CHICAGO — Bulls head coach Billy Donovan said he has not been approached by Kentucky brass about replacing John Calipari as head coach of the Wildcats men’s basketball program.
“A lot of this stuff a lot of the time turns out to be speculation, but I have not had any contact with anybody,” the Bulls coach said ahead of tipoff against the Knicks on Tuesday. “My commitment is here [in Chicago].”
Donovan is reportedly atop the list of candidates to fill-in for Calipari, who is expected to leave Kentucky and take the head coaching job at Arkansas for next season.
The Bulls head coach agreed it is flattering for such a decorated college basketball program to potentially have interest in hiring him. He served as an assistant at Kentucky for five seasons before taking his first college head coaching job at Marshall in 1994.
“You always are [flattered], right? But I haven’t spoken to anybody,” he said. “Obviously I spent time there. I understand the magnitude of that place, the history and tradition and everything that goes into that place, and it is flattering to be mentioned with a school and tradition like that, but I also know people will speculate on what may or may not happen.
“And I understand the interest in Kentucky basketball — but has John even actually left? And they’re speculating what’s happening. I’m sure the athletic director hasn’t even made any phone calls. I don’t even know.”
Donovan said he’s happy coaching at the NBA level but left the door open for a return to the college game.
“I’m happy here at this level and stuff like that,” he said. “But I also understand in the profession, sometimes things don’t work out at a particular place or things change. And I know I enjoy coaching, and I know I enjoy coaching in the NBA.”
The two-time NCAA championship coach said he isn’t pleased with how the transfer portal has impacted the college game.
“The hard part is and the thing that I don’t love about the [college] game is the players can just jump around the way they jump around. I just don’t think it’s good for them because I don’t think it builds up any level of resiliency or tolerance,” he said. “People say coaches can jump and go here and here — and I get all that. But I’m saying at [this] time where guys are getting paid — and I’ve always been a big advocate for that. I think that should have happened a long time ago. And I’m all for that, but with these guys, if they’re fortunate to come up to this level, they don’t get to pick and choose what team they go to. They have to go and they have to stay there and they have a contract and [they have to] fulfill that.
“And I know coaches jump around, so I don’t want to be hypocritical here, like it’s not great for the players but great for the coaches, but coaches are not jumping through jobs year to year to year. That doesn’t happen. I think there’s something to be said for fighting through things.”
Donovan said he spoke with Bulls vice president Arturas Karnisovas about the reports suggesting Kentucky had interest in poaching Chicago’s head coach.
“Arturas and I had a conversation the other day,” he said. “He asked if anybody reached out to me and I told him no.”
Donovan said his commitment remains in coaching the Bulls, though it’s apparent things could change if the Bulls can’t make it out of the Play-In Tournament.
Or if Kentucky’s offer is too good to refuse.
“Obviously I spent the first five years of coaching over there [at Kentucky]. I think at all my stops I had very fond memories. I have not been contacted by anybody. I haven’t spoken to anybody,” he said. “My total commitment and focus is here with this team. I think with what we’ve been through this year and the way we started to talk about it, I give our guys a lot of credit for hanging in there and battling through some of the things we’ve had to battle through and I’m with them with that.”
