Staff Experience Will Help 2016 Florida Gators' Basketball

The Florida Gators suffered through a 15-16 season in 2015, but head coach Billy Donovan is not waiting for things to get better. Donovan is making changes and he made another of those on Monday when he hired Anthony Grant as an assistant coach for the Gators.

This is not an unfamiliar spot for Grant, who was fired as head coach last month by the Alabama Crimson Tide. Grant was an assistant under Donovan at Florida from 1996 through 2006 before becoming the head coach at VCU. He left VCU to take the Alabama job and was ultimately let go after making just one NCAA Tournament appearance.

If there’s one thing people can say about Donovan, it’s that he is loyal. This is the second time that one of his former assistants has been fired as a head coach in the SEC only to return to Gainesville as an assistant. Four years ago, Donovan re-hired John Pelphrey after the latter was fired as head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks.

The bigger picture is what’s important for the Gators right now. This is a team coming off of a losing season and in need of major improvements for 2016. Having three coaches on staff who have all been coaches in the SEC can only help the Gators in their development as a team.

This situation played out well on both sides, as Donovan needed to make some changes at the same point when Grant happened to be available. Grant helped recruit the class that won back-to-back national championships for Florida, and both he and Donovan hope they can have that kind of success again.

Tim Letcher is a Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimLetcher , on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.