It’s been a rough two weeks for the No. 1 rated and No. 1 seeded Florida Baseball team. Having lost six of their last seven contests including getting swept by Mississippi State and going 1-2 in the SEC Tournament, this team had by far the roughest stretch of their season. So, Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan called on an old friend, to come in and talk to his team.
Billy Donovan was in town and O’Sullivan saw a chance to have someone make a difference for a team that has gone in the recent funk that his has. Donovan of course is the uber-successful former basketball coach at Florida that left a few years ago for the NBA, but before doing so won back-to-back national championships in 2006 and 2007.
The Gators won the national championship a year ago, their first ever. They are the number one seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament. O’Sullivan saw even more similarities and so called on Donovan to talk to his team about the situation they are in.
“I thought it was really effective,” O’Sullivan said Thursday, the day before his team meets Columbia in the first game of the Gainesville Regional. “I thought he did a really good job and Billy and I have stayed in touch over the years. I think what happened was we got done with Saturday’s game and looked back at Billy’s ’06 and ’07 seasons and I think they were 27-2 and then went on a skid there and lost three-of-five. I thought there were a lot of similarities between both teams. I decided to reach out to Billy and he was in town. It worked out and I thought he was really helpful.