Head coach Billy Donovan is less than a month away from enhancing his wardrobe.
The Chicago Bulls’ head coach will officially sport an orange jacket and become a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on September 6 in Springfield, Massachusetts. He will be recognized largely for his iconic college head coaching career, which spanned over 20 years and earned him 14 trips to the NCAA Tournament. Two of those trips ended with NCAA Championship titles in 2006 and 2007, putting him on a short list of head coaches to lead their program to back-to-back trophies.
Donovan is also one of the few NCAA standouts to make a successful transition to the NBA. The 2025-26 campaign will mark his 11th as a pro head coach and sixth with the Chicago Bulls organization.
With that in mind, it’s no surprise that Donovan will be celebrated by two fellow coaches who help highlight his two eras. The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame has officially shared that Rick Pitino and Maurice Cheeks will serve as presenters for Donovan at the big event next month.
(Photo by David Jensen/Getty Images)Two Familiar Faces to Honor Bulls’ Billy Donovan
Billy Donovan’s relationship with Rick Pitino stretches back to the early 80s. Rising in the college ranks as a guard with Providence, Pitino coached Donovan during his most successful days as a Friar. This was included during an iconic 1986-87 season that ended with Donovan leading Providence to a Final Four.
After his NBA career quickly fizzled out, Donovan ultimately decided to pursue coaching and landed his first gig with his former head coach at Kentucky. It was there that he became a respected assistant and earned the head coach job at Marshall University. Two seasons later, he would accept the Gators gig. The rest was, quite literally, history.
As for Maurice Cheeks, he joined Billy Donovan’s first-ever NBA staff as an assistant in 2015. The legendary All-Star guard would become a staple of Donovan’s coaching staff, even making the transition to Chicago with him in 2020. While Cheeks would eventually leave the franchise to accept an assistant job with the Knicks during the 2024 offseason, his presence at Donovan’s HOF enrichment goes to show just how close the two remain.
For a closer look at the Class of 2026 and their presenters, I encourage you to head over to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame website!
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