Texas Basketball: Billy Donovan’s candidacy ‘building momentum’

As Texas basketball begins its trek in the postseason this week, the focus for interim head coach Rodney Terry and his squad is solely on making a deep run in the Big 12 Tournament and then the NCAA Tournament. Texas heads into the Big 12 Tournament as a two-seed, with an opportune path to winning the conference crown this week.

Terry and the Longhorns also have a pretty optimistic outlook ahead of Selection Sunday. Texas is widely considered a two-seed by most major media outlets (including Joe Lunardi/ESPN) for the NCAA Tournament.

However, the storyline that still looms large over this program is the impending coaching search to find the replacement for the recently-fired Chris Beard. Texas will officially kick its coaching search into high gear once the 2023 offseason arrives.

It will be interesting to see how serious Chris del Conte and the Texas administration are in terms of considering Terry as a legitimate candidate for the full-time head coaching position.

Terry certainly has done a nice job leading Texas to a top-10 finish to close out the regular season as the interim head coach in the last few months. He’s posted a record of 16-7, including five wins over ranked opponents, during his time as the interim head coach this season.

Although, it looks as if Terry will have to lead Texas on a deep postseason run during the NCAA Tournament for him to have a shot at getting the interim tag removed next offseason.

The reason I say that is because there are still too many rumors and reports flying around in the last couple of months concerning the back-channel communication with some potential head coaching candidates to replace Beard.

As recently as last week, there was a report from Matt Norlander of CBS Sports that mentioned there is “decreasing optimism” that Terry will be the next full-time Texas head coach.

And there was another report regarding the looming Texas head coaching search that caught my eye in the last few days that just adds more possible doubt to the chances that Terry will retain the job following the 2023 postseason.

A report from On3’s Jamie Shaw this week indicates that there is “building momentum” in terms of the connection behind the scenes between Texas and the former Florida Gators head coach Billy Donovan. Texas reportedly is at least kicking the tires on the idea of pursuing the current Chicago Bulls head coach Donovan.

Texas basketball reportedly considering Billy Donovan as a possible head coaching candidate for next offseason

Given that Donovan is considered to be on one of the hotter seats among NBA head coaches this season, it’s not out of the question that he could be available for the Longhorns as soon as this coming offseason.

Despite having high expectations coming into this season, the Bulls are currently out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference standings, bolstering a record of 26-36. Donovan and the Bulls aren’t even in a play-in spot in the East right now.

If the Bulls are looking to make a coaching change this offseason, then the Longhorns could have another intriguing candidate to add to the shortlist to be the next full-time head coach.

Donovan does have a really impressive track record from his time as a college head coach, namely during his tenure at Florida in the 2000s and 2010s. He was a three-time SEC Coach of the Year, two-time National Champion, and eight-time SEC regular season champ during his nearly two-decade-long run coaching the Gators.

It’s also worth noting that Donovan is one of the most established and proven college head coaches that’s still active today. He ranks 75th all-time among college head coaches with more than 500 career wins under his belt. And he ranks among the 25 best coaches in terms of winning percentage among those that are currently active at the collegiate or NBA level.

Texas finished up the regular season with a record of 23-8 (12-6 Big 12), good for seventh in the most recent AP Poll. Terry and the Longhorns will open up their portion of the Big 12 Tournament schedule in the quarterfinals on March 9 against the winner of the 10-seed Oklahoma Sooners and the seven-seed Oklahoma State Cowboys in the first round on March 8.