ESPN Insider Pete Thamel Identifies 'The Home Run' Hire For Kentucky

by Staff Reporter

April 9, 20247 Comments

Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

ESPN Insider Pete Thamel joined The Paul Finebaum Show on Monday to talk about John Calipari's move to Arkansas.

When discussing options for Calipari's replacement in Lexington, Thamel said that Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan would be "the home run hire" for the Wildcats. Per Athlon Sports:

quote:
“Billy Donovan is the home run hire. Billy Donovan is the aspirational hire,” Thamel said. “He was an assistant there under Rick Pitino. There’s ties there for Billy Donovan.”

“He obviously dominated the SEC in the mid-2000s and has been a generally successful NBA coach. It’ll be interesting in the courtship of Billy Donovan, the Bulls are in the NBA play-in game, which is on April 17,” Thamel said. “I don’t think Billy Donovan could leave before the NBA playoffs. So if we start to see this search drag out towards that date, I think it would be an increased indication that someone was interested.

Who do think Kentucky will end up hiring?

Filed Under: Kentucky Sports

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SECdragonmaster•17 days

My money is on Mark Pope. Just a feeling.

PurpleEcho•18 days

Bet Will Wade would jump

vodkacop•19 days

Why leave an NBA job, one he's doing fairly well at, and go to UK. I'm sure it would be like taking a job at Texas football with so many people with their hand in the pot stirring.

Miganey•19 days

Unlike football, the college game for basketball is a better work life balance

saintslsupels•18 days

One of the reasons Billy Donavan left Florida was because he got burned out on recruiting. With NIL and the transfer portal recruiting is way more time consuming than it used to be. Don’t see him leaving, he could probably get another nba head coaching job if the Bulls don’t want him back.

TailbackU•19 days

Billy D would crush it at UK

real turf fan•18 days

Billy D would have crushed it, if the game hadn't changed so much. Did he ever use one and dones to advantage? Or was he a coach who brought in players and coached them up?

This NIL world may be some place he'd rather not be.

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