LIKE IT IS : Hanging on to Gillispie could be private issue
Posted on Tuesday, February 26, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Sports/217989/
It was somewhat odd and ironic.
When John Leslie Pelphrey was introduced Saturday in the pregame as the head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks, he got a thundering ovation.
There was no doubt the Kentucky Wildcats nation still adores him.
When Billy Clyde Gillispie was introduced, his reception was warm, but far from adoring.
There was just a single line of red-clad fans in the crowd, sitting behind the Arkansas bench.
Tom Gulley and Dan Snider were sitting next to family members of Pelphrey or Athletic Director Jeff Long, whose family had driven two hours from Dayton, Ohio, to see him and become official Hogs fans.
When the game got tight in the second half, the Kentucky fans got behind their team. They were even louder than when they welcomed John Leslie home.
Wildcats fans might be fickle about coaches, but they are always loyal to their Cats.
That is why they still love John Leslie. Behind the Kentucky bench, hanging from the rafters among the jerseys of other honored former Cats, was Pelphrey’s No. 34.
Gillispie, who last got a thundering ovation on the day he was hired, didn’t start bleeding Kentucky blue until last April.
Starting the season with a loss to Gardner-Webb in fabled Rupp Arena will never be confused as a good way to begin.
Pelphrey dreamed of being a Wildcat from the first time he ever dribbled a basketball.
If his team had rebounded better on offense Saturday, and got half as many breaks from the officials as Kentucky, he would have become the talk of the state, replacing Billy Donovan, who turned down a chance to interview for the job last season after Tubby Smith resigned.
Instead, the team that plays a very physical man-to-man defense was called for five fouls in each half and escaped with a 63-58 victory.
Yet, long before the Arkansas game, Wildcats fans have wondered about the future of Gillispie at Kentucky.
The question seems to be: Will he stay ?
Many point to the fact that he has not signed a contract, but the reason for that is he got exactly what he wanted in the two-page employment agreement.
That outlined his money and perks.
There was nothing in it that discussed reasons for termination without future consideration, no morals clauses, just what was good for Gillispie.
The sentences about termination and morals clauses were not constructed until a contract was offered, and Gillispie has refused to sign it. Who could blame him ? He got the gold mine, and Kentucky gave itself the shaft.
However, that does not guarantee Gillispie will be around for the long term.
He likes his role as fixer, which is what he did for the programs at Texas-El Paso and Texas A&M.
He also cherishes his privacy and guards it fervently.
Gillispie is not a glad-handing, golf-playing, social-drinking kind of guy. Slapping blue-clad backs and giving unfelt smiles is as alien to him as a player who won’t dive on the floor for a loose ball.
Gillispie is not looking for endorsements; he’s looking for victories.
He’s really an old-fashioned basketball coach who thinks the game every waking moment. His passions are teaching and preaching basketball.
Will he go to the Kentucky Derby ? Of course.
Will he slip off to Vegas to roll the dice a little when no one is looking over his shoulder ? Of course.
Does he like it that if he stops for dinner at a certain restaurant, or picks up his laundry or fills up his car that information is almost immediately posted on the Internet ? Of course not.
Billy Clyde Gillispie despises public life, but for now, he’s the head basketball coach at a school that demands its coach live in a fishbowl.