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Vaught's Views: Donovan has deep appreciation for Smith

February 03, 2006|LARRY VAUGHT

Billy Donovan wants to beat Tubby Smith and Kentucky Saturday night. The Florida coach knows if his team can beat the Wildcats, it could stem the momentum UK has gained during its five-game win streak and make it much easier for the Gators to win the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division.

However, it's also obvious that Donovan has a deep appreciation for the job Smith has done at Kentucky.

Remember, they were assistant coaches together on Rick Pitino's staff at Kentucky. While Donovan played for Pitino at Providence and always has been close to Pitino, the Florida coach has also grown to respect Smith more and more.

He's consistently praised Smith for continuing the winning ways at Kentucky and has never liked it when some disgruntled UK fans have suggested he should be UK's next coach.

"I've said this about Tubby before. I think he's an outstanding coach, but there's no question that he is a better human being than he is coach. That's the biggest compliment I can give somebody," Donovan said Thursday.

Believe him.

Was in awe of Pitino

Donovan was still somewhat in awe of Pitino when he came to work for his former coach at Kentucky. He was a 23-year-old former player trying to learn the ropes of college coaching and recruiting. As most know, Pitino can be temperamental and demands an incredible work ethic from his assistants.

When Donovan needed help, he often turned to Smith for answers - and advice - during their time at UK before Smith left to become head coach at Tulsa.

"When you start out back then as a graduate assistant and you're trying to learn how things work off the floor from organization to preparation to recruiting to all that stuff, you need help," Donovan said. "I will always be appreciative of the amount of time he spent with me, always be appreciative of Donna (Smith) and his kids and how they've treated myself and my wife."

Again, believe him. Donovan isn't just giving Smith love because of the significance of Saturday's game.

If the Wildcats win, they will resurrect their season that looked lost when a three-game losing streak included home losses to SEC foes Vanderbilt and Alabama and move ahead of Florida in the SEC standings. If Kentucky loses, the Cats will be two games behind Tennessee in the loss column and also trail Florida with games still remaining at Vanderbilt, LSU, Tennessee and South Carolina.

Still, the magnitude of Saturday's game doesn't change the respect Donovan has for Smith.

"With Tubby, it goes a lot deeper than just a coaching aspect of it. I think when you work along side of somebody and you're in the trenches and you're both working for a common cause, you can truly see a person's character, their integrity and what they're all about," Donovan said.

"Probably the greatest compliment, besides that he's a great person, is that I'd have no problem if my kids were ever good enough to play at a place like Kentucky for them to play for Tubby Smith."

Enough said.

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