Final Four Coaches Interview

Q. Could you tell me, I've been told you added Larry Shyatt to your staff to help you improve some things with your defense a couple years ago. Can you tell me how you identified him as somebody who could do that, what kind of job he's done for you.

COACH BILLY DONOVAN: Well, that's not really why I hired Larry. I think that was the perception out there. Really what I felt -- I've been so fortunate here at Florida. I've got two guys on my staff that have been with me since I've been a head coach, Anthony Grant and Donnie Jones. John Pelphrey was with me for eight years before taking the head coach job at South Alabama. When you're together as a staff for a long period of time, it's great in terms of cohesiveness, chemistry, everybody knows what everybody is thinking. You're all on the same page. One of the things I thought our staff needed to have was maybe just some new ideas, fresh ideas, all those types of things. I never hired Larry for defense at all. As a matter of fact, our defensive philosophy here is probably a lot different than what Larry's was when he was the head coach. I decided to go with Larry Shyatt first and foremost, he's an incredible person. He's been in this business for a long time. He has great integrity, great character. I think the other thing I hired him for is he has a lot of wisdom. He has a lot of knowledge. He's been in the profession for 32 years. He's great with our players. I think he's great with our team in terms of team concepts. The thought process of bringing in Larry was more of just to get someone that has fresh and new ideas, and at that point in time Larry was out of coaching and just thought he would be a great fit here. It's worked out very well for us. He's added to our program all way around from recruiting to coaching to the way he handles and carries himself.