As a player he was known simply as "Billy the Kid." A player with fire, passion and discipline. An overachiever.

A kid no more, Donovan begins his 10th season at the helm of the University of Florida, the longest consecutive tenure of any Gator coach and the longest active tenure at one school of any coach in the Southeastern Conference. As a coach he has grown and developed from Billy the Kid to one of the great leaders in college basketball, employing the same techniques he used to be successful as a player and molding his teams in the same shape.

Under Donovan the once unattainable goals of the program have become a reality, as he has molded the University of Florida into one of the top overall programs in the nation.

For those who have followed Donovan's career it should come as no surprise that he has made Florida basketball a winner.

He was a winner at Providence College, where he led the Friars to their best season in school history and a trip to the Final Four in 1987. He was a winner when he laced it up as a New York Knick with the elite athletes in the NBA. He was a winner in five years as an assistant at Kentucky and was part of the Wildcats' Final Four run in 1993. He was a winner as a head coach when he inherited a struggling Marshall program and in two short years won more than 60 percent of his games and put fans back in the seats. And now he has created Hoop Hysteria in Gainesville. Donovan is one of only two people in the history of Division I college basketball who have played in a Final Four, served as an assistant coach on a Final Four team and was a head coach of a Final Four team.

Under Donovan, Florida has set a school record with eight straight post-season appearances, including a record seven straight NCAA Tournament bids and put together seven consecutive 20-win seasons for the first time in school history.

UF made the school's first-ever appearance in the National Championship game in 2000 and also made back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances for the first time in school history in 1999 and 2000. Donovan is already the winningest NCAA Tournament coach in UF history and his 10 NCAA Tournament wins surpasses the total of seven in school history before his arrival.

After the school had just one Southeastern Conference Championship in 77 seasons prior to his arrival, Donovan has tallied two SEC titles in eight seasons (2000 and 2001). Florida and Kentucky are the only two SEC schools to capture consecutive league crowns in the past 29 years. Florida has captured three SEC East titles under Donovan and in 2005 put together a remarkable run to the SEC Tournament title with a 17-point win over Kentucky, Florida's first SEC Tournament title.

And on February 3, 2003, the University of Florida found itself on top of the national rankings for the first time in school history, owning the No. 1 spot in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches' polls, a feat matched again during the 2003-04 season.

Florida has won 166 games over the past seven seasons, or 23.7 per season, while winning 100 games in a four-year stretch between 2000-03, the first time in school history a UF class graduated with 100 victories.

His winning percentage at UF (.677) is the best among all Gator coaches who spent more than one season in Gainesville and he reached the 100-victory mark at UF quicker than any coach in school history, needing just 154 games to reach the century plateau. The 2003-04 season saw him win his 150th career game at Florida and his 200th career win overall, as he enters the upcoming season with a 228-112 mark and 193-92 during his time at UF. Entering just his 10th season, Donovan is just seven wins shy of reaching 200 at UF and just 43 wins shy of passing Norm Sloan as the winningest coach in UF history with 235 wins.

Donovan's teams have knocked off 32 ranked opponents during his tenure, including a school-record six consecutive ranked foes during the 2000-01 season. UF has won 23 of its last 39 meetings with ranked teams, including four wins against ranked opponents in 2004-05. Included in that stretch were two wins over top-five Kentucky in the span of a week, the first team to beat the Wildcats twice in less than 10 days since 1920.

Donovan's squads have led the SEC in a statistical category 27 times, including 25offensive categories. His players have been named All-League 26 times and 10 of his freshmen have been recognized as among the best in the league, including in 2002-03 when Anthony Roberson earned SEC Freshman of the Year from both the league coaches and Associated Press.

Three of Donovan's players have been first round draft picks in the NBA Draft, after the school boasted only two before his arrival and he has inked eight McDonald's All-Americans after UF had just three prior to his arrival. The fans are taking notice, attendance is up by over 4,500 spectators a year since Donovan's arrival and UF averaged a school-record 11,047 fans in 2003-04, while in 2002-03 a school record average of 12,126 fans passed through the gates in league play. UF has averaged over 10,000 fans per game each of the last five years.

Off the court, Donovan's players have excelled in the classroom. A league-best 33 Gators have been named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll under Donovan, including a league record six in 1997 and 1998. In 2002-03, Matt Bonner earned his second consecutive Academic All-American of the Year award while earning First Team Academic All-America honors for the third straight year. Carrying a 3.98 GPA, Bonner is also the only player in school history to be named to the Academic All-American team three times. Eighteen of the 20 seniors who have suited up to play for coach Donovan have graduated from the University of Florida.

The 40-year old Donovan, who was officially hired as Florida's 17th head coach on March 27, 1996, has certainly lived up to his national reputation as one of the nation's top young coaches who preaches an up-tempo, full-court, pressing style of play built around a tremendous work ethic.

The work ethic at Florida started in the recruiting trenches. Just eight months into the job in Gainesville, Donovan landed two of the premier prep players in the state (4A Player of the Year Major Parker and 6A Player of the Year Brent Wright). With a full year under his belt, Donovan and his staff pushed themselves even harder and the results showed. Once again, the focus of the recruiting efforts remained in Florida and the Gators got early commitments from four of Florida's best - Teddy Dupay, LaDarius Halton, Udonis Haslem and Sylbrin Robinson. Those early commitments allowed Donovan and his staff to pursue one of the nation's most coveted high school stars, South Dakota standout Mike Miller. Miller, who joined Dupay on the prestigious McDonald's All-American team, chose Florida over Kansas and Kentucky to give the Gators a consensus top-five recruiting class. Proving that class was no fluke, Donovan put together another consensus top-five recruiting class in 1999. This one landed another pair of McDonald All-Americans (Brett Nelson and Donnell Harvey joined Matt Bonner and Justin Hamilton as freshmen in 1999-2000). Florida was the only school in the nation to have multiple selections in the 1998 and 1999 McDonald's All-American games. The 2000 class included a Parade All-American Orien Greene and frontcourter Bonell Colas. The 2001 class featured a nation's best three McDonald's All-Americans - Kwame Brown, David Lee and James White, although Brown declared for the NBA Draft. Donovan's five-man recruiting class in 2002 - highlighted by another McDonald's All-American Anthony Roberson and Matt Walsh again ranked among the nation's best. Corey Brewer was the ninth McDonald's All-American recruited by this current coaching staff.

The recruiting efforts have paid dividends on the floor. After inheriting a squad that scored 66.8 points a game, shot .429 from the field and won just 12 games the year before his arrival, Donovan's squad's have ranked among the nation's best, averaging nearly 24 wins per season during the last seven years while scoring nearly 80 points per game.

The 2004-05 season did nothing but solidify Donovan's place among the coaching elite, as he guided the Gators to a 24-8 mark and the school's first SEC Tournament title. Donovan blended a team with returning upperclassmen David Lee, Anthony Roberson, Matt Walsh and Adrian Moss with a group of talented freshmen and sophomores.

The Gators won 12 games in SEC play for the fourth time under Donovan and led the league in scoring and scoring margin. Most notably, however, the Gators finished third in the league in points per game surrendered, a vast improvement after finishing 11th the year before.

Anthony Roberson was runner-up for SEC Player of the Year, earned Honorable Mention All-America from the Associated Press and First Team All-SEC from both the league coaches and AP. David Lee became the first Gator in 15 years to average a double-double in SEC play and earned Second Team honors across the board while Matt Walsh was a Second Team choice by the league coaches.

The Gators were brilliant down the stretch, six of their final seven regular season games, capped with a 53-52 victory over Kentucky on senior day before a school record crowd of 12,602 fans. The Gators then stormed through Atlanta, taking the toughest route possible, defeating Mississippi State, a team it had lost to earlier in the year, defeating SEC West champion Alabama, then picking up a 17-point win over Kentucky in the title game. The win over Kentucky gave Florida two wins over the Wildcats in the span of a week, the first team to beat them twice within a 10-day stretch since 1920.

Florida reached the NCAA Tournament and held off a solid Ohio team in the opening round before running into one of the hottest teams in the nation in Villanova in the second round. When it was all said and done the Gators had won 20 games for the seventh straight year, reached the NCAA Tournament for the seventh straight year, made history in the SEC Tournament and had finished with the fourth most wins in school history.

In 2003-04, Donovan came up with, arguably, one of his finest coaching efforts, molding the third youngest team in the nation into a squad that reached the SEC Tournament Championship game for the first time in a decade.

Eight of the 10 scholarship players at the season's end were in either their freshmen or sophomore years, as Donovan used a combination of seven different starting lineups throughout the year. Staring at 14-8 on Feb. 18, Donovan inspired his team to six wins in their final eight games heading into the NCAA Tournament, as the Gators won 20 games for the sixth straight season and reached the Dance for the sixth straight year.

Anthony Roberson earned Honorable Mention All-American honors and First Team All-SEC honors from both the coaches and Associated Press, while Matt Walsh earned Second Team honors from each and David Lee earned Second Team honors from the league coaches and Third Team honors from the AP. Roberson averaged 17.9 points per game, the highest ever by a Donovan-coached player at UF, while Walsh's 15.8 points per game were the fifth best single season average by one of his players at the time.

The season was filled was thrilling finishes, as the Gators defeated third-ranked Arizona at the Tip-Off Classic in Springfield, Mass., when Bonell Colas cut to the basket and finished a lay-up in the closing seconds, a victory that helped the Gators reach No. 1 in the nation on Dec. 8. Against Alabama in the SEC Tournament, Lee Humphrey hit a 17-foot jumper at the buzzer to give the Gators a thrilling 75-73 overtime victory, while Roberson followed the next day with a 35-point outburst against Vanderbilt, the most points by a Gator in over 20 years.

The 2002-03 team reached uncharted territories in one of the most successful seasons in school history. The Gators set a school record with 24 regular season wins, while reaching No. 1 in the nation for the first time in school history on Feb. 3, 2003. The Gators earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, their highest positioning ever in the postseason, while their 25 wins overall were the third most in school history.

A year after finishing just 2-7 in games decided by five points or less, Donovan's squad became a gritty bunch that found a way to win the close ones, claiming seven games decided by five points or less in 2002-03. The Gators tied the school record with a 14-game winning streak, while setting a new O'Connell Center record with a 19-game home winning streak that extended over the final four games of the 2001-02 season until the 2002-03 home finale. Florida was ranked wire-to-wire for the fourth straight year, while matching the school record for SEC wins in a 16-game season with 12.

Anthony Roberson earned SEC Freshman of the Year honors, the first Gator to do so in nearly two decades, while Matt Bonner earned First Team All-SEC honors, Honorable Mention All-America honors, was the Verizon Academic All-American of the Year for the second straight year and was honored as the Men's College Basketball Student Athlete of the Year.

The 2001-02 squad set school records with its fourth consecutive NCAA appearance and a fourth consecutive 20-win season while Donovan led the Gators to a share of their third straight SEC Eastern Division Championship. Florida put together a school-record 14-game winning streak and climbed to a then program-best number two ranking in both polls in the January 14th rankings. Florida posted a final record of 22-9, with the nine losses coming by just an average of 5.0 points per game - the lowest margin of defeat in school history. Florida trailed by more than 10 points just twice all year and seven games came down to the final possession. Florida boasted a league-high five SEC Academic Honor Roll selections and the squad featured the National Academic All-American of the Year (Matt Bonner). In all the Gator squad set 12 team records, including a then-school-best attendance average of 10,805.

The 2000-01 squad tied a school record with a third straight 20-win season and a third consecutive bid to the NCAA Tournament. At the NCAA Tournament, UF won its opening round game for the third straight year for the first time in school history. The final tally showed 24 wins and a share of the Southeastern Conference Championship for the second consecutive year. UF was ranked No. 8 in the final Associated Press Poll, the highest finish in school history. Reaching those milestones wasn't easy. Florida players missed a combined 33 games because of injuries during the season and UF players had four surgeries during the SEC schedule. UF played at full strength for just nine games and none after December 28th. Florida played one game with seven scholarship players, 11 games with eight scholarship players and 10 games with nine scholarship players. Three of Florida's starters went down with injuries in a week span of the SEC schedule and after a 1-3 start to the SEC slate, the outlook was not good. UF's character and will prevailed, as the Gators won 11 of its final 12 league games, with the only loss a buzzer beater at Kentucky.

The 1999-2000 squad will go down as the greatest in school history. With preseason expectations higher than ever, the squad became the first in school history to be ranked in the national polls wire-to-wire. The season began with a sold out crowd of 12,487 and more than 180 credentialed media on hand to witness Florida's 35-point win over Florida State in the O'Connell Center. The season ended with 43,116 fans and more than 1,600 credentialed media on hand at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis to watch the school's first-ever appearance in the National Championship game.

In between, there were a lot of other firsts for the Gator hoop program. For the first time in school history season tickets were sold out before November. The Gators went 12-4 in Southeastern Conference action to share the league championship with Kentucky, Tennessee and LSU - only the second SEC crown in the 81-year history of the program. Florida averaged 9,783 fans (up 3,382 since Donovan's first year) and averaged a school record 11,593 fans for SEC home games. The fan support, coupled with UF's average margin of victory of 31.3 points per game, supported one national magazine's preseason claim that the O'Dome is the "Scariest Place to Play" in the nation. Florida made a school record 31 appearances on television, including eight on CBS and six on the ESPN Networks. UF faced a school-record 11 ranked opponents during the year and knocked off the nation's top-ranked team (Duke in the NCAA East Regional Semifinal) for the first time in school history. A day later UF topped Oklahoma State to advance to the Final Four for the second time in school history and make Donovan just the sixth coach to both play and coach in the Final Four. He then became the fifth of those coaches to appear in the national title game after Florida defeated North Carolina in the National Semifinals.

When the storybook season ended with UF's highest final ranking in school history (second in the ESPN/Coaches' Poll), a total of 34 school records were set. Living up to his offensive trademark of running and pressing, UF led the SEC in scoring, scoring margin and assists.

Donovan's third squad won 22 games (the fourth most in school history), advanced to the Sweet 16 for the third time in school history and averaged 80.3 points per game. UF's 1998-99 regular-season winning percentage of .731 was the third best in school history and its 10 conference wins were the second most at UF since the league went to a 16-game league format in 1992. En route to setting or tying 30 school records, the 1998-99 Gators became only the second squad in school history to be ranked in the Final Polls (17th in ESPN and 23rd in Associated Press). UF led the SEC in three point field goal percentage, three pointers per game and steals. For the second consecutive year, Florida led the league with five selections to the SEC Academic Honor Roll. The Gator faithful also continued to grow as UF drew 135,276 fans for 16 home dates, the second-highest cumulative attendance in school history. UF had three crowds of 12,000-plus, including a then-school-record crowd of 12,443 for its second upset of Kentucky under Donovan. UF's student section, dubbed the Rowdy Reptiles, has helped create hoop hysteria on campus.

Donovan's 1997-98 Florida squad made the school's first post-season appearance in three years and won more games and league contests than the year before despite playing a school-record tying eight ranked opponents. The Gators led the nation in an offensive team category for the first time in school history after posting an NCAA best 9.83 three pointers per game and they also led the Southeastern Conference in three point field goal percentage accuracy. The offense continued to get better, averaging 76.1 points per game, the highest total in 11 years and up 9.3 ppg since Donovan's arrival. The defense set school records for steals and turnovers forced per game. All told, the 1997-98 team set six single-season records and four game records, while a league-record six student-athletes were named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll. The Gators defeated No. 7 Kentucky at Rupp Arena to mark the first time in 10 years Florida had defeated a ranked SEC team on the road and ended a 10-game slide to the Wildcats. The win also marked the first time the Gators would defeat the eventual national champion in the regular season. UF attendance increased more than 1,300 fans a game, the 19th best jump in the nation in 1997-98.

The first order of business on the court in season number one for Donovan was conditioning. The Gators lost a combined 61 pounds and decreased their body fat by a combined 27.7percent before he ever coached a game at UF. Despite replacing three starters and more than 50 percent of the scoring from a club that won 12 games the year before and playing with just six scholarship players for over half of the SEC schedule, Donovan's first Florida squad broke nine school records during the 1996-97 season and won more games than the year before. The Gators ranked 10th nationally and went from worst to first in the league in three point shooting percentage as UF led the league in an offensive category for the first time since 1988-89. Every player who scored during the season set or tied career highs in single-game scoring, while seven of the eight players scored more points in 1996-97 than they did in their entire career entering the season.

Donovan's work ethic also gave Marshall University, home of Donovan's first head coaching job in March of 1994, a basketball facelift. Donovan inherited a program that went 9-18 the year before his arrival and turned a nine-man squad into believers. The result - an 18-9 record and a North Division Championship in the Southern Conference. Marshall averaged just 13 victories a season in the six years before Donovan arrived and finished the 1993-94 season as one of the 10 most improved teams in the nation. Along the way, six school records fell as smooth as three-pointers swishing in the net in Donovan's fast-paced offense. The Thundering Herd set school records for three pointers in a game (17), three-point attempts in a game (35), three-point attempts in a season (693) and three-pointers made in a season (253). Marshall led the Southern Conference in scoring (84.4), scoring margin (+6.8), free throw percentage (74.2), blocked shots (4.1), steals (11.2), turnover margin (plus-123) and attendance (6,574). Donovan was named the National Rookie Coach-of-the-Year by Basketball Times and added Southern Conference Coach-of-the-Year and West Virginia College Coach-of-the-Year (by West Virginia Sportswriters Association) honors.

It was more of the same in Donovan's second season in 1994-95. Marshall went 17-11, set five school records and led the league in scoring (91.4), field goal percentage (.495) and three-pointers per game (10.1). Nationally, the Thundering Herd offense ranked third, while its field goal percentage and three-pointers a game ranked sixth and second, respectively.

In two short years, his Marshall teams posted an overall mark of 35-20 (.636) and captured a league championship. In 55 games at the helm of the Thundering Herd his teams averaged 88.8 points a game, shot .472 from the field, .382 from three-point range and .717 from the line. On the average, his squads attempted 25 three-pointers a game and connected on 9.8 per game. Eleven times his squads had 100-plus points in a game and there was a 2,000-fan increase at the turnstiles in his two-year tenure. The average attendance was 6,039 in his two years after Marshall averaged 4,064 in the 1993-94 season prior to his arrival.

Prior to his coaching job at Marshall, Donovan spent five years on Rick Pitino's staff at Kentucky. Donovan joined the Kentucky staff as a graduate assistant coach in 1989. Prior to the 1990-91 season he was promoted to assistant coach and then to associate coach before the 1993-94 season. During his five-year stay at Kentucky, the Wildcats posted a 122-38 (.762) record and advanced to the Final Four in 1993. In addition to his duties with on-floor coaching, Donovan also had a hand in recruiting all of the upperclassmen on the 1996 National Championship team.

As much as any assistant has digested and learned from the up-tempo, full-court, pressing philosophy adapted by Pitino, Donovan may have as good a grasp as any. Not only did he spend five years under Pitino at Kentucky, he also played the style under him at Providence and later, with the New York Knicks in the NBA.

A native of Rockville Centre, N.Y., Donovan was a part-time player for the Friars in his first two seasons, averaging just over two points as a freshman and three points as a sophomore. Enter Pitino as head coach at Providence in 1985, and 'Billy the Kid' was born. Once considered undersized and underdeveloped, Donovan thrived under the new system and finished his career as one of the premier players in Providence history. As a junior he averaged 15.1 points a game and shot better than 50 percent from the field at the guard spot. Donovan then averaged 20.6 points a game and earned honorable mention All-America honors (UPI) as a senior, capping off a magical ride to the 1987 Final Four by being named the Southeast Regional Most Outstanding Player. Donovan still holds four Providence school records (single season three pointers - 97; three-point attempts in a game - 16; three-point attempts in a season - 237; minutes played in a season - 1234). Donovan was inducted into the Providence College Hall of Fame in June of 1999 and was named to the 10-man All-Time Providence Civic Center Team in January of 1999.

In the 1987 NBA Draft, Donovan was drafted in the third round (68th overall) by the Utah Jazz, where he played in the preseason before being waived. After a brief stint in the CBA with Wyoming, Donovan rejoined Pitino after signing a one-year contract as a free agent with the Knicks. Donovan played in 44 games, averaging 2.4 points and 2.0 assists per game. After his one-year stint in the NBA, Donovan worked with an investment banking firm on Wall Street for a year before joining Pitino at UK.

Donovan's work ethic and never-say-die attitude was instilled at a young age, when he played at St. Agnes High School in Long Island, New York. Never having enough time at the gym, Donovan was known to have propped open the door to the gym before leaving practice so he could return on his own to shoot. On at least one occasion, his worried mother, Joan, found his bed empty at 2 a.m. No worry, said his father, William, who was a standout guard at Boston College and graduated in 1962 as the third leading scorer in school history. Check the gym, and you will find him. Eventually, the school custodian gave Billy a key to the gym, and later his father built a lighted court in the back yard. The results paid off as Donovan earned first-team All-Long Island honors his last two seasons and led St. Agnes to the Long Island Catholic High School Championship his senior year.

Donovan and his wife, Christine, have four children, William (13), Hasbrouck (11) and Bryan (8) and Connor (3).