The Billy Gillipsie situation

[cincrazy]

Is anyone else following this mess at Texas Tech? All kinds of allegations surfacing against Gillispie, who clearly didn't learn from his time at UK. He allegedly made a player practice with stress fractrues in his legs, he promsed assistant coaches jobs, only to renege the offer, he made broadcasters and trainers participate in layup lines, and made them run steps if they missed layups (why any grown man would take this abuse is beyond me. I can imagine him trying this act with Marty Brennaman or the Cowboy.)

He's currently in the hospital battling blood pressure issues. How this man still has a job, whether he's in the hospital or not, blows my mind.

[Boston Red]

Texas Tech has a history of hiring the crazies as basketball coach: Bobby Knight, Pat Knight and now Gillispie. I suppose they've taken to heart the idea that one would have to be crazy to move to Lubbock.

[Scrap Irony]

A reporter friend of mine and I talked about Gillespie one day with a bunch of folks at a sports bar. Most of them were sports professionals of some kind or another. Three referees happened to be in the same bar. One came over and said he'd done a UK game the week before and the only person on the court who wanted to see Billy Gillespie win was the man himself.

Assistants didn't trust him.
Other coaches didn't like him.
Referees looked for a reason to T him up.
Opposing teams loved to beat him.
His own team HATED him. (It's amazing what many of those players lived with while he was coach at Kentucky.)

Another story-- when Gillespie was hired, same guy was told to do a fluff piece on the local-boy-done-good angle. Called Gillespie's home town to talk to a bunch of people. He had to go through 23 interviews before he could use a decent quote. Most people there hated him too.

He might be the worst major hire in CBB history. He's at least top five.

Worst part is, he didn't learn a thing.

[5TimeWSChamps]

Originally Posted by Scrap Irony

A reporter friend of mine and I talked about Gillespie one day with a bunch of folks at a sports bar. Most of them were sports professionals of some kind or another. Three referees happened to be in the same bar. One came over and said he'd done a UK game the week before and the only person on the court who wanted to see Billy Gillespie win was the man himself.

Assistants didn't trust him.
Other coaches didn't like him.
Referees looked for a reason to T him up.
Opposing teams loved to beat him.
His own team HATED him. (It's amazing what many of those players lived with while he was coach at Kentucky.)

Another story-- when Gillespie was hired, same guy was told to do a fluff piece on the local-boy-done-good angle. Called Gillespie's home town to talk to a bunch of people. He had to go through 23 interviews before he could use a decent quote. Most people there hated him too.

He might be the worst major hire in CBB history. He's at least top five.

Worst part is, he didn't learn a thing.

And you defend the AD who hired this buffoon, who obviously didn't do ANY homework and screwed up the one major hire he HAD to get right.

[WMR]

Chip Cosby spoke today and backed me up while refuting what Scrap alleged in regards to Barnfart...

From another board, detailing what Chip said at the QB Club today...

Cosby said that when MB hired CBC that his due diligence consisted of simply calling Texas A & M and asking their AD if he knew of any problems with CBC. He compared this to a situation where a principal of a school has a bad teacher which she wants to get rid of and receives a call from someone asking for a recommendation to hire her. What are you going to do if you want to get rid of her?

Of course A & M gave a good recommendation although people in the community well knew of CBC's problems. Proper due diligence would have uncovered it .

Cosby went on to say that MB did not hire Cal. That"the boosters took it out of his hands." Just passing a respected sports writer's comments along FWIW.

Another story-- when Gillespie was hired, same guy was told to do a fluff piece on the local-boy-done-good angle. Called Gillespie's home town to talk to a bunch of people. He had to go through 23 interviews before he could use a decent quote. Most people there hated him too.

In other words, MB exerting even an ounce of effort in PERSONALLY vetting the name given to him by the "Executive Search Committee" (LOL, nice waste of 75k there) would have resulted in EASILY determining that BCG was a disaster waiting to happen.

[Scrap Irony]

Where is that article that you're quoting from, WMR?

[Scrap Irony]

Originally Posted by 5TimeWSChamps

And you defend the AD who hired this buffoon, who obviously didn't do ANY homework and screwed up the one major hire he HAD to get right.

That AD has made Kentucky into a fairly respectable national power across the sports' continuum. He's hit home runs hiring (and/or keeping/ re-signing) coaches in CBB (Calipari), CFB (Brooks), WBB (Mitchell), baseball (twice), tennis, gymnastics, track, and women's softball.

The UK sports' program is stronger than it's ever been in its history. It's also making more money than it's ever had. (Though this year may be a different story, as football fans may stay far, far away and men's and women's basketball may not be able to pick up the slack as much, similar to last season.)

So the two things he's responsible for-- money and the overall sports program-- are as good as they've ever been under his care. And you want to fire him?!!

[WVRed]

I'm covering my thoughts on this in the UK football thread, but can't say I am the least bit shocked.

[WMR]

Originally Posted by Scrap Irony

Where is that article that you're quoting from, WMR?

It was a report in a thread from a different board from the UK QB Club in Lexington.

Here's the Rivals thread: http://kentucky.rivals.com/showmsg.a...id=888&style=2

[WMR]

Originally Posted by Scrap Irony

That AD has made Kentucky into a fairly respectable national power across the sports' continuum. He's hit home runs hiring (and/or keeping/ re-signing) coaches in CBB (Calipari), CFB (Brooks), WBB (Mitchell), baseball (twice), tennis, gymnastics, track, and women's softball.

The UK sports' program is stronger than it's ever been in its history. It's also making more money than it's ever had. (Though this year may be a different story, as football fans may stay far, far away and men's and women's basketball may not be able to pick up the slack as much, similar to last season.)

So the two things he's responsible for-- money and the overall sports program-- are as good as they've ever been under his care. And you want to fire him?!!

The only reason UK is making more than ever is due to ONE thing: the size of the SEC football welfare check UK receives each year is getting bigger and bigger.

The only sports Mitch has improved are welfare sports that do nothing but drain money.

Women's basketball making money?

That's Mitch's problem in a nutshell: The return on investment where he is spending the majority of the capital available to him is incredibly, unbelievably low.

Apparently fundraising is a completely foreign concept to Mitch. He has spent the UK football welfare check on sports that no one besides the athletes and the athletes families give a damn about.

If it wasn't for Cal, basketball would be in trouble as well. Mitch has alienated most of the big money boosters and they don't want to give him a dime. Mitch is very abrasive and about the furthest thing from a "people person/schmoozer" one could imagine. His holier-than-thou/smarmy approach completely turns people off.

[Chip R]

According to ESPN.com BCG has resigned.