Will Donovan follow money or his heart?

Grant Billy Donovan this much:

He hasn’t pulled a Nick Saban or a Roy Williams yet.

Will Donovan leave Florida for a megabucks deal to coach Kentucky? That question hovers over this Final Four like the white expanse of the Georgia Dome’s roof.

Whenever Donovan answers a question about Kentucky by not really answering, it makes some people think he’s headed for the bluegrass. Some others think he’s putting on a brilliant negotiating clinic for his new contract at Florida.

Here’s another thought: He might not know.

Better not to do what Saban did, when he bolted the Miami Dolphins for Alabama in January, only weeks after saying, “I guess I have to say it: I’m not going to be the Alabama coach.”

And better not to do what Williams did in 2003 when he was pressed about the North Carolina job after his Kansas team had lost the NCAA title game to Syracuse and responded with a barnyard epithet. He, too, took the job.

Donovan would coach this Florida team wearing earplugs and blinders if he could, and that’s pretty much what it looked like as he strode quickly onto the Georgia Dome floor to practice Friday preparing for today’s national semifinal game against UCLA.

“I haven’t even thought about any of that stuff,” he said, asked if he had been in contact with Kentucky. “My total focus is really on UCLA. That’s the most important thing. I have not been contacted -- I don’t even have my phone.

“The minute I get on the road, I give my phone to my secretary. I’ve talked to nobody. All I’ve done, to be honest with you, is get a lot of bloodshot eyes right now from watching tape. That’s all I do.”

But here’s something to keep in mind:

Donovan and Kentucky are not Williams and North Carolina.

Williams grew up in North Carolina, graduated from Carolina and was a longtime assistant to Dean Smith, who was urging him to return.

Donovan was in Kentucky for only five years, as an assistant to Rick Pitino, his college coach at Providence. Now Pitino is at Louisville, Kentucky’s blood rival.

Donovan’s Florida ties are far stronger. He has coached there since 1996. Two of his four children were born in Gainesville. His parents and a sister have moved there. And far from being jealous of Urban Meyer’s success in football, Donovan and Meyer are friends. Meyer has been invited to speak to Donovan’s players and the coaches live in the same neighborhood.

“We see each other sometimes in the morning, dropping kids off at the bus stop,” Donovan said.

Kentucky is ready to open the vault, reportedly prepared to offer Donovan in the neighborhood of $3 million a year, a sizable raise over his $1.7-million salary. The numbers would get even crazier if an NBA team were to join the bidding.

Yet Florida has been poised to give Donovan a raise since last year’s national championship victory.

Donovan, however, told Athletic Director Jeremy Foley then that he wanted to wait because of the financial sacrifices his players had made by not turning pro, remembering that former Gator Mike Miller had questioned how Donovan could urge him to stay in school instead of turning pro after the 2000 Final Four when Donovan had cashed in himself.

Either way, he’ll be cashing in again soon.

As a Florida fan shouted before Donovan and the Gators finished cutting down the nets in St. Louis last week, “We have deep pockets!”

Consider: Kentucky broke even with athletic expenditures of $57 million in 2005-06, federal records show. Florida, flush with football money, spent $78 million -- and reported a nearly $4-million surplus.

What’s more, at Florida, Donovan is prized.

“I love the University of Florida,” he said. “I love my experiences. I love everything about it. I love coaching my team. I love our administration. It’s been great. I mean, I’m very, very happy here right now.”

Then you notice how he said “right now,” and start to think.

Williams loved Kansas too.

And even though the vitriolic fans at Kentucky are supposed to be one reason Donovan shouldn’t go there, Tubby Smith -- the coach who just left town for Minnesota rather than deal with them anymore -- didn’t say that when he stopped to talk for a few minutes this week in Atlanta.

“You better believe me, it’s tough,” he said. “It’s tough at Florida too. A few years ago, we had won eight games in a row against them and they were calling for.... It’s the nature of the business. Coaches are big boys. We’re grown men.”

It’s true that it hasn’t been all sunshine for Donovan at Florida.

Until this junior class of Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Taurean Green arrived, Florida was known more for early exits than anything else.

The Gators lost to Creighton in the first round in 2002, and to Manhattan in the first round in 2004.

As for the pressure of the decision facing Donovan now, Tubby Smith, his colleague on Pitino’s staff at one time, shrugged it off.

“He’s doing great,” Smith said. “He’s tough enough. He’s smart enough. He’ll be fine.”

Tough enough for Kentucky would mean plenty tough. When the once-beloved Pitino returned to Rupp Arena for the first time after being branded a traitor for taking the Louisville job, even his wife was fair game.

“Joanne,” one sign read, “we never liked you either.”

Still, the aura remains, and the allure of that versus the scrutiny that comes with it is something only Donovan can gauge.

“Kentucky’s a job that’s always going to make the coach,” Smith said. “It’s big enough that it’s always going to be Kentucky basketball.

“Trust me, it’s always going to continue to be in place.”

Smith started to go, and somebody called out, asking if he’d recommend the job to Donovan.

“To everybody,” Smith said. “To anybody.”

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robyn.norwood@latimes.com