DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Kentucky to introduce Gillispie as coach on Friday

Source: Wildcats to introduce Gillispie on FridayBy Pat Forde
ESPN.com


Kentucky has announced it will hold "a pep rally and a press conference" on Friday afternoon to announce the hiring of the program's 21st head coach. And according to a source at Kentucky, Texas A&M coach Billy Gillispie is the man the Wildcats will introduce to Big Blue Nation.



Andy Lyons/Getty Images
Here's Billy Gillispie at Rupp Arena during this year's NCAA Tournament, celebrating a win over Louisville -- and even wearing a blue tie. Now Kentucky will pay him to do all those things.
Kentucky honed in on Gillispie to replace Tubby Smith at the end of a whirlwind Thursday that began with a rebuff from Florida's Billy Donovan and included Texas coach Rick Barnes withdrawing his name from consideration. Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart asked for and received permission to talk to Gillispie on Thursday night, according to Texas A&M athletic director Bill Byrne.

"Coach Gillispie is one of the top coaches in the country, and we certainly do not want to lose him," Byrne said in a statement released by the school Thursday night. "At the same time, I don't want to stand in the way of anyone in the department who wants to explore another option if he or she feels it's in his best interest."

Gillispie was supposed to be en route Friday to Los Angeles for the John Wooden Award celebration Saturday. The Aggies' Acie Law IV is one of five finalists.

A source close to Gillispie told ESPN.com late Thursday night that Gillispie would accept the Kentucky job if it is offered.

Gillispie recently agreed to a lucrative contract extension with A&M after being wooed by Arkansas, but he did not sign the deal. According to one report at the time A&M and Gillispie verbally agreed to to the extension, the new deal was going to pay the coach about $2 million annually, making him the highest paid of his Big 12 peers.


His name had been on the "B" list of candidates from the beginning at Kentucky after Smith unexpectedly resigned March 22 to take the job at Minnesota.


Kentucky's clear first choice was Donovan, who would not consider the job until after his Florida Gators won the national title Monday night. Thursday morning, Donovan met with Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley, and the school announced around noon that Donovan would remain in Gainesville.

Later Thursday afternoon, speculation moved to Barnes as Kentucky's top choice. But by early evening he had withdrawn his name, saying he would stay at Texas. Sources have given conflicting information about whether Barnes decided he was not interested on his own, or if he learned that he was not at the top of Kentucky's list.

Gillispie has worked a swift makeover at Texas A&M, going 70-26 in three seasons at a school that had little history of success. The 2006-07 Aggies went 27-7, earning a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament and reaching the Sweet 16. It was the school's first Sweet 16 birth since 1980.

Prior to that, Gillispie was the head coach at UTEP for two years, and he previously worked as the lead assistant to Bill Self at Tulsa and Illinois.

Other names believed to be on the Kentucky list were Michigan State's Tom Izzo and Marquette's Tom Crean.

Barnhart and Byrne have a long history together. Barnhart worked under Byrne at Oregon in 1983 and considers him something of a mentor. Byrne's son, Greg, worked under Barnhart at Kentucky for a couple of years, and Bill Byrne helped facilitate the hiring of former Oregon coach Rich Brooks as the UK football coach in 2002, after Barnhart had struck out on several other candidates.

Pat Forde is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at ESPN4D@aol.com. ESPN.com senior writer Andy Katz contributed to this report.



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I know there are like 3 other Kentucky fans on here. Where are you to chime in on this? lol.

I'm very happy with Mitch on this hire. Billy Clyde was 1b on my list. It will be very interesting to see what he is able to do with our resources at his disposal. I heard this morning that he averages over 8000 text messages a month to recruits. Here is a link to the press conference and rally slated to begin at 12:15 p.m. Billy Clyde Pressor

Quit bumping your own thread. If people are interested they'll respond. That is lame.

no one says anything because no one cares about kentucky

I'm happy with Gillispie too. DeAndre Jordan made a statement on April 2nd that if Gillispie left A&M, he would probably follow him wherever he went. There's a good chance we could get DeAndre Jordan now (The #8 recruit in the country). Hopefully Gillispie will get on the ball and get Patterson and Lucas in here too. I think Jordan will end up here.. but Lucas and Patterson are just wishful thinking lol.

How about this lineup next year though...

PG- Jai Lucas
SG- Jodie Meeks/Ramel Bradley (whoever starts, then we have an explosive scorer off the bench)
SF- Joe Crawford
PF- Patrick Patterson
C- DeAndre Jordan

IF and thats a big IF we can get those guys, all of a sudden, we don't look too bad next year.

Oh yeah, I'm the only one to ever comment on your lameness, which you improve upon with every post.

It's because of what you do. You don't get that??

Nevermind, Dude. It's not worth it.

Mantua, did you listen to the press conference?

I love how he said he wants to play fast and get transition points

I'm lukewarm about Dizzy Gillespie in 'Tucky.


to win the SEC, teams have to play up and down ball, and score alot. Without Acie Law IV scoring 25-30, A&M scored much less than that.

He is a good recruiter, which is something Tubby struggled at, but I just think Dizzy is more suited for the Big 12 or Big Ten.

ha,

I'm worried for you Tucky fans though. I think you could be in for a letdown.

I'm not worried at all. This is the most excited I've been about Kentucky basketball for 5 years. He is exactly the kind of guy that we need here. He is just as crazy as the fans are.

He had a 6 year marriage end because "he couldn't find balance between work and home". He works so much that he doesn't have time to eat breakfast.. he gets peanut butter crackers and a Dr. Pepper from a gas station every morning for breakfast. He is crazy about basketball.

Plus in his press conference today, he said some things that made me think he is a perfect fit for the job. Things like...

"My ability doesn't decrease because of the expectations."
"As long as they're keeping score, we're going to try to win."
And more.. but those are the two that stuck out to me.

The first one because it proves that he is up to the task of dealing with the UK expectations. The second one proves that he has the personality that UK fans will really warm up to. He said alot of pretty funny things in his press conference. The fans are really going to warm up to that.

Basketball is his life... He belongs where the fans feel the same way.

I think there were fewer new threads about one coaching job when the Browns hired Crennel.

Top, Ive watched three times, and I will probably watch it more. He has proved himself at every stop, and I am very pleased to have him. Nobody in the nation short of Matta will out work him. He reminds me allot of Matta.

People actually cared about who was going to coach the Browns, though.

Some of us actually care about who coaches UK basketball. If you don't, skip the thread.

Who wants to take bets on how long it will be before UK fans want to run him out of town? I give it about 3 years max.

Actually no I don't believe everything the talking bobbleheads in Bristol say. I usually get my sports news from a newspaper. I just know how impatient UK fans are especially considering they are a basketball school rich in history, tradition, and championships. (Not unlike OSU in football) I work with a few diehard UK fans and they were calling for his head as soon as they lost in the SEC tournament so that's how I came to that assesment.

Congrats bro.............you got a real good coach from a smaller program........lol........told you Billy Donavon wasn't going to take that job though...lol. BG will be fine for you guys though, and I think you guys will be fine.

They don't see that Ky.


Cooper couldn't beat Michigan,so OFF WITH HIS HEAD!

Now? Those same people want to point their fingers at others. Pretty funny really. They're no different.

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You really do believe everything ESPN tells you, don't you?

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Look in the mirror lately?

just clicking on you 2119.


Ky is almost irrelevant in basketball right now. They have to re-establish themsleves. Maybe their supporters will be able to learn to not be so over the top critical of a new coach and the kids.


I think it is hilarious that Ky gets rid of Tubby Smith to get this guy......But in the bigger picture, a downturn for their prgram might be the best thing in the end.


Good Luck next year cats......you wil need it.

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I love how he said he wants to play fast and get transition points

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Sounds like a change in his style... with Acie he was able to do that some what, but he was more about defense and slowing it down from what I saw

Good hire by the way - I didn't think he'd leave A&M because I thought he had just signed a huge extension... I later learned that he actually didn't sign it... he's a good coach though

You ignore facts in sports like you do politics, huh, PIt? You fail to mention Cooper's players getting 0.00 GPAs and the rash of arrests during his time. Compare that to Smith. There were MANY reasons to get rid of Cooper. You cite one. You ignore the rest to justify Smith getting the boot and trying o deflect the criticism. Typical of you in political posts, surprised you do so in sports related posts, though.

Preaching to someone about ignoring facts, pot meet kettle. I used the Cooper analogy. It is terrible that players fail classes, but coaches aren't hired for academics. Tubby Smith didn't produce the product we wanted, and we let it be known. If the customer not being happy with the product isn't justification enough to boot the coach, nothing is.

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but coaches aren't hired for academics.

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