Grant refocuses at VCU after nearly heading to Florida

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No one was hurt more in the Billy Donovan saga than the Orlando Magic, who lost face, lost a coach, lost momentum for their new arena, and lost a second-round draft pick to pry their Plan B, Stan Van Gundy, away from the Miami Heat. Yet, as the dust settles on this seven-day ordeal, with Donovan expressing his deep regret for what transpired, you can't help but feel for Anthony Grant -- even if Grant isn't asking for sympathy. To an equal degree that the Magic were scarred, Grant was tantalized.

Just how painfully close was Grant to becoming Florida's next head coach? At 8 a.m. on June 2, he was in the car en route to Richmond International Airport, getting ready to meet a Cessna Citation plane carrying Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley. After spending 10 years as Donovan's assistant with the Gators -- and last season coaching Virginia Commonwealth to the second round of the NCAA tournament, establishing himself as the nation's hottest mid-major commodity -- Grant appeared to be the one and only candidate to assume the throne in Gainesville. Foley wanted to move fast on a new hire. A job offer was expected quickly.

During the drive, Grant had to have been mentally preparing himself to leave a Rams program that he had molded into a small-ball force in the Colonial Athletic Association. Their '07-08 squad, coming off a 28-7 season, was good enough to make another trip to the NCAAs. Yet that was no match for what Grant stood to inherit from his mentor at UF: the two-time, defending national champs, who were also welcoming a top-five recruiting class. In the context of coaching career moves, it was nothing short of perfect.

Before Grant even reached the airport, fate intervened.

He called Donovan on his cell phone, to chat with his old mentor before the interview. Instead of advice, Grant received news that everything was changing again for Billy D. For Grant, that meant nothing would be changing at all.

Close to a lock

When Grant first heard, on May 31, that Donovan was going to make the jump to the NBA, he was surprised. "I had some conversations with him earlier in the week, when the situation was posed to him by the Magic," Grant said, "and I didn't feel that something was imminent, or that he was definitely going to do it."

In a press conference at the Magic's practice facility on Friday morning, Donovan sat before a horde of central-Florida media and gave Grant a glowing endorsement for his old job. "The one guy I feel very strongly about is Anthony Grant," Donovan said. "When you look at the success we were able to have at Florida over the last 11 years, he was a very strong instrument in that success because he was there 10 of the 11 years I was there."

Donovan had told Grant he was going to make such a statement, and subsequent endorsements rolled in. From media members, such as this one. From fans, such as the guy who launched a pro-Grant blog at GatorsGrowlForGrant.com. From current Florida players, such as guard Walter Hodge, who played under Grant as a freshman, and said, "He coaches the same style [as Donovan], so it would be good for us if coach Grant came back." Nary an alternate candidate surfaced in the approximately 40 hours between when reports of Donovan jumping to the Magic surfaced and when Foley boarded a plane for Richmond. Grant-to-Florida seemed like a lock.