Didn't we just go through this with Kentucky?
Whoa, we’re to this point again? Already?
Didn’t we just do this dance with Billy Donovan and a handful of other coaches two years ago? How did Billy Gillispie wear out his welcome so fast in Lexington?
Kentucky has reportedly fired its men’s basketball coach. Can things really be this bad in Kentucky?
Well, no … and yes.
The yes is obvious. Kentucky – the winningest program in NCAA history with perhaps the most rabid fanbase – missed the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1991. It didn’t even make the NIT semifinals. Gillispie’s 40-27 record just doesn’t cut it when you’re talking about the house that Rupp built.
The on-court performance doesn’t cover Gillispie’s other issues. He’s prickly. The players don’t like him. He hasn’t endeared himself to the fan base. Former Louisville Courier-Journal writer and current ESPN.com column Pat Forde covers all these topics and more in this story, which I encourage you to read.
Most every Kentucky fan already knows the details, but one thing sticks out to me: Gillispie wasn’t the right guy because Kentucky rushed into this hire. After being turned down by Donovan and other coaches, the school turned to Gillispie because it didn’t want to appear desperate.
So a job that should’ve taken months took weeks. As Forde writes:
“Never mind that former athletic director C.M. Newton took more than two months and at least a couple of rejections (Lute Olson and P.J. Carlesimo) in 1989 before getting around to hiring a guy named Rick Pitino. This time around, UK hurried a critical decision”.
Coaches like Kansas’ Bill Self have preached patience, noting that even Mike Krzyewski wasn’t too popular in his first two years at Duke. It’s a fair point. It’s rare that a program gets righted overnight, and even then it takes a little bit of luck.
Gillispie’s contract contains a reported $6 million buyout clause. In an economy like this, that’s no small consideration.
Also, Kentucky isn’t struggling. True, this isn’t the level of winning the Bluegrass State is accustomed to, but it’s not NJIT. Gillispie says Kentucky’s on the verge of being a great team. Should the school pay big bucks to mess with that? Because if Gillispie is fired, a big-name replacement won’t be cheap. (Fans on A Sea of Blue seem to be divided between Donovan and Memphis’ John Calipari.)
And there’s the rub.
Replacing Gillispie will be costly and may cost Kentucky a coach who could be good. Or it could stem the ‘Cats playing in the NIT next season and get them back on the Final Four track.
I hope the decisin made by Kentucky A.D. Mitch Barnhart and school president Lee Todd is the right one. We’d all rather be spending our time reading about Kentucky’s basketball exploits, not its coaching drama.
