A familiar face and an old friend will be joining Florida Gators head coach Billy Donovan in Gainesville, FL next season. On Tuesday, the University of Florida announced that a pair of former head coaches – John Pelphrey and Norm Roberts – have been hired as assistants for the basketball team.

“Having John back will be a great addition to our program,’’ Donovan said in a school release. “Obviously, he has a level of familiarity with me and with the University of Florida makes this a great fit. John’s a great coach, he’s a great friend and has a love for Florida, and we’re excited to bring him back. Being from New York, I’ve known Norm for a long [time]. He’s an outstanding coach, he’s a great recruiter, has high character and integrity and I’m thrilled to have him on our staff here at Florida.”

An assistant at Florida for six seasons (1996-2002), Pelphrey will be reunited with his close friend and mentor. He played under Donovan (an assistant at the time) and head coach Rick Pitino with the Kentucky Wildcats and served as an assistant on Donovan’s first coaching staff for two seasons with the Marshall Thundering Herd (1994-96). He joined Donovan when he was hired by UF, helping lead the Gators to four-straight NCAA Tournament appearances.

Pelphrey left in 2002 for a head coaching gig with the South Alabama Jaguars, where he led the team for five seasons. He won the Sun Belt Championship, was named the Sun Belt Coach of the Year and brought his squad to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2006. USA would end up falling to Florida in the first round.

Noticing his success at a smaller school, Arkansas hired him to lead their program in 2007. Pelphrey brought the Razorbacks their first NCAA Tournament victory since 1999 in his first season but failed to replicate his success over the following three. He was fired by Arkansas on March 13 even though he had a top-tier recruiting class on its way in.

Roberts, who does not have any direct coaching connection to Donovan, is – like his new boss – a native New Yorker. He most recently served as head coach of the St. John’s Red Storm from 2004-10 but was fired on March 19, 2010, after leading the team to an unimpressive 81-101 record in six seasons.

Donovan is in the middle of reshaping his coaching staff as he has now lost all three of his 2010-11 assistants in one offseason. Long-time cohort Larry Shyatt accepted the top job at Wyoming, assistant Rob Lanier is returning to coach at Texas, and assistant Richard Pitino will join his father’s staff at Louisville.

OGGOA learned on April 3 that Florida Atlantic assistant Matt McCall is a top candidate to fill a role on Donovan’s revamped coaching staff. Another option is former Florida player Brett Nelson, who coached under Pelphrey at Arkansas last season.

Photo Credit: Unknown, Chris Trotman/Getty Images

Tags: Billy Donovan, Brett Nelson, Coach of the Year, John Pelphrey, Kentucky Wildcats, Larry Shyatt, Marshall Thundering Herd, Matt McCall, NCAA, NCAA Tournament, NIT, Norm Roberts, Richard Pitino, Rick Pitino, Rob Lanier, South Alabama Jaguars, St. John's Red Storm, Sun Belt, University of Florida

UPDATED STORY: Donovan adds Pelphrey, Roberts to Gators staff

Former Arkansas Razorbacks head coach John Pelphrey will rejoin the Florida Gators basketball team as an assistant coach, a source told Jeff Goodman of FOX Sports Tuesday. An assistant at Florida for six seasons (1996-2002), Pelphrey will be reunited with Gators head coach Billy Donovan, his close friend and mentor.

Pelphrey played under Donovan (an assistant at the time) and head coach Rick Pitino with the Kentucky Wildcats and served as an assistant on Donovan’s first coaching staff for two seasons with the Marshall Thundering Herd (1994-96). He joined Donovan when he was hired by the University of Florida, helping lead the Gators to four-straight NCAA Tournament appearances.

Pelphrey left UF in 2002 for a head coaching gig with the South Alabama Jaguars, where he led the team for five seasons. He won the Sun Belt Championship, was named the Sun Belt Coach of the Year and brought his squad to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2006. USA would end up falling to Florida in the first round.

Noticing his success at a smaller school, Arkansas hired him to lead their program in 2007. Pelphrey brought the Razorbacks their first NCAA Tournament victory since 1999 in his first season but failed to replicate his success over the following three. He was fired by Arkansas on March 13 even though he had a top-tier recruiting class on its way in.

Donovan is in the middle of reshaping his coaching staff after losing long-time assistant Larry Shyatt to a head coaching job with Wyoming. He may also see Rob Lanier head out the door to be an assistant at Texas, and Richard Pitino could join his father at Louisville, which suddenly has an opening.

OGGOA learned on April 3 that Florida Atlantic assistant Matt McCall is a top candidate to fill a role on Donovan’s revamped coaching staff.

Photo Credit: Carrie Pratt/St. Petersburg Times

Tags: Arkansas Razorbacks, Billy Donovan, Coach of the Year, John Pelphrey, Kentucky Wildcats, Larry Shyatt, Marshall Thundering Herd, Matt McCall, NCAA, NCAA Tournament, Richard Pitino, Rick Pitino, Rob Lanier, South Alabama Jaguars, Sun Belt, University of Florida

1 » No. 1/1 Florida Gators volleyball earned the program’s first-ever No. 1 national seed on Sunday when the NCAA officially announced the 64-team bracket for the 2010 NCAA Volleyball Championship. One of six Southeastern Conference schools to qualify for the tournament, Florida will take its 22-match winning streak into the event. The Gators finished the regular season a perfect 20-0 in SEC competition, the first team to do so since the schedule was adjusted in 2006. Florida (27-1) will face South Carolina State (17-22) to start off their tournament on Friday at 7:30 p.m. as the first and second rounds will be hosted from Dec. 3-4 in Gainesville, FL. Also in UF’s region are Florida State (21-10) and Georgia Southern (27-8). Though being a No. 1 seed is new for the Gators, hosting NCAA action is not; Florida has started the NCAA Tournament at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center 19 times in the last 20 seasons.

The Gators completed their perfect SEC slate on Friday by defeating the South Carolina Gamecocks 3-0 (25-14, 25-16, 25-12) on the road at the Volleyball Competition Facility in Columbia, SC. Senior outside hitter Callie Rivers notched a team-high nine kills while junior right-side/setter Kelly Murphy totaled seven kills, 12 assists, four digs, four service aces and a season-high five blocks.

2 » Florida women’s basketball was also busy over the weekend; the ladies were victorious in back-to-back contests to win the 2010 Dead River Company Classic in Orno, ME. The Gators (5-1) defeated the South Alabama Jaguars (3-3) 61-51 on Friday and ended the short tournament with a 52-43 win over the Navy Midshipmen (4-2) on Saturday. Florida junior center Azania Stewart was named Most Outstanding Player of the tournament after totaling 24 rebounds in two games. UF redshirt junior guard Jordan Jones was placed on the All-Tournament Team due to her stellar performance including 18 points.

Tags: All-Tournament Team, Azania Stewart, Callie Rivers, Dead River Company Classic, Jordan Jones, Kelly Murphy, Most Outstanding Player, Navy Midshipmen, NCAA, NCAA Championship, O'Connell Center, SEC, South Alabama Jaguars, South Carolina Gamecocks, volleyball, women's basketball

From time to time, OGGOA will come across a plethora of news and notes that we wish to share with our readers. In those instances, we present a special post: Gator Bites. Enjoy.

» A rumor making its way around the Web over the last few days states that former Florida Gators running backs coach Stan Drayton may return to the program if Kenny Carter bolts for the Louisville Cardinals. This is the same Drayton that left Florida for the Tennessee Volunteers and took this shot at the Gators and head coach Urban Meyer on his way out the door: “If you’re going to be a running backs coach, you want to be part of a system that involves the running back.” Not gonna happen.

» Another option at running backs coach could very well be former Florida RB Terry Jackson. A Gator great who was a member of the 1996 National Championship team and played seven years in the NFL, Jackson was named Director of Player and Community Relations at UF in March 2008. Jackson, whose father Willie Sr. and brother Willie Jr. also played at Florida, has thought about getting into coaching since finishing his pro career. Hiring Jackson could be a very smooth transition for the Gators.

» Speaking of Carter, four-star RB commit Mack Brown (Lithonia, GA) made news last night when he told two reporters that Carter was leaving the program for Louisville. However, Jeremy Fowler of the Orlando Sentinel also spoke with Brown, who told him that Carter did not say he was leaving and that he “didn’t talk to him about it.” Perhaps Brown said something he wasn’t supposed to and is now being sush-ed about it?

» UPDATE: Brown provided more information about his feelings on Carter’s switch to Rivals Monday night. “I understand he had to do what he had to do,” he said. “I know he has a good relationship with coach Strong and he’s going to have a better position with more money coming in for his family. I’m still committed to Florida. I’m going to wait it out and see what happens. I’m confused. You’re supposed to commit to a school, but you get to know the coaches and they feel like family. All the coaches that I got to know over the last year, that I dealt with over the summer, they’re all leaving. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m going to have to talk about it with my family.”

» Brady Ackerman is reporting that Gators assistant defensive coordinator and safeties coach Chuck Heater turned down an offer from new Marshall Thundering Herd head coach Doc Holliday to be his team’s defensive coordinator. Heater wants the UF job badly. OGGOA continues to project him as the team’s next defensive coordinator.

» Ackerman also confirmed an OGGOA report that assistant head coach and defensive line coach Dan McCarney would only leave Florida if he was offered a head coaching position – presumably with the South Florida Bulls. Jim Leavitt has not been removed from his position there, and McCarney told reporters last week that he is not interested in the Gators’ defensive coordinator position.

» Five-star safety recruit Matt Elam (West Palm Beach, FL), a former Gators commit who spurned the team for the Florida State Seminoles, ignored two phone calls placed from Meyer last week. However, Elam finally picked up recently and said Meyer attempted to sway him back to UF. “He tried, but it didn’t work,” Elam said. Elam is expected to make his announcement at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl on Saturday.

» OGGOA has heard a rumor from two very different sources that Meyer was either offered a contract or spoken to by ESPN about working for the “Worldwide Leader in Sports” should he eventually decide not to return to coaching. Not a shocker.

» Think Florida losing to the South Alabama Jaguars last week was a tough pill to swallow? Try being the No. 9 North Carolina Tar Heels who fell Monday night to the College of Charleston Cougars.

Tags: All-American, Army, Chuck Heater, Dan McCarney, Doc Holliday, Florida State Seminoles, Jim Leavitt, Kenny Carter, Louisville Cardinals, Mack Brown, Marshall Thundering Herd, Matt Elam, NFL, South Alabama Jaguars, South Florida Bulls, Stan Drayton, Syracuse Orange, Terry Jackson, Urban Meyer, Willie Jackson

Starting the season 8-0, the No. 18 Florida Gators (8-3) lost consecutive games to the No. 5 Syracuse Orange and Richmond Spiders – both at neutral sites. Returning to their home court in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center for the first time in two weeks, the Gators hoped to right the ship against the Sun Belt Conference’s South Alabama Jaguars. Instead, South Alabama (9-5) had Florida on its heels all night and eventually landed a last-second layup to pick off the Gators 67-66 on their home court.

Jaguars guard Tim Williams was the star of the evening, scoring a game-high 21 points on 8-of-19 shooting while going 3-for-4 from beyond the arc. He also added seven rebounds. For Florida, junior forward Alex Tyus led the way with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, freshman guard Kenny Boynton was 3-for-10 (2-of-7 from three) with 14 points and junior transfer center Vernon Macklin added 13 points in the paint. Tyus and Macklin each brought down seven rebounds while junior F Chandler Parsons, senior F Dan Werner and sophomore point guard Erving Walker each recorded six.

“For them to come in to our own building and beat us like that, it wasn’t the last play that lost us the game,” Parsons said. “It was just the whole mindset.” Boynton agreed. “We just have to get back hungry,” he said. “Early in the season we played with a chip on our shoulder and somehow we got complacent. The rankings got to our heads.”

Prior to playing the Spiders on Saturday, the Gators led the nation in three-point defense. They have since allowed seven threes each to consecutive opponents. Worst of all, Florida was only 3-for-22 from three-point range on Tuesday, a measly 13.6 percent compared to South Alabama’s 63.6 percent (7-for-11). OGGOA was only able to research back to the 1998-99 season, but the Gators have not suffered a regular season upset of this caliber at least in that period of time.

With only three more games to play before beginning Southeastern Conference action in 2010, Florida is set to take on the American Eagles (2-10) on Monday, Dec. 28 at 7 p.m. in Gainesville, FL. Expect the Gators to be bumped from all polls next week.

UPDATE: Head coach Billy Donovan‘s post-game comments.

“I was actually shocked that we were even in the game coming down the stretch with just our shooting numbers. Shooting 23 percent (from the field in the second half) and 10 percent (from the 3-point line in the second half), I’ve never been around numbers like that before. I’m imploring them to just be resilient, but when it’s shot after shot after shot after shot doesn’t go in, and you’re having to play defense for 30 seconds…not that we need to shoot 50 percent from the 3-point line. We shoot 33 percent from the 3-point line and we shoot 40 percent from the field, that’s all you’re going to do. The 3-point line beat us against Richmond and it beat us again tonight. At a point, guys got to deliver. When you’re a junior and senior in college, you’ve got to deliver a little bit. Dan goes 1-for-6 and Chandler goes 2-for-8. It’s hard to overcome that. They’re playing hard.”

Tags: Alex Tyus, Billy Donovan, Chandler Parsons, Dan Werner, Erving Walker, Kenny Boynton, O'Connell Center, SEC, South Alabama Jaguars, Sun Belt, Tim Williams, upset, Vernon Macklin

1 » Amid speculation that he was considering entry into the 2010 NFL Draft, Florida Gators redshirt sophomore running back Chris Rainey told the Orlando Sentinel that he will stay in Gainesville, FL, for “at least another year.” With Rainey, sophomore Jeff Demps and redshirt junior transfer Emmanuel Moody all coming back next season, the Gators’ running back unit may be the deepest it has been in years. Also on the roster will be sophomore Mike Gillislee, redshirt junior walk-on Christopher Scott and four-star 2010 commitment Mack Brown (Lithonia, GA).

2 » After starting the 2009 campaign 8-0 including wins over the Florida State Seminoles and then-No. 2 Michigan State Spartans, the Florida basketball team rose to No. 10/11 in the AP and USA Today/ESPN Top 25 polls, respectively. Consecutive losses to the No. 5/5 Syracuse Orange and unranked Richmond Spiders (both at neutral sites) have since dropped the Gators down to a No. 18 ranking in both polls. Florida has returned home to the Stephen C. O’Connell Center and will take on the South Alabama Jaguars Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Tags: Chris Rainey, Christopher Scott, Draft, Emmanuel Moody, Florida State Seminoles, Jeff Demps, Mack Brown, Michigan State Spartans, Mike Gillislee, NFL, O'Connell Center, Richmond Spiders, South Alabama Jaguars, Syracuse Orange