1 » Looking for a new home after being cut outright by the Chicago Bears, former Florida Gators defensive end Alex Brown is making the rounds. Visiting Tuesday with the New Orleans Saints, Brown has also scheduled a meeting with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday. With the Saints, Brown would likely receive a starting job should he be amenable to their contract offer.

2 » From OGGOA on Oct. 14, 2009:

University of Florida men’s basketball head coach Billy Donovan will be honored with the John R. Wooden “Legends of Coaching Award” on April [9,] 2010. This award recognizes successful coaches who exemplify Wooden’s high standards of integrity on the court. Winners are selected based on character, success, student-athlete graduation rate and coaching philosophy. Donovan will be one of only four active coaches who have both guided teams to multiple NCAA National Championship titles (20006, 2007) and received this honor. The others are the Duke Blue Devils’ Mike Krzyzweski (4), North Carolina Tar Heels’ Roy Williams (2) and Connecticut Huskies’ Jim Calhoun (2). Donovan is 333-139 (.706) in 14 seasons as coach of the Gators with 12 consecutive 20-win seasons, 10 NCAA Tournament appearances and three SEC Championships.

Tags: Alex Brown, Billy Donovan, Chicago Bears, Duke Blue Devils, John Wooden, Legends of Coaching Award, Mike Krzyzweski, NCAA, NCAA Tournament, New Orleans Saints, NFL, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, University of Florida, Wooden Award

On the eve of the 2010 NCAA Championship between the Duke Blue Devils and Butler Bulldogs, OGGOA thought it would be a good time to take a look at the Florida Gators‘ back-to-back National Championship victories in 2006 and 2007. Enjoy.

Tags: Butler Bulldogs, Duke Blue Devils, Florida Gators, National Championship, NCAA

1 » Former Florida Gators forward/center David Lee, now in the middle of an excellent career in the NBA with the New York Knicks, scored a season-high 37 points along with 20 rebounds and 10 assists Friday night for his first career triple-double. Though New York fell to the Golden State Warriors on the road, Lee made NBA history by becoming the first player since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to go 30-20-10 in points, rebounds and assists, respectively. Lee will be a free agent this summer, and it appears unlikely that he will return to the Knicks due to their decision to go after “bigger” names.

2 » Following a victory in their first game of the series, No. 8/11 Gators baseball (20-6, 6-2 SEC) clinched its weekend series against the No. 20/17 Vanderbilt Commodores (23-6, 4-4 SEC) with a 7-3 win Saturday at McKethan Stadium. Freshman starter Brian Johnson (3-1) controlled the entire game, pitching 5.2 innings of one-run ball while going 3-3 from the plate with a run. Senior outfielder Matt den Dekker went 2-4 with two runs, and sophomore OF Daniel Pigott nabbed three RBI with a two-run homer in the second inning. Game three of the series is currently underway (as of press time).

Read about softball’s doubleheader and lacrosse’s landmark victory after the jump!
Continue Reading » FOUR BITS: David Lee, baseball, softball, lacrosse

Tags: ALC, Ashley Bruns, baseball, Brian Johnson, Daniel Pigott, David Lee, Ensley Gammel, Francesca Enea, Golden State Warriors, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kelsey Bruder, lacrosse, LSU Tigers, Matt den Dekker, McKethan Stadium, Michelle Moultrie, NBA, New York Knicks, Penn State Nittany Lions, Pressly Stadium, softball, Stephanie Brombacher, Vanderbilt Commodores

With criticism surrounding him even after leading the Florida Gators to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in three seasons, head coach Billy Donovan sat down with radio host Steve Russell of the Sportscene program on WRUF 850 AM to discuss why players transfer, why he allows them to switch programs and why it is so difficult to replace them, especially on short notice.

Check out what head coach Billy Donovan had to say…after the break!
Continue Reading » Donovan on transfers, replacements, recruiting

Tags: Billy Donovan, David Huertas, Jai Lucas, John Wall, Nick Calathes, Ray Shipman

OGGOA STORY UPDATE » Assistant basketball coach Richard Pitino has interviewed for the Iona head coaching job, per FOX Sports.

1 » A week ago, OGGOA reported that the North Carolina Tar Heels and Florida Gators 2011 five-star guard commit Austin Rivers shared a mutual interest in each other. Now, Rivers’ consideration of UNC seems to have increased, and he is starting to lean away from Florida in favor of opening his recruitment back up. “It would be Duke, Florida and [North] Carolina,” Rivers told CarolinaBlue.com this week. “And just because I might open it back up doesn’t mean that Florida wouldn’t be one of my schools, because they would. I like Florida – a lot.” Should Rivers decommit in order to open up his recruitment, gaining his commitment back against the likes of the Blue Devils and Tar Heels would seemingly be tough for Gators head coach Billy Donovan.

2 » Tuesday, OGGOA mentioned three-star 2010 point guard recruit Chris Denson (Midland, GA) as a prospect Florida is going after to help fill out its incoming recruiting class. Denson spoke with GAVarsity.com Thursday and said that the Gators are one of the teams leading for his services. “I’d say the top of my list are Western Kentucky and Florida […] they’re closer to home and that’s a big part,” Denson said. The site does not list UF as having offered Denson a scholarship yet, instead pointing out that he has already received them from WKU, Buffalo and UNC-Greensboro. Perhaps an offer is all it would take to acquire the 6’2”, 180 lbs. PG.

Two more BITS on Deonte Thompson and Joe Haden…after the jump!
Continue Reading » FOUR BITS: Rivers, Denson, Thompson, Haden

Tags: Austin Rivers, Chris Denson, Cleveland Browns, Deonte Thompson, Draft, Duke Blue Devils, Joe Haden, NFL, North Carolina Tar Heels, Philadelphia Eagles, Sheldon Brown

1 » Asked in a question and answer session about a “sleeper pro prospect coming out of Florida,” ESPN NFL analyst Adam Schefter was quick to name former Florida Gators wide receiver Riley Cooper. “Anyone who is 6-foot-4, 225 pounds and fast usually has a chance to do some good things at the NFL level,” Schefter said. “Some scouts timed him in the high 4.4s. So he has a size/speed combo that makes him an attractive prospect. Throw in his ability to play special teams and it would seem like Cooper would benefit some team next season.”

2 » As the Butler Bulldogs prepare for a 2010 NCAA Final Four game against the Michigan State Spartans, their fans are pumped and already swarming local bookstores (both online and in person) to purchase the official tournament t-shirt. “We are going through just thousands of shirts at this point, of the Final Four style,” Follett regional manager Richard Goodpaster said. In fact, Butler fans are buying shirts at such a rapid pace that they are expected to blow past the record number of shirts purchased by Gators fans during the team’s run in 2006.

Two more BITS on a top recruit favoring UF and Charlie Strong…after the break!
Continue Reading » FOUR BITS: Cooper, Seferian-Jenkins, Strong

Tags: Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Brain White, Butler Bulldogs, Charlie Strong, Draft, Louisville Cardinals, NCAA, NCAA Tournament, NFL, Riley Cooper, University of Florida, Vance Bedford

At one point in his career, Florida Gators head coach Billy Donovan was an up-and-coming assistant coach, learning under then-Kentucky coach Rick Pitino for six years (1989-1994) before moving on to his first head job with Marshall (1994-1996).

Since 2002, Donovan has lost four of his own assistants to head coaching gigs across the country, and three have done so well that they moved on to bigger and better programs. In 2002, John Pelphrey departed to take over South Alabama (he is now head coach at Arkansas). Anthony Grant was hired by Virginia Commonwealth in 2006 (he is now leading Alabama). A year later, Donnie Jones took off for Marshall (he was just hired by Central Florida).

Also departing the Gators in that time were Shaka Smart (who took over for Grant at VCU), Tim Maloney (who floated around but is now associated head coach at Massachusetts) and Tom Ostrom (who traveled with Pelphrey to USA and then Arkansas). Even former Florida guard Brett Nelson earned personnel gigs, working as director of basketball operations at Colorado State and VCU (under Grant) before becoming an assistant coach when Jones joined Marshall in 2007.

With Donovan’s coaching tree branching out at a Pitino- and Dean Smith-like pace, it should be no surprise that another one of his assistants is garnering plenty of attention for some college basketball head coaching job openings.

Richard Pitino, who joined the Gators’ staff this season as an assistant partially for his recruiting prowess, is a name being tossed around in rumors about various job openings including Jones’ vacant seat at Marshall, the top spot at Iona, a job with Wagner and the recently available position with Holy Cross.

The younger Pitino’s previous experience was as an assistant coach at Northeastern and Duquesne as well as under his father at Louisville; his name recognition and ability to recruit make him a valuable commodity for a smaller program.

No interviews have been requested and no offers have been made (that we know of), but often times – especially with college coaching jobs – when there’s smoke, there’s fire.

04/02 UPDATE: Pitino has been interviewed by Iona.

Tags: Anthony Grant, Billy Donovan, Brett Nelson, Dean Smith, Donnie Jones, John Pelphrey, Richard Pitino, Rick Pitino, Shaka Smart, Tim Maloney, Tom Ostrom

1 » OGGOA tweeted Monday that running back Josh Haden, the brother of former Florida Gators cornerback Joe and current safety Jordan, was deciding between UF and the Louisville Cardinals for football playing purposes after choosing to transfer from Boston College Eagles. Joseph Goodman of The Miami Herald has pointed us to this NFL.com video, in which Joe Haden insinuates the decision has already been made. “I have a little brother. He’s a running back at Boston College. He’s transferring now to, probably, Florida,” Joe says. First Draft: Joe Haden (Video)

*NOTE: There is no confirmation of Haden’s decision and Joe could simply be stating where he believes his brother is leaning at the present.

2 » Also piquing OGGOA’s interest this afternoon is a column by The Gainesville Sun’s Kevin Brockway focusing on who the Florida basketball program is going after now that they have turned their attention away from five-star guard Brandon Knight (Fort Lauderdale, FL). Unexpectedly, Brockway does not mention four-star Ray McCallum (Detroit, MI), but rather says the Gators are focusing on three-stars Brandon Young (Baltimore, MD), Chris Denson (Columbus, GA) and Will Yeguete (Melbourne, FL).

Tags: Boston College Eagles, Brandon Knight, Brandon Young, Chris Denson, Joe Haden, Jordan Haden, Josh Haden, Ray McCallum