ATLANTA - When he used to slick his hair back in that widow's peak, before he pruned it to its modern trim, Florida coach Billy Donovan looked a lot like Eddie Munster, or at least less trustworthy than now, and not because of the new hair or the national title the Gators are defending.

Donovan always did seem to be just on the hustle, a lot like his mentor Rick Pitino in that way, and now that he is the hottest property in big-stakes college coaching, nothing he can say will stem suspicion that, win or lose, he is off to Kentucky.

"I have not given that any thought," said Donovan, instead of saying no, he is not leaving Gainesville and the basketball celebrity he has invented for the tradition and legacy of Adolph Rupp, Joe B. Hall, Tubby Smith, Pitino himself and all of that.

There is no doubt Kentucky is a job with brighter lights, as hard as that is to imagine about a horse school in Lexington.

But some schools just have that special basketball aura, built on a distinguished ancestry that sets them apart from a late comer like the Gators, only recently the twin terrors of two sports.

Kentucky is one. As is Indiana, and UCLA and Kansas and North Carolina and Duke, all made so by one strong individual coach, and Donovan is the coach who is making Florida what, oh, what Dean Smith did North Carolina or Bobby Knight did the Hoosiers.

What he can do from here is be the same kind of lasting legend as Mike Krzyzewski or Jim Boeheim or Denny Crum or Phog Allen.

Or he can be, like Pitino, a vagabond, or like Smith, too, who tried to explain why he would leave basketball-mad Kentucky for the wasteland of Minnesota.

"A lot of it has to do with timing in one's life," Smith said. "The longest I have lived anywhere is 10 years. That itch is part of it. It's an adventure."

Surely the reasons are more involved than itchy feet, and Donovan might want to talk to both his old friend Pitino, who also bailed, and Smith, when he gets the chance.

"I have not thought about anything but UCLA," Donovan said, meaning his opponent, not the coaching job. "I don't have a phone, I don't talk to anybody, I have a lot of bloodshot eyes from looking at tape."

And yet, still, Donovan will not just say no. No way. When he speaks of Florida, hint, hint, it is in the past.

"It has been a great place to work," he said.

All of this is business as usual for college basketball, the annual chair swapping and coach stealing that goes on.

Except in this case, Donovan should have a sharper conscience about moving on. His players did not leave, and here they are with him trying to defend their championship.

Had Joakim Noah and Al Horford and Corey Brewer not chosen to try for another title instead of turning pro, the Gators would be a football school again and Donovan would not be as hot a property as he is.

How can Donovan be selfish when his players were not?

"In this day and age, it is rare," Donovan said. "I hope they have carved out a path for others (by staying). Kids sometimes leave when they don't want to but are forced to. Kids feel pressure to get to the next level and make money and they lose out on the joy and happiness of college."

Nice words, but self-serving and hypocritical. What Donovan does next will show how much he actually believes them.

And, by the way, here's how Noah described the joy and happiness of staying in the college pressure cooker.

"Last year, there were no expectations," Noah said. "Last year, I feel like everything I did was OK. This year, I feel as if I'm under a microscope, and everything I do, people are going to analyze and say something about it.

"The expectations on me before the season were almost unbearable. A week before the season, I had a hard time. I couldn't sleep, I was just so nervous. I was excited, but it was just - it was intense. You know, it drains you."

The cold reality of big-time college basketball is that all sides are out to get what they can from it. And probably Noah has cost himself money and hurt his place in the draft by sticking around. So much for being noble.

Donovan may never be hotter. There may never be a job as high profile as Kentucky come open for him again. His "kids" made one choice. Sounds like he is making another.

lincicomeb@RockyMountainNews.com

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