Florida Gators Rumors: Richard Pitino Would Be A Great Backup Plan For HC

Backup plan and Pitino don’t really go together. However, Minnesota head coach Richard Pitino would have some very big shoes to fill if he actually became the head coach of the Florida Gators.

It is Dayton head coach Archie Miller who should be priority No. 1, but Pitino would be a good — you guessed it — backup plan.

Possible candidates to replace Billy Donovan » http://t.co/SwgmAQvG5E pic.twitter.com/uJQzPkFmFl — ESPN College BBall (@ESPNCBB) May 1, 2015

However, Pitino certainly has the name (his dad is the legendary Rick Pitino), and he has already done a decent job at Minnesota. That said, the Golden Gophers did finish with a record of 18-15 this past season and did not make the Big Dance.

Let’s make this very clear: Billy Donovan was the face of the basketball program, a basketball program that he built. In his time at Florida, Donovan won two titles and he also turned the Gators into a powerhouse. Even this past season (Florida had a down year), Donovan’s squad was still expected to compete for a title, despite the fact that the team lost so much talent over the offseason.

Regardless, Pitino hasn’t quite taken the college basketball world by storm, but he also hasn’t been a head coach for very long.

For what it’s worth, Miller led his Flyers to the Elite Eight in the 2014 NCAA tournament.

Either way, Florida is now a big name in college hoops. It will be interesting to see if it stays that way without Donovan. This program could certainly do a lot worse than Richard Pitino, but he should not be the No. 1 guy on the Gators list, at least not yet.