drag - the Big 12 loses another good coach. as much as i like seeing the ags all angsty, this sucks for the conference.

Kentucky hires Gillispie as basketball coach

By JEFFREY McMURRAY, Associated Press Writer
April 6, 2007

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) -- Kentucky's restless fortnight is over. The new leader of Big Blue Nation has a heart as big as Texas, and he'll need it to help restore some of the luster to college basketball's all-time winningest program.

Billy Gillispie was hired as Kentucky's sixth coach in the last 76 years on Friday, a person familiar with the search process told The Associated Press. He'll replace Tubby Smith, who spent a decade under the glare of college basketball's brightest spotlight before bolting to Minnesota two weeks ago.

Gillispie, who led Texas A&M to the NCAA tournament's round of 16 this year for the first time since 1980, will be introduced at a 12:15 p.m. EST pep rally at Memorial Coliseum followed by a 12:45 news conference, said the person who spoke on condition of anonymity pending an official announcement.

The Wildcats turned to Gillispie after another Billy -- Florida's Billy Donovan -- decided Thursday to stay with the Gators. The team also had permission to talk with Texas' Rick Barnes, who indicated he wasn't interested.

Gillispie replaces Tubby Smith, who left the Wildcats after 10 seasons to take the head coaching job in Minnesota last month, despite having four years left on his contract.

Gillispie is 100-58 in five seasons as a head coach. He spent the last three years with the Aggies, molding the longtime also-ran into a Big 12 power. Texas A&M went 27-7 this season.

His success with the Aggies made Gillispie a hot commodity. He was approached by Arkansas after Stan Heath was fired, but decided to stay with the Aggies, agreeing in principle to a new contract worth $1.75 million that would have made him among the Big 12's highest-paid coaches.

The 47-year-old Gillispie, however, never signed the deal and he didn't hesitate when Kentucky came calling. Texas A&M athletic director Bill Byrne gave Barnhart permission to speak to Gillispie on Thursday night, and by Friday morning the Wildcats had their sixth coach since 1931.

Gillispie served as an assistant coach to Bill Self at Tulsa and Illinois before moving on to coach UTEP in 2002. He coached the Miners for two seasons, surviving a 6-24 season in 2002-03 before leading the Miners to a 24-8 record the next year.

Texas A&M lured him to College Station in 2004, and Gillispie didn't waste time turning around a program that went winless in Big 12 play the year before his arrival. Texas A&M made it to the NIT his first season and the NCAA tournament the next two.

Behind the play of senior point guard Acie Law, the Aggies spent most of the 2006-07 season ranked in the top 10. They finished 13-3 in the Big 12 this season.

Gillispie's finest moment came, ironically, on the Rupp Arena floor. He guided the Aggies to wins over Penn and Louisville in the opening rounds of this year's NCAA tournament.

The Louisville game was unique because it featured Smith's predecessor, Rick Pitino, coaching against Smith's successor, Gillispie on Kentucky's home court.

Shocker!




















I hate to say I told you so, but I did.

Good hire by Kentucky. After Donovan, he was easily my second choice and should have no problem getting Kentucky basketball to a annual top 10 team.

I thought you were a L'ville fan, danny?

Im a cheater, Im both. I keep up with UK more, but when they play each other I am always for Louisville. Weird I know, but when I became old enough to really start keeping up with it, UK was on probation and not on TV or in tournaments. So, kind of hard for a 9 or 10 year old to get into a team he can never watch. So, I was more into Louisville. But, I certainly love Kentucky and am just glad that they should now be back on track.

What?!!!



How could you not root for a guy with a mustache like that?



So, the Unforgettables were somewhat forgettable for you? That's too bad. What a great story they were... mustache and all.

smart play.. much bigger than the Arkansas job.

good luck to him but I can't pull for him anymore at Kentucky.

Still good hire, and a great job for Gillespe.

I don't think this guarantees Kentucky anything.

Kids these days (outside of the region) don't look at their program like they used to. I would go as far as to say that in most teens' eyes it has fallen below numerous programs.

Of course, if the guy can recruit at aTm, I'd think recruiting for UK should be a breeze.



I wonder how pissed aTm fans are considering they thought Gillespie was locked up for the future.

That was the only job we were actually worried about him taking. Fuck.

Well this sucks, but I guess he has to do what's best for him.

Why can't people ever spell his name right?

There's no 'I' in Blly Gllspe.

I'm the same way when it comes to UofL and UK. I kind of got tired of watching UK the past several seasons. I'm hoping Gillespie will bring back that uptempo game again.

Heh, of course they would hire someone who beat Pitino in the tourney

No no no, I love that team. But other than their last 2 seasons ( I believe), they were on probation and I couldnt even watch them on TV. If Kentucky had never been on probation I would probably strictly be a UK fan. But since they were, I became a Louisville fan, since I could actually watch them and keep up with them. But now, I like both.

wow, what a shocker! not. no 'i told you so' needed here, pjamminagain. i knew if kentucky offered, gillespie was gone. it's comparable to having the same 'so-so' girlfriend for 3 years, and then marissa miller coming up to say 'come hither'.

billy clyde, why don't you go ahead and just save all the 'im a good ol boy, handshake man' talk. you've pretty much proved that's typical horseshit coachspeak that only makes you sound like a dirty businessman. they don't care about that shit in lexington, only winning the SEC and final fours. good luck.

Overall, the Big 12 has been hurt quite a bit in two days. But I think there's a chance it will be improved anyway. Let's face it, A&M should always be in the cellar of Big 12 basketball with Baylor. It has always been a terrible program. What Gillispie did there was remarkable.

It's really up to Mike Anderson, Jeff Capel and Sean Sutton to improve their programs and get them back to where they were. If those three reach where they were under Norm Stewart, Kelvin Sampson and Sean's dad nobody will notice Huggins and Gillispie leaving the conference.

I'm hoping that Gillispie's success here attracts another great coach, but that remains to be seen.

Terrible program or not, you make it sound as if A&M has no business or chance of turning that around. Hell, they might as well give up their basketball program with that kind of thinking. Does it offend or bother you that a school is doing its best to turn its perpetually shitty program around?

Not at all. Historically speaking, that's where A&M belongs in the Big 12 Conference. It was very fortunate to get a great coach in Gillispie. That isn't likely to happen again. It might, who knows, but it isn't likely, and in the absence of a great coach a program like A&M will revert back to the level it was when Melvin Watkins was leading it.

A&M has Bill 'moneybags' Byrne now, who holds much of the responsibility for the turnaround along with Gillespie. The question is who wants to come to College Station.

My guess is it'll be Ronnie Arrow.