| | By Andy Katz
ESPN.com
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Jeremy Foley is waiting for Kentucky to call, almost daring the Wildcats to try and snatch Billy Donovan away from him.
"Deep down inside, I would have a sense of comfort," said Florida's athletics director. "We have put together a situation that I think ultimately wins the day in that conversation. Look at the contract, the facilities, the relationship and the support. I don't think Billy has to look elsewhere."
Foley is so certain of what his basketball coach will do that he printed out quotes from Steve Alford's Iowa news conference, the day after Bob Knight was fired at Indiana. Alford held a news conference to put to rest talk that he would leave Iowa for Indiana this season.
|  | | Billy Donovan has everything a college coach could ask for in Gainesville. |
"I told Billy that the day Kentucky calls you, I'm going to expect the same press conference," Foley said. "He laughed about it. I think there is a lot of loyalty and if you knew Billy like I do, you'd see that."
Kentucky isn't calling yet, but the assumption in college basketball is that the day Tubby Smith moves on to the NBA -- a likely question of when, not if, after he talked to the Atlanta Hawks last spring and was an assistant on the Olympic team in September -- the Wildcats first move would be to Donovan.
Unless Rick Pitino wants to return to the Wildcats from the Celtics, the obvious choice is Donovan, his former pupil.
But Donovan's roots aren't entirely vested in Kentucky. He was an assistant for five years in Lexington, but played at Providence. In four years at Florida, he has turned the Gators into a national program by getting to the 2000 title game and securing two straight top-10 recruiting classes in 1998 and '99 -- and he's on the verge of another one this week.
Foley, one of the most proactive athletics directors in the nation, has already restructured the 35-year-old Donovan's contract four times, including once after he won 13 games in his first season.
Foley doesn't hide his intentions: He wants a program that rivals Kentucky in name and in wins. He wants men's basketball to be like football -- a program in the mix every year not only in the SEC but also in the national title chase.
"When I hired Billy, everything was about building a program here," Foley said. "I'm not taking anything away from the previous coach or team, but we've never done that. We've had pockets of success."
Former coach Norm Sloan went to the tournament three years in a row, which still stands as a school record. Lon Kruger went two years in a row, including a 1994 Final Four appearance.
"And I've said I would trade that for 12-straight tournament appearances because once you get into the tournament 10-12 years in a row, you've got a program," Foley said.
To do that, Foley can't have a coach bolt to another program that's on par with Florida's, like Kruger did when he left for Illinois.
"We're not going to nickel and dime it," Foley said. "We needed to make sure Billy knew there was no better place for him, contractually we've done that. He's one of the highest paid coaches in the country. We could have taken him from $350,000 to $700,000 or even $900,000, but the guy makes $1.2 million. And with bonuses he's got a chance to make more. That's a statement. Someone isn't going to come in and buy Billy."
Florida's state of the art $10 million practice facility for men's and women's basketball opens next November. The O'Connell Center has a new roof, sound system and new seating.
"We've got a great institution, great academics, a great community to raise your family in. He's being compensated. He has tremendous facilities. He's recruiting well, so why is it all of a sudden assumed that Kentucky is a better job, or even Providence," Foley said. "Billy Donovan is a loyal person. And this institution has been loyal to him, and I think he can see what this place has meant to him and we can compete with anybody in terms of resources."
An argument could be made that Donovan is recruiting better players than Kentucky for next season with the commitments of Kwame Brown, David Lee and James White. The only thing Foley can't control is if the NBA comes calling for Donovan, which friends close to him say could be his ultimate destination.
"I can't control that," Foley said. "Steve Spurrier's office is next to me, and he says he's happy here but if the Jacksonville Jaguars call, an hour from his beach home, and offer him $5 million a year for the next five years, I can't control that. That's not a coaching decision, it's a career decision. It's a different deal, a different lifestyle. It's not like leaving for Kentucky or North Carolina or for Tennessee.
"But if Billy considers the NBA, we'll see. But I think his mentor's experience in the NBA will help me down the road."
Foley said he has heard every year that Spurrier is gone. But he stays. He's convinced the same thing would occur with Donovan.
"The resources are in place for him," Foley said. "I think he'll be a Gator for a long time. This is one of the marquee jobs in the country."
Editor's note: Donovan wasn't available to comment on this report due to a family tragedy.
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.
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