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Florida honored legendary coach Billy Donovan in February by naming its court after him, but the look was only temporary.
The official design was unveiled this week on the team’s Twitter account, with Donovan’s name blown up and centered underneath the Gator Head logo at midcourt.
He appeared on ESPN Gainesville Wednesday to discuss the new look, among other topics, with Jeff Cardozo and Pat Dooley. Former UF athletics director Jeremy Foley sent Donovan a picture of the court Tuesday night.
“I had a chance to look at that. Turned out great,” Donovan said. “Couldn’t be any prouder and humbled.”
When Florida held its ceremony for Donovan, the school had to use two stickers with his signature on the corners of the court because there wasn’t enough time to go big with the design. So Donovan knew this updated look was coming.
“When I first came back,” Donovan recalled, “Jeremy and Scott Stricklin were like, ‘Hey listen, I hope you’re not upset, but we haven’t had time to get it down on the court. We’re going to just put a sticker down there.’ And I was not offended at all.
“They just wanted to put something for when I came back in February, so they kind of showed me what the drawings were going to look like and obviously it took some time to get that done. But, no, it was absolutely incredible.”
Donovan spent 19 seasons with the Gators, repeating as national champions in 2006 and 2007, making the Final Four four times and winning 10 combined SEC titles (six regular season, four tournament). Twenty-eight of his former players returned to the O’Dome for his court dedication.
“There’s so many ebbs and flows of 19 years. And to see a lot of the guys that I first coached when I first got there was really amazing. So many guys came back,” said Donovan, who now coaches the Oklahoma City Thunder. “It was not enough time to thank the amount of people that I wanted to thank, but it was just an incredible turnout that that many people would show up. I’m glad I got a chance to see everybody for the most part.”
