Dan Hurley rejecting Lakers evokes memories of Billy Donovan embarrassing Magic | Commentary

Hey, at least Dan Hurley didn’t accept the Los Angeles Lakers job, waver, waffle, change his mind and back out a couple of days later.

That’s what Billy Donovan did to the Orlando Magic 17 years ago when, just like Hurley, he was coming off back-to-back NCAA championships and was the most coveted coach in all of basketball. Billy D. took the Magic’s blockbuster contract offer, was introduced at a press conference and Central Florida was overtaken by Donovan delirium.

“It’s exciting to get the hottest coach in America to coach our team,” said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, sitting front and center at the standing-room-only conference at RDV Sportsplex.

“Wow,” said Magic rookie guard J.J. Redick. “This is a `wow’ hire. It’s awesome. You couldn’t get a better coach for our team or our town.”

Of course, everybody knows what happened next. Donovan got cold feet, changed his mind and returned to coach the Florida Gators. The Magic were so upset after Donovan reneged on his contract that they made him sign a non-compete agreement that would prevent him from coaching another NBA team for five years.

Hurley’s snub of the Lakers earlier this week wasn’t nearly as embarrassing as Donovan’s about-face, but it was humiliating nonetheless. Please excuse me for being gleeful, but is there anything better than seeing the hated, high-and-mighty Lakers, who usually get everything they want, getting spurned by a college coach who finally came to his senses?

I believe that’s what happened with Donovan in the summer of 2007 when he had just coached the Gators to back-to-back national titles. The Magic came hard after Billy, who was just starting to grow weary of the dirty business of college basketball recruiting.

Even though the Magic had just fired Brian Hill despite eking into the playoffs with a 40-42 record, they were a rising team built around a young Dwight Howard. Donovan, who grew up in New York as a fan of the Knicks, was seemingly euphoric about making the jump to the NBA, but then perhaps the same thing happened to him that seemingly happened to Hurley earlier this week.

After the courtship is over and after you get the big salary offer (the Lakers reportedly offered Hurley a six-year, $70 million contract), there is the realization that you’re not really going to be in total control of your team when you’re coaching in the NBA.

You have to answer to an owner, a team president and, of course, multimillionaire players whose salaries dwarf yours. An NBA teams’ analytics staff has more to do with picking the roster than you do, and often the GM even tells you which players you need to have on the floor.

Who will ever forget when former Magic head coach Scott Skiles, in a fit of frustration, voluntarily quit his multimillion-dollar job when former GM Rob Hennigan was meddling in assistant coaching hires and player discipline?

Seriously, why would a great college coach like Hurley want to leave a dynamic, dynastic program at UConn to go to the dysfunctional, diminished team such as the Lakers, where you will be taking your marching orders from LeBron James?

Hurley has a chance next season at UConn to become the first coach since the iconic John Wooden to win three consecutive national titles. Why would he go from being the next Wizard of Westwood to being the next Frank Vogel or Darvin Ham or Mike Brown or any of the other six head coaches the Lakers have hired and fired in the last 13 years since Phil Jackson? Why would he go from being a living legend to being a living layman?

“I don’t know why Dan Hurley turned down the Lakers and stayed at UConn, but it’s probably some of the same reasons Billy changed his mind about coaching the Magic,” said former UF athletics director Jeremy Foley, recalling the tumultuous few days when he thought Donovan was leaving for the NBA. “Billy told me then that he finally came to the realization that he’d built something special at the University of Florida and was happy coaching the Gators. So why leave?”

Especially when there will be plenty of other opportunities to jump to the NBA anytime you want. Donovan eventually did scratch his itch and left UF to take the head-coaching job with the Oklahoma City Thunder when the team still had superstars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Likewise, Hurley, if he wants to coach in the NBA someday, will have even better opportunities in the next several years.

As for the Lakers, maybe they should hire Stan Van Gundy like the Magic did when Donovan rejected them. It was one of the best things that ever happened to franchise because Van Gundy would go on to guide the Magic into the NBA Finals and became the greatest coach in the organization’s history.

On second thought, I’m not sure Stan would even consider the Lakers job now that he has become one of the NBA’s most desired network TV analysts. However, it should be noted that one of Stan’s former Magic players, J.J. Redick, is now considered one of the favorites to coach the Lakers in the wake of Hurley snubbing them.

Yes, the same J.J. Redick who was a wide-eyed rookie when Donovan delirium turned to Donovan depression in Orlando.

Who knows, maybe J.J. will be to the Lakers what Stan was to the Magic.

Oftentimes, as that great NBA pundit Garth Brooks once told us, “Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.”

Email me at moc.lenitnesodnalro@ihcnaibm. Hit me up on X (formerly Twitter) @BianchiWrites and listen to my Open Mike radio show every weekday from 6 to 9:30 a.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and 969TheGame.com/listen