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Donovan once crossed paths with Utah's Jerry Sloan
Thursday, February 10, 2011 | Men's Basketball, Women's Tennis, Scott Carter
According to reports this afternoon out of Utah, Jerry Sloan will resign after 23 seasons as head coach of the NBA's Utah Jazz.
Once the news made its way around UF, a fact many Gator fans might not know was recalled: Sloan was with the Jazz when they drafted a young point guard out of Providence named Billy Donovan.
Utah selected Donovan in the third round of the 1987 NBA Draft. However, Donovan was cut and never played a regular-season game for the Jazz, who had a 25-year-old point guard named John Stockton already on the roster.
Sloan was then-Jazz coach Frank Layden's right-hand man, and in little more than a year after Donovan was cut, Sloan replaced Layden.
Donovan later played 44 games that season with the New York Knicks and his former college coach, Rick Pitino.
Sloan was named head coach of the Jazz on Dec. 19, 1988, making him the longest-tenured coach in professional sports. Once Sloan officially resigns, St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa (entering 16th season) will take over as professional sports' longest-tenured coach.
Meanwhile, whatever happened to that Donovan guy? He is now the longest-tenured head men's basketball coach in the Southeastern Conference, in his 15th season at UF.
Donovan recorded the 350th win of his UF tenure on Wednesday night in the Gators' 79-60 win at South Carolina.
For the record, here are the Jazz's picks in the 1987 draft: Jose Ortiz (first round, Oregon State), Clarence Martin (third round, Western Kentucky), Donovan, Reuben Holmes (fourth round, Alabama State), Bart Kofoed (fifth round, Kearney State), Art Sabb (sixth round, Bloomfield) and Keith Webster (seventh round, Harvard).
