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This is a major blunder for the Magic. Yes, it is certainly not their fault when a coach goes back on his word, but it looks horrible when someone embarasses you like this. Shame on Donovan, he is a grown man, he made up his mind and signed an agreement. However, nothing surprises me anymore in sports, these guys don;t play by any of the same rules they preach to their players.

How many times have coaches preached "committment" to their players???? Billy Donovan surely has and now he has chosen not to honor his committment!!! I think that Billy Donovan needs to accept some penalties for not honoring his committment and I think that his players are not going to learn anything except that you can get by with anything if you have enough money - committments don't count!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, OK...let's not get holier than thou. We know sports is fantasy-land where the surreal takes place. Yes, he's a hypocrite, but if you're a parent, boss or have taken on any project in which you manage it, you're going to be a hypocrite at some point. So, when you blend in sports, it just is what it is. They can do things we can't!!

Just let him go and move on.

In all honesty who cares? I mean I love sports and get as pumped up as the next person but Donovan just went from self made champ to self made punk. He's lost a lot of credibility to play it safe and I say just let him deal with it. Because he will probably won't get rid of the stigma for a long time. Things won't be going well for him for a while and it kinda makes me laugh.

What is Donovan supposed to do, he decided fairly quickly that his heart was not going to be in the job, so he informed the Magic that he had made a mistake. If he had followed through with it, he would be doing a job he is not commited to, therefore would be a hypocrite. People have changes of heart and when someone is making a decision that affects their family I think people need to give them the benefit of the doubt. Sure he should have to pay some sort or penalty to the Magic, but for the Magic, they need to put the incident behind them, hire a coach, and move on.

The problem is that he committed. He signed a contract. Clearly the Magic are having issues finding a replacement, otherwise they would be mroe than willing to let Donovan go. More than anything this is disappointing display on his part. If I were the Gators, I wouldn't let him come back.

I think Donovan shot himself in the foot. No matter what happens now he's going to have a lot of angry fans/critics/players, with a lot of damage control to do. And whether he stays with FL or does go to Orlando, he???s going to have to really deliver to appease the masses. Donovan has also affected any possible future jobs (not many NBA, nor bigger colleges are going to be too willing to sign a contract with him), all the while he???s shortened his career at FL if he stays put there.

I don???t know why college coaches try to go to the pros. If you are a pretty good coach in the college ranks, you are almost guaranteed a long career there. His 2 championships probably cemented him in for life, unless academic issues came up. While in the NBA even the best coaches don???t necessarily last long at one job. And having to deal with all those egos...what fun.

Um, your "Add a comment" says to keep it clean and you let someone post : 1) a picture of the tail end of a starlet and 2) a slang word referring to a part of the female anatomy that any of your mothers, wives, sisters or daughters would find derogotory? Why is your "filter" OFF? Talk about a hypocrite. You should remove both the picture and the posting.

Yea, perhaps the filter missed that one. And I definitely do not enjoy that picture in any sense of the word. Horrific.

Yet...still...compelling, and rich.

Oh, and on the topic at hand, I dont think Donovan's a bad guy. People make mistakes. I have more respect for him if his hearts in Florida anyway and he agonized the way he did. Hes admitting his wrongdoing outright.

You sign a contract, you honor it for the term listed. End of discussion. They should hold him to it.

Perhaps some one reminded him of the Committment to the very good recruiting class that he has comming in next year.

Does this mean that the Coach Donovan and the Florida Athletics Department will let high schoolers renege on their "letters of intent" to attend their school?

I think NOT!!!

I'm not sure why Orlando would be so willing to let bygones be bygones...this isn't exactly some incarnation of Red Auerbach, so why not just let Donovan go and allow him to wither on the vine?

Listen folks, there isn't a contract in the world that you can't get out from under if it's within the first 72 hours. I'm surprised that nobody is mentioning this. I believe each state is different but Florida to my knowledge is 72 hours. If you purchased a new car and decided you didn't want it, even after completing the deal, within 72 hours you can return it. Billy Donovan simply had a change of heart, he's human and his love for the University of Florida overwhelmed his desire to coach in the NBA. He has not done one days work for the Magic so the easy thing to have done would be to just let him go. Forgive the contract and move on. To pay lawyers to do anything at this point is stupid.

He should be punished, make him do community service. This is an embarassment to Donovan, his family and the Magic. Just a reminder to all those watching this, THINK before you react!............Also the person or department that is in charge of your filter should be fired..........major blunder today.......see above

Sigh. Like none of you have ever thought better of a decision. I'm sure NONE of you have every broken up a committed relationship, got a divorce, quit a job for a better one, or .... <gasp> ... broken a contract. Ever missed a payment on a credit card? You broke a contract. But of course, I'm sure each one of you anonymous posters is, indeed, a perfect human being. I only wish I met as many perfect human beings in real life as I have had the good fortune to find here, in these anonymous internet comments.

Look, the guy was "committed" for THREE DAYS. The Magic pressured him to make a decision, and he made the wrong one. He realized it quickly and was brave enough to come out and admit he'd made a mistake. By coming out and admitting that quickly, he actually did the Magic a favor -- they lost what, three days in their search for a coach? Did they miss out on any great coaches that they could have otherwise hired over the weekend? Nope. Sure, it would have been cooler if he had known what he wanted and made a firm, good decision the first time. But he's human, and thus he didn't. But again, I'm sure none of you have ANY experience with that.

you signed a contract, you should not have done that if you had concerns....plain and simple...everything else is just sugar coating....he is now liable and I hope he has to pay a price for his rash decision

So what is a single player on the Magic? Is he 'a magic'....or is he a magician? I always get this wrong. Kind of like, is Manny a sock? Or a Sox?

At this point, the Magic sound more pathetic than the fickle minded Billy. What kinda example is that for your young team? That being indecisive and fickle is ok?