Ken Davis

The temptation is strong to declare Florida basketball irrelevant again now that Billy Donovan is coach of the NBA Orlando Magic.

But anyone hustling to throw dirt on the Florida program doesn’t understand the vision of athletic director Jeremy Foley. They also would be selling short the depth of Donovan’s work at Florida. His construction has gone well beyond the winning of back-to-back national championships.

It has been said repeatedly that Foley wants to see greatness across the board at Florida. It wasn’t enough when the Gators lined up the national championship trophies from both football and men’s basketball. Donovan’s team was asked to pull off the rare repeat in basketball and the Gators responded with their historic victory over Ohio State in Atlanta.

Now, just when it appeared Donovan was ready to sign a contract extension to remain at Florida, Foley faces a decision that will determine whether the Gators can maintain their lofty status in basketball.

And rest assured, everyone in the Florida administration enjoys the Gators’ stature as “king of the NCAA sports.”

Expect Foley to move quickly. And expect him to stay within Florida’s extended family by hiring Anthony Grant, who spent 12 years — two at Marshall and 10 at Florida — as Donovan’s assistant before taking over at Virginia Commonwealth last season.

Grant, 41, became one of the hot names in college coaching by leading VCU to a 28-7 season that included an upset of Duke in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Rams lost in overtime to Pittsburgh in the second round, but by that time college basketball fans — and recruits all over the nation — had discovered Grant and his coaching talent.

There are two former head coaches on Donovan’s staff at Florida. Larry Shyatt coached at Clemson and Wyoming and took a very active role on the bench under Donovan. He deserves to be on Foley’s short list of candidates as well. Rob Lanier, highly successful at Siena, was hired just last week by Donovan and has a bright future. But promoting Lanier now wouldn’t be the right move.

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The timing of Donovan’s move couldn’t be better for Grant. Donnie Jones and John Pelphrey, two devoted Donovan assistants, recently took jobs at other schools. Jones, ex-associate head coach at Florida, left after the national championship game to become coach at Marshall. Pelphrey, who befriended Donovan during their days at Kentucky, recently left South Alabama to become Arkansas’ new coach.

All of those moves help position Grant as the right man. Donovan gave Grant a taste of everything at Florida. He assisted in scouting, practice planning, and bench coaching, but most importantly Grant established himself as the Gators’ top recruiter. As a native of Miami, Grant was able to return to his home territory and sign top players from that area, including Brent Wright and Major Parker. Wright and Parker helped lead the Gators to the 2000 national championship game — the first in Florida history.

When VCU athletic director Richard Sandler introduced Grant as the school’s new coach on April 18, 2006 he said there had been no other candidates for the job. Donovan joined the press conference by telephone and called it “one of the greatest coaching coups that [VCU] could ever have possibly dreamed of.”

After VCU lost to Pitt, Grant traveled to St. Louis to watch the Gators win the Midwest Regional and advance to the Final Four for the second consecutive season. Donovan, well known for inviting sporting greats such as Bill Belichick, Tony LaRussa, Jerry West and Isiah Thomas to address his teams, allowed Grant to speak to his players in St. Louis, where Florida beat Butler and Oregon.