Billy Donovan still wants to coach while:
1. Mark Pope is on the hot seat at Kentucky
2. Bill Self might be heading into his last season at Kansas
3. Todd Golden could possibly shift out in the next 12 months at Florida
4. Oh, and he'd probably get an NBA job in the next month if so desired anyway
Billy Donovan.
Breaking: Billy Donovan has stepped down as the coach of the Chicago Bulls, source confirms to CBS Sports. Had been the coach there since 2020. Was also a candidate for the UNC job but did not pursue. I'm told he still has interest coaching elsewhere in the future, so we'll see when/where that is.
A column on the immeasurable legacy of Val Ackerman, who showed up to the Big East 13 years ago and subsequently made sure the league didn't fade amid the football-driven realignment that warped college athletics.
Hard to overstate just how important she was to saving the Big East.
Almost better than Seton Hall vs. Xavier at 2:30 on a mid-March Thursday in Manhattan.
Watch the whole episode here:
Sorry to be overly sincere for a second, but here's why we decided to persevere through all of the bullshit and take over InfoWars.
There's just gotta be a line somewhere.
Thank you @pablo.show for letting me talk so openly about this.
A column on the immeasurable legacy of Val Ackerman, who showed up to the Big East 13 years ago and subsequently made sure the league didn't fade amid the football-driven realignment that warped college athletics.
Hard to overstate just how important she was to saving the Big East.
Podcasting with GP at 1 p.m. ET. We'll open on UConn and the news today out of the Big East.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi9S...
I must say the Spurs’ fiesta court looks absolutely incredible in person and I have no idea why they ever went away from these colors.
The guy who's responsible for one of the 10-or-so biggest shots in the history of the NCAAT will again wear the uniform of a blue blood team while playing for a Hall-of-Fame coach.
Huge for UConn and a marketing win for college hoops. Braylon Mullins will be back in Storrs for Year 2. Story:
Last week's NCAA title? May is still waiting for the euphoria and triumph to hit. He's hoping to soon feel something close to the high of 2023. There is something amiss. "When I did the interview with (Dan) Hurley before the game and (Adam Zucker) asked what it's like to hoist that trophy, he said, 'You've been to the Final Four, it's a thousand times better than that,'" May told CBS Sports. "And I don't know if it's just me, but I'd heard where you climb the ladder and you say, 'Is this really it?' And it was worse. It was less than 'it.' The journey was so much better than the destination. The finality of it all is almost disappointing because you have one of the most special groups of humans you'll ever be around, and at that moment, it all ends."
The team landed in Detroit early on Tuesday afternoon. May's wife asked if he was going to come home and enjoy the afterglow, even for one night. "I looked at her … and said no," May said. The portal beckoned. This is the job in 2026. She went left, he went right, and for the next four days May and his staff took calls, scheduled Zooms and worked the portal on approximately a dozen players and at least twice as many agents -- and this is after being picky. "Literally, it's such a blur because there's no time to celebrate," May said. "You meet with your seniors, you do exit meetings, you're meeting with your players and trying to figure out what your vision with them will be for the following year. Plugging holes in your roster, trying to make sure you're generating NIL opportunities and attracting businesses and things of that nature."
Dusty May talking to an agent in Josh Schertz's office.
There is something Very Broken about college sports if a guy who grew up in Indiana and dreamed about just being a high school coach couldn't feel immediate and immense joy after winning the national title in his home state. Winning a championship IS THE POINT of all of this. The plot's been lost.
Pretty strong day.
Michigan won it all. The celebration never really came.
I spent time this week w/ Dusty May to get an up-close look at the reality of what it means to win an NCAA title—and why the portal is muting what should be the peak of his career.
Fascinating transparency from one of the game's top coaches.
There is something to this, for sure, though I find May is wired differently than Saban in many respects.
Fair to surmise that was Hurley referring to winning the second in 2024. (I saw it with my own eyes as well.) He's on record that he felt the way May's feeling now after winning his first, in 2023.
Same thing happened to Dan Hurley, Todd Golden and Scott Drew. It's a college sports issue.
So I found all of this interesting. Coaches put untold hours into the job and the players, in the spirit of getting to that Monday night in April. You achieve it ... and it all barely registers. Then the portal immediately opens and you have to do it all over again. That begs for a reckoning.
And it's one of those things where May could have asked to keep all of this off the record. But he has real security in himself. I had to clear the photo of him on the phone in Schertz's office (Schertz as well) and he said yes to all of it. When I tell you the phone doesn't stop, it DOESN'T. STOP.
But despite changing a flight, flying commercial, he still showed up. Let me tell you: Many coaches would not do that. And so after the scenes in the story about lunch and the portal Zoom in Schertz's car, we got to talking about all he and the staff hadn't felt after winning it all.
Dusty told me he would be there no matter what. Ironically enough, it would be his ONLY NCOY award, but he didn't know that at the time. The USBWA dinner had some behind-the-scenes pump-fakes on the date, but Dusty never wavered. I sensed heading into Monday night things were chaotic.
A little more background on how this story came to be: As USBWA prez this past season, I got to make the call to Dusty the day after Selection Sunday and let him know he won Henry Iba Coach of the Year. The dinner would be in St. Louis and Magic Johnson, the guest of honor, was picking the date.
The seed for this story started here, when I snagged this video of Dusty cutting the net. This should be one of the indelible moments of his life, and yet he barely emotes. I thought it was curious in the moment.
Last week's NCAA title? May is still waiting for the euphoria and triumph to hit. He's hoping to soon feel something close to the high of 2023. There is something amiss. "When I did the interview with (Dan) Hurley before the game and (Adam Zucker) asked what it's like to hoist that trophy, he said, 'You've been to the Final Four, it's a thousand times better than that,'" May told CBS Sports. "And I don't know if it's just me, but I'd heard where you climb the ladder and you say, 'Is this really it?' And it was worse. It was less than 'it.' The journey was so much better than the destination. The finality of it all is almost disappointing because you have one of the most special groups of humans you'll ever be around, and at that moment, it all ends."
The team landed in Detroit early on Tuesday afternoon. May's wife asked if he was going to come home and enjoy the afterglow, even for one night. "I looked at her … and said no," May said. The portal beckoned. This is the job in 2026. She went left, he went right, and for the next four days May and his staff took calls, scheduled Zooms and worked the portal on approximately a dozen players and at least twice as many agents -- and this is after being picky. "Literally, it's such a blur because there's no time to celebrate," May said. "You meet with your seniors, you do exit meetings, you're meeting with your players and trying to figure out what your vision with them will be for the following year. Plugging holes in your roster, trying to make sure you're generating NIL opportunities and attracting businesses and things of that nature."
Dusty May talking to an agent in Josh Schertz's office.
There is something Very Broken about college sports if a guy who grew up in Indiana and dreamed about just being a high school coach couldn't feel immediate and immense joy after winning the national title in his home state. Winning a championship IS THE POINT of all of this. The plot's been lost.
Michigan won it all. The celebration never really came.
I spent time this week w/ Dusty May to get an up-close look at the reality of what it means to win an NCAA title—and why the portal is muting what should be the peak of his career.
Fascinating transparency from one of the game's top coaches.
Podcasting on the portal and other doings today at 2 p.m. ET
Will be the first "normal" podcast in weeks. Tune in!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmV8...
The First Four on truTV would never.
Enjoyed this one.
The funniest thing about Geese being called an industry plant is that Goose was called an industry plant first.
Me and Magic!
Missouri Athletic Club.
This dude showed up amid portal insanity. Strong.
Special night in St. Louis. I’ll tell you all about it on the podcast tomorrow.
Rory needs to put on two Green Jackets.
