Bulls head coach Billy Donovan‘s future has been a major subject of speculation of this week, with reports linking him to the open coaching job at the University of North Carolina and suggesting that he may be considering leaving his position in Chicago at the end of this season.
Asked ahead of Wednesday’s game in Philadelphia about the UNC rumors, Donovan didn’t explicitly deny that he’d be interested in the job, but said he’s focused on guiding the Bulls to a strong finish to the season, according to Tony Jones of The Athletic.
“My main focus is on these guys and this new team,” Donovan said. “I understand that there’s stuff out there, and I understand that there is going to be certain speculation. But, I have to concentrate on this group, and really, my focus is on what we’re doing here in Chicago, having a game (Wednesday), and traveling to go and play in a back-to-back.”
Before Donovan began being linked to the UNC vacancy, a Chicago Sun-Times report cited rumblings about the possibility that the veteran coach will step down as the Bulls’ head coach in order to take a year off and evaluate what he wants to do next.
While Donovan, who will turn 61 this May, didn’t confirm his plans one way or the other during his pregame media session on Wednesday, he acknowledged that the Bulls’ recent playoff drought has been frustrating. The team is headed for its fourth straight losing season and hasn’t advanced beyond the play-in tournament since 2022.
Donovan told reporters, including Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times and Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune (subscription required), that he’d have to talk to executive VP of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas this spring about the ongoing rebuilding process and the plan to get back to the postseason.
“We’re pivoting right now,” he said. “A lot of it’s going to be me sitting down with ownership, with Arturas, just to find out — OK, what’s the next step? How are we all looking at going through this? What do we need to do to continue to improve and to get better?
“The biggest thing, clearly, with the moves that were made at the trade deadline was — how do we get out of the middle? And if we’re taking a step back, what do we have to do to take a step forward where we’re actually building something? We may have to go through a play-in again, but how are we going to get into the playoffs?”
As Poe writes, there’s an understanding within the organization that if Donovan isn’t enthusiastic about management’s vision for the future, a split is a possibility.
“I wanted to get into coaching to win,” the Bulls’ coach said. “How are we going to work to get into a place where we’re really competing? And how do we build this out going forward? Those are the things I think we need to talk about. Because, yeah — selfishly, competitively, I want us to be in that situation where we’re playing in real, legitimate (games). … I want to be in that situation. I understand that that doesn’t happen overnight or in a blink of an eye. It takes a lot of hard work and diligence.”
Don’t do it, UNC
Too many reminders of Bellichek? Bubba Cunningham should be thinking hard about that.
I think personally Donovan needs a breather from being an NBA retread stuck in the middle/playin, but if he wants to get back into college this job would be about a perfect out because it is a true blue chip job
Sell the team.
He Gone
Poor guy’s been leading a rudderless Bulls team so I couldn’t even blame him; he needs a sabbatical imo
Never a good thing when the head coach doesn’t see the path forward.
If Donovan and UNC are serious, he’ll need to leave well before the season ends. like, in the next week or so. The transfer portal opens April 7(?)
I’ve been a big Billy defender. He’s had a mess of a roster year after year. While ownership and AKME are clearly the main issue with this team this has been by far Billy’s worst year. His inability to give Matas consistent minutes to develop (great that 2p months in his career he’s finally getting those minutes, too little too late for me). His constant need to play people with no future like Vuc, Pat, Sexton. Having a 20 man rotation. And most importantly his lack of creativity on the offensive end. I watch these games where every other team has an actually offense. Even the bad teams have multiple different movements. In 5 years with. Billy it’s just high pick
Why would UNC be a desirable job unless you already really want to be a college coach? NIL has made it a miserable job where you are constantly both recruiting and trying to keep your existing players. All while having to keep the boosters happy. And if you even do all of that all it takes is a few injuries and you have a slightly down year and they fire you. Davis has UNC in the finals 2 years ago and he’s already gone.
Davis had them in the finals four years ago, missed the tourney twice and got bounced early the other two times. Nice guy, good recruiter (at UNC mind you), but not great X’s and O’s guy. On the flip side why would UNC want a guy that hasn’t coached at the college level in 10 plus years and hasn’t ever dealt with NIL? Is he still a good coach even at the college level? Does his name still hold sway with high school kids now and does he connect with a completely different type of athlete opposed to when he was coaching and recruiting? This is UNC, easily a top 5 job. That seems like a lot of uncertainty for a guy who is also over 60 at this point and you might be looking for a new coach in a few years anyway. Just my thoughts when you should be making a home run hire or at least what is perceived as one. I don’t think that’s Billy Donovan
North Caroliba has started the curse of Hubert. How many coaches ate better than him? Not many, and Carolina thinks they are a great place to coach. They are soon to find out there mistake.
Has he won anything in nba???
I still don’t understand how he hasn’t gotten fired yet after 4 seasons of bad basketball how is Chicago this loyal to him