a guy who, after a month, doesn't want to be there? If Donovan really wants to be in Florida, I think Orlando should let him out of the contract. For the Magic to beg him to stay is absurd and ridiculous.

To me, it was a simple change of heart because he is so comfortable in Gainesville. Even when the announcement was made that he accepted the coaching job in Orlando, I did not believe it.

He is so entrenched with the Gainesville area and what he has at the University of Florida. I think the emotion of it all, and the opportunity to have a new challenge in the NBA, caught up with him. His relationship with athletic director Jeremy Foley, being an icon, a legend down there, was special.

I think Donovan wants to be at Florida. It is a statement that he will be a college coach for the rest of his career. Consider what he has in Gainesville: they are thinking about naming the court in his honor. He has a reputation like Mike Krzyzewski and Joe Paterno, leading their respective schools to greatness.

This is not about the money. The dollars will be there in Gainesville and Foley will take good care of him. In fact, his deal will take him close to $4 million by the end of his contract. I think he can live off that.

The question is being in a comfort zone or being at the next level, facing the challenge of the NBA? If it didn't work out in the pros, he would be on a hot list for every major college athletic director given his two national championships.

I feel he will be back with the Gators. He hasn't really started with the Magic yet.

Dick Vitale coached the Pistons and the University of Detroit before broadcasting ESPN's first college basketball game in December 1979. Send him a question for possible use on ESPNEWS.