One thing you can say about Billy Donovan is that he’s honest — perhaps to a fault.

Throughout the Donovan-to-UK saga (which, with its various twists and turns, left me and others thinking more than once that he was likely headed to Florida’s most hated hoops foe), Billy the Coy seemingly knew the perfect buttons to push and the right egos to stroke to keep attention focused on himself rather than his history-making basketball team. Leading into the Final Four, questions such as “Would you consider the Kentucky job?” would be answered with responses like, “I haven’t given any thought to it,” or “Right now, I’m just thinking about our basketball team and Florida.”

Right now…

Those two words, spoken in endless repetition, in answer after answer to question after question, made an otherwise celebratory time (Florida’s second Final Four in two years!) feel like a shipment of lead in a back alley; its weight never went away, even when you tried to ignore it. Finally, three days after the championship game, Donovan ended that speculation by announcing he was happy at Florida. In the end, all of the reasons Gator Nation thought he’d stay — family, an administration committed to basketball, a strong relationship with the A.D., and an adoring fan-base — won the day. Kentucky’s promise of a bigger spotlight, with no need to play the purported ’second fiddle’ to another sport, didn’t lure Donovan because at heart he is a humble, non-egotistical person who loves the game of basketball and his relationship with student-athletes.

And so it turned out that Billy the Coy was, in fact, Billy the True; he was simply being honest to an extreme degree. He hadn’t given thought to coaching at Kentucky and when the opportunity came, it merited thought. He did not have time to devote any mental processing cycles to Kentucky during his national championship bid, and he did what most highly successful people do: turned to his disciplined method of handling life’s challenges, and truly didn’t give it one iota of thought until after Florida cut down the nets. That he seemed to say as much using so-called “weasel words” during Kentucky’s courtship didn’t help the gastronomical status of the throngs of orange and blue-wearing faithful, but the fact is, he was shooting straight and telling the world exactly what he meant.

When he turned down Kentucky, Donovan was also, in a sense, turning down all other suitors from big-name basketball prgorams. At the college level, a Gator he is, and a Gator he’ll stay. Two national championships in two years have made him a legend in Gainesville, and the smart money says he’s not walking out the door to coach another Division IA program — ever.

But that certainly doesn’t rule out the NBA. Professional basketball has always “intrigued” Donovan, and his refusal to end speculation that he might someday bolt for the National Boring Assocation means that there is at minimum a very realistic chance it will happen. The question is: when?

Florida Athletic Director Jeremey Foley is one cool cucumber and apparently a subscriber to the “Never Let ‘Em See You Sweat” philosophy of retaining star head basketball coaches. Throughout the Kentucky saga, Foley was an oasis of serenity in a stormy spring typhoon. His few comments on the matter made it clear he fully expected Donovan to be coaching at Florida, that Donovan had never so much as hinted any dissatisfaction at the university, and that his relationship with Donovan was strong enough that he fully trusted his young head coach to make the right decision.

Which he did.

Now that Donovan’s been connected with the Memphis Grizzlies opening (which was subsequently debunked as being an overblown rumor) and the Orlando Magic, those pesky old rumors have begun anew since Donovan still has yet to sign a contract extension. Donovan, however, doesn’t care for the rumor mill:

“I think the speculation is unfair because it’s not like I’m sitting here saying, ‘Yeah, I would really be interested in doing that, I want to go do that.’ I want to coach at Florida,” Donovan said.

According to both Foley and Donovan, a signing is imminent and the details are still being worked out. While the Gator Nation and the rest of the basketball world should have already learned a poignant lesson about Donovan being a man of his word, it’s a tough task to stand in the wings quietly as the world’s seemingly longest, most complicated, and most drawn out contract takes form at about the same rate as an Arctic glacier. This process started over a year ago; what’s taking so long?

First, it’s obvious that Foley will need to up the ante even further beyond the increases offered to Donovan after winning his first national title in 2006. Going back to back, ending the ‘06 season at #1, starting ‘07 at #1 and ending ‘07 at #1 is one hell of a run, and it was every bit as much due to coaching as it was talent on the court. So it’s not unreasonable to think that many of the parameters the University Athletic Association originally placed on Donovan’s extension have changed significantly in that time.

Also worth noting is that Foley is also working on extensions for Florida’s other national championship coach, one Urban Meyer, and that, oh yeah, he does have an entire athletic department to run. Billy Donovan has been hitting the recruiting trail like a madmen, stopping only once for a golfing vacation in Ireland (probably one of the few places in the world he can blend into the background and enjoy some anonymous days without signing autographs — then again, probably not) and has had precious little time to devote to his contract extension.

While it may be maddening for Gator Nation to watch this never-ending slow dance play out, the fact is that the guys in white hats will once again prevail, and there is no reason not to expect Donovan to be on the sidelines coaching in ‘08 and beyond. How far beyond? That, my friends, is the real 3.5 million dollar question.