In a city trapped in the relentless rotation of the coaching carousel, only one remains standing.
The Bulls’ Billy Donovan is the longest-tenured head coach in all of Chicago professional sports. And after the Blackhawks cut ties with Luke Richardson on Thursday, Donovan is the only coach in the city to survive the past two seasons without being fired.
No sport or league was immune to this trend. The Red Stars fired Chris Petrucelli on Oct. 10, 2023, then the Cubs axed David Ross on Nov. 6, 2023. After a brief respite, the firings recommenced in rapid succession — Pedro Grifol by the White Sox on Aug. 8, Teresa Weatherspoon by the Sky on Sept. 27, Frank Klopas by the Fire on Oct. 19, Matt Eberflus by the Bears on Nov. 29 and then Richardson this week.
It’s a stark setting for Donovan, who is in his fifth season with the Bulls. Cubs manager Craig Counsell is the closest to his position with barely a year under his belt in Wrigleyville.
“You hate to see any situation where decisions like that have to be made,” Donovan said. “It’s challenging all the way through. It’s a highly competitive business. It’s a results-oriented business. I get all that stuff. … There’s people I know that have gone through that that you know are really, really good coaches, but sometimes the timing situation is not as such and that shows itself, but it’s just a byproduct of wherever the organization is at that point in time.”
Injuries and inconsistency from a flawed roster have plagued Donovan’s tenure with the Bulls. He has posted a collective 166-176 record in Chicago, finishing only one season — his first in 2020-21 — with a winning record (46-36).
The front office handed Donovan a somewhat impossible task this year, stripping the roster of its best defenders and leaving behind an inexperienced, undersized core. Donovan entered the season with brutal honesty about his team’s defensive inadequacy but focused instead on rapidly redefining the team’s offensive psyche.
The result? A team that has been able to outweigh all of its defensive blunders through unyielding shooting. The Bulls are 10-14, an almost unthinkable start for a team predicted by many pundits and bettors to win fewer than 28 games.
It’s hard to overstate the impact that Donovan creates on the Bulls roster, even in losing seasons. His teams have consistently outperformed the clear deficits in roster construction created by the front office, which dragged its feet in parting with players such as DeMar DeRozan while failing to get adequate returns for top-level trade assets such as Alex Caruso.
Amid the dysfunction from upper management, Donovan has remained uniquely reliable. Under Donovan, veterans Zach LaVine and Nikola Vučević have benefitted from resurgent seasons in new roles created to take advantage of a high-tempo offense. Ayo Dosunmu and Coby White have evolved from promising rookies to genuine NBA-level talent.
This process required both discipline and creativity from the coach. And that is why Donovan — for all the frustration fans often level his way — has come close to landing on the hot seat even as the Bulls missed the playoffs for consecutive seasons.
For Donovan, a mutual trust between the front office and the coaching staff has been critical for navigating the roster changes and injury hurdles of his four seasons in Chicago.
“I think the communication piece is really important,” Donovan said. “The one thing I’ve tried to do is just to try to try to communicate well, try to be straight up and direct and as honest as I can, try to help as much as I can. I’m grateful for the opportunity and the tenure.”
