Billy Gillispie

Name:

Billy Gillispie

Position:

Head Coach

Team:

None

Career Record:

139–84

Key Influences:

Bill Self (Kansas)

Great Players:

Antoine Wright (Texas A&M), Jodie Meeks, Patrick Patterson (Kentucky)

Profile:

No basketball coach, anywhere, is subjected to greater scrutiny than the head coach at Kentucky. The spotlight proved a bit too bright for Billy Gillispie, who was fired after two seasons coaching the Wildcats.

Gillispie's path to a big-time coaching job began as a graduate assistant at Sam Houston State University and Southwest Texas. After a few years as a highly-successful high school coach and junior college, he returned to Division I hoops in 1994 as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Baylor. Three years later, he hitched himself to a rising star, becoming an assistant to Bill Self at Tulsa. When Self left Tulsa for the head coaching job at Illinois in 2000, Gillespie followed him to Champaign and helped to recruit the players that would share Big Ten titles in 2001 and 2002. After the 2002 season, Gillespie was hired to take over the head coaching position at UTEP.

In Gillispie's first first season in El Paso, his Miners posted a 6-24 record; in his second, he landed a top-25 recruiting class and the school's first conference title in 12 years. After two years at UTEP, Gillispie took over the Texas A&M program, leading the Aggies to two NCAA appearances in three seasons and a 31-17 overall record. That -- along with his reputation as a tireless worker and talented recruiter -- netted him an offer to replace Tubby Smith in one of college basketball's most prestigious positions.

Off the court, some of Gillispie's tactics drew the ire of his fellow coaches. Accepting a verbal commitment from an eighth grader and using NCAA loopholes to move "midnight madness" generated strongly-worded press releases from the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

But more than any controversy, his won-loss record was his undoing. His tenure with the Wildcats got off to a rough start, with early-season losses to Gardner Webb and San Diego State. But the 'Cats rebounded to make yet another NCAA Tournament -- and might have been a tougher out if freshman forward Patrick Patterson and guard Jodie Meeks hadn't suffered significant injuries.

Year two in Lexington went less well -- with an 8-8 record in the SEC and a quarterfinal loss in the NIT.

He was fired on March 27, 2009.

Since his ouster, Gillispie has continued to make waves. He filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the university in May, and in August was arrested for driving under the influence - his third such arrest since 1999.

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Billy Hunter Cries Wolf

Billy Hunter, executive director of the NBPA, made headlines this week by telling a group of lawyers that he doesn't expect the NBA lockout to be settled in time to save the 2011-12 season.

This, of course, was the point.

I admit - I'm not feeling particularly warm and fuzzy about the league's short-term future. I think the NBA's "preemptive strike" lawsuit - designed to keep the union from decertifying - could extend the process quite a bit; the Federal court system isn't quite as quick as Derrick Rose's first step. I know the owners and players are hundreds of millions apart in revenue-split discussions, and have a fundamental disagreement on hard vs. soft salary caps.

The outlook is pretty bleak.

On the other hand, the NBA and NBPA have had exactly one bargaining session since the lockout began; they haven't really begun to discuss these issues in earnest. And until there's a real danger of losing games because of the labor battle - which won't be the case until mid-September or so - neither side will feel much urgency to get anything done. Once they do, the pace of negotiations can pick up considerably.

I don't believe the 2011-12 season will be cancelled, mostly because I don't believe the players or owners will act against their own self-interest. And cancelling a season is in no one's best interest.

Consider recent sports history. The NHL didn't play in 2004-05. Some have suggested that season-killing lockout was worth the trouble, because that league's salary structure is now tilted back in favor of the owners. But what did it do to professional hockey's place in the American sports landscape? Does anyone really think the NHL is the fourth "major" pro sport at this point? Can you tell me where to find the Versus network on your cable system?

Baseball was able to survive the October without a World Series thanks in part to the epic (and chemically-enhanced) Mark McGwire/Sammy Sosa home run chase, Cal Ripken's games-played streak, and the Yankees. That was a unique set of circumstances; can't count on that sort of thing.

If the 2011-12 season is wiped away, the biggest impact on the bargaining will be a much smaller revenue "pie" to divide between owners and players when play does resume.

Of course, Billy Hunter knows that. So does David Stern. Which is why I strongly believe Hunter's comment was just an attempt to get some headlines, score some points in the PR battle.

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