Billy Donovan thanks Anthony Grant in Basketball Hall of Fame speech

In January 1984, when Grant was a freshman at Dayton and Donovan was a freshman at Providence, the Flyers beat the Friars 73-47 at UD Arena. Grant scored one point in the game. Donovan missed his only two field-goal attempts and did not score.

A season later, Grant scored 22 points in a 68-55 victory at Providence. Donovan appeared in 29 of Providence’s 31 games that season but did not play against Dayton.

“So much of this game is about the people that are around you,” Donovan said, “and I’m indebted to so many people. You have to have great coaches alongside of you. You have to have great people alongside of you. And you’ve heard so many people talk about how it’s not only about the talent of people, but it’s the character, too.

“At 28 years old, Lee Moon hired me at Marshall University. At that time, I was the youngest head coach in the country, and when he hired me, I hired — this was probably a real smart move — all guys the same age as me. They were all 28. We had a remarkable over a decade run together. And I want to acknowledge Anthony Grant and John Pelphrey and Donnie Jones because we started together."

Grant, who’s entering his ninth season as Dayton head coach, started his college coaching career at Stetson in 1993 on Dan Hipsher’s staff. In 1994, Donovan hired Grant, Jones and the former Kentucky Wildcats star Pelphrey.

Donovan took the same three assistant coaches with him when he accepted the Florida Gators job in 1996.

“They all had opportunities to leave and move on,” Donovan said, “but they stayed and they invested in me, and they invested in the program. The friendship and the relationship that was established over 10-plus seasons, I couldn’t be any more grateful for.”

Grant coached with Donovan through the 2006 season when Florida won the first of two straight NCAA championships. Grant reunited with Donovan for two seasons (2015-17) with the Oklahoma City Thunder before taking the Dayton job in 2017.

“When you have great coaches, they’re going to end up moving on,” Donovan said, “and that’s one thing I’ve been really blessed with.”

Donovan mentioned Rick Pitino, the current. St. John’s coach who was his head coach at Providence.

“He’s had more coaches go from assistant to head coach than maybe any coach in the history of the game,” Donovan said. “He always told me my responsibility was to help the assistants move on and take on better opportunities. So I lost them.”

Several other coaches with connections to Dayton and Donovan attended the ceremony.

• Tom Ostrom, a UD assistant coach for six seasons during the Archie Miller era, spent seven seasons with Donovan at Florida.

• Jones worked with Donovan at Florida for 11 seasons. He’s entering his seventh season at Stetson.

• Wade O’Connor worked with Donovan at Marshall for two years and then spent four seasons on Oliver Purnell’s staff at Dayton.

• Darren Hertz, who worked on Grant’s staff for seven seasons at Dayton and is now entering his second season as Wittenberg coach, spent 19 seasons with Donovan at Florida.

“What a night celebrating Billy Donovan’s induction to the Basketball Hall of Fame!” Hertz wrote Sunday on X. “So honored and lucky to work alongside him for 19 years! An incredible coach, mentor and friend! Congrats Coach!”