Players Put Trust In Donovan

Billy Donovan walks fast, talks fast and got to the Final Four quicker than anyone could have imagined.

But the trip wasn't built just on speed.

Instead, the many long hours Donovan invested to earn the trust of his players has helped put Florida within two victories of its first national title.

Ask point guard Brett Nelson, a McDonald's All-American from West Virginia. He had his pick of schools coming out of high school. He got to know Donovan in junior high. He chose the Gators, and now he's being rewarded with a trip to the Final Four in his freshman year.

Florida plays North Carolina on Saturday in the national semifinals.

"I probably would have gone wherever he was going, because I built a relationship with him when he was at Marshall," Nelson said. "That's how much I trust and care for him."

Or ask Mike Miller, who could have gone wherever he wanted after graduating from Mitchell High School in South Dakota. As was the case with Nelson, the recruiting process had a more personal feel.

"If you're going to make the decision I had to make, you might as well do it with someone you trust," Miller said. "I trusted coach Donovan and what he was trying to sell."

But Donovan bristles when he's labeled a salesman. He says there's much more to his recruiting and coaching style than the slicked-back hair, the constant Long Island jabber and the high-octane personality.

He considers himself a student of the game, a disciple of the Rick Pitino method and a true "player's coach." At 34, he's still young enough to relate to these kids, both in their homes and on the basketball court.

He can do the same with fans, formerly reluctant to support this team. How many other coaches kick off each season by playing students in a 3-on-3 tournament?

He knows what it's like to play in the Final Four. He did that with Providence in 1987. He knows what it's like to coach in the Final Four, too. He did as Pitino's assistant at Kentucky in 1993.

"I was very happy when he came here," said Kenyan Weaks, the only Florida player left who was recruited by Donovan's predecessor, Lon Kruger. "I knew his background. I knew he had played in the Final Four. I knew he would give us a chance to get here."

Donovan's system worked when he was at Marshall, taking a team from nine to 18 wins in his first season. It's working at Florida, where he has revived a program and for a moment anyway pushed his frenetic brand of Billy Ball pas Steve Spurrier's Fun 'N' Gun as the most exciting offense on campus.

"He wants to make it fun," said Pitino, now coach of the Boston Celtics. "He had a lot of fun as a player, so his Florida kids are having a ball."

But before the fun, there is work.

Donovan runs one of the most stringent conditioning programs in college basketball. Part of it is a bonding experience, but more than that, it's a program that helps this team survive.

If the team is in better shape, Donovan promises, it will pay off down the road. Last week, Florida beat Duke in the regional semifinals because it could outrun the Blue Devils.

The same goes with playing time. Miller or Nelson could have gone elsewhere, could have averaged 30 minutes and 20 points a game. But by believing in their coach and sacrificing those numbers, the team succeeded.

Pitino didn't think it could happen at Florida.

He watched his disciple spend too much time developing, turning himself from nothing into something, as a player and coach, to watch him throw it away with the Gators.

Pitino recalls a conversation with athletic director Jeremy Foley. His biggest concern was whether Foley would have the patience to give Donovan the time he needed to build the program.

Foley assured Pitino he did.

"Then you've got the best young coach in the game," Pitino promised.

And one of the most personable. That makes for a potent recruiting-coaching combination that not many people could believe.

"When you knock off the big-timers in recruiting, they don't like it," Pitino said. "That's the first thing they say, 'How did you get them?' He says, `My personality, that's how I got them.'"

Nelson buys into that theory.

"Mike Miller didn't come to the University of Florida because it's the University of Florida and he didn't come for the basketball tradition," Nelson said. "He's here, and really all these guys are here, basically because of the coach."

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