At the end of all this Donovan saga there were a few extra bucks spent here and there by the University of Florida and the Orlando Magic. And there were different levels of embarrasment brought down on Billy Donovan and the Magic, but after 3 days of him being the coach of the Magic and pulling out, there's only one loser and that is Anthony Grant. Grant was all but assured the Florida job had Donovan left, he was given the Donovan stamp of approval, the coach's choice as his successor, and an up and coming coach in his own right. Now after 3 days not only is it completely obvious to his current university that he doesn't want to be there for much longer, that he wants bigger and better things (which should have already been assumed), but he gets shafted on signing up as the coach of the University to be at in college right now. What do the Magic lose? A few days of draft scouting? Big deal how hard do you need to scout the NBA draft, it's a matter of a handful of players you have to choose from, it's not hard. A few season ticket holders that came on solely because Donovan was the coach? They wouldn't have bought tickets if he wasn't. You ended up giving up a 2nd round pick for Van Gundy? Ya that's a bit ludicrous considering he wasn't even the coach, but what is a 2nd round pick? Chances of that being an impact player are slim at best. And come mid season how many people are really going to bring this up anymore. It's not your fault Donovan second guessed himself, it's his fault for not thinking through a contract extension.
What does Billy Donovan lose? Well the money that he decided he didn't want but big deal. Embarrassment, again people will get over it for as long as he stays at Florida. If he tries another attempt at the NBA perhaps people will mock him then but if he stays in college no one will care. Recruits? He'll be at Florida for a minimum of 5 years, and he just won back to back titles, there will be no ill effects.What did Florida lose? A few pennies of Gas for their Jet for interviewing Grant. A few hours of despair for losing their two time champion coach. In otherwords nothing, whatever they spent in the 3 days following his hire for gas and other expenses pales in consideration to the millions upon millions he gained them the past two seasons and the millions he will gain them in the future. They probably now just know how lucky they are to have him as coach.
So in reality the only loser is Anthony Grant. He was days away from landing the head coaching position at a perennial power, a recruiters heaven. Jobs like Florida don't come around that often. Will he land another big time job in the future? More than likely. But he'll have to get lucky to ever land a job like Florida, and for now he's stuck working for people that know he doesn't want to be there.
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