UK Sports Info

Many people yesterday were very worried about what Gillispie might say today in his press conference.  I feel as though he handled himself like a gentlemen.  I think he understands where Barnhart and Todd were coming from.  He did say that he was unaware of what the outcome of yesterdays meeting was going to be until the meeting was over. Gillispie did say that he wished he would have won more games while at UK.

When asked about wins and losses, he responded saying he loved being in Lexington, and he does not have hard feelings towards UK’s administration.  “I’ve always been a company man” “I am the luckiest guy that ever lived” “and I will keep on being lucky, this is a small bump in the road”

He feels that they (the coaching staff) did a great job at UK and that UK should be on track to be back on top soon.  The players have improved dramatically, and he loves the team  and they practice harder than any other team he has coached.  Told the players to play hard for the next coach and finish their academic careers strong. He said that he is going to miss the players.

He talked to the recruits parents and players parents about him leaving UK, but would not say how the conversations went.

How do you feel about the 6 million, he did say that it looks like 6 million to him, but would not say more.

He was asked what he likes about Mitch, and he said that he has no ill feelings and holds no grudges towards anyone.

Will you be a head coach next season and he responded “heck yeah”.  No schools have contacted him as of yet.

He has never seen more of an outpouring of love from the fans.

The SEC comment…he does not remember saying that, and feels that he was great to the public, and he said that he did not remember saying anything like that.

As far as Derrick Jasper, he went with what the trainers said, and that’s all he could do.  He thinks Derrick will be an NBA player one day, but he does not regret playing him.

He has no regrets at how he ran his program and his comments especially towards the media.  But he did say that he could have handled things different.  He did call Jenine Edwards and apologize the next day for his comments.

Overall, I feel that the press conference was a very positive thing for the University of Kentucky as well as Gillispie.  Some people are going to try and look deep into his words and twist what he said and look for anything negative they can find, but I can honestly say that he handled himself and the questions very well.  So, now the Big Blue Nation can take a deep breath and realize that some of them were worried over nothing, because Gillispie said nothing that would be hurtful to the University of Kentucky.  People can take what they want from the press conference, but I will take from the press conference that he was disappointed about not being asked to come back next year and he was willing to take this like a gentlemen in the eye of the public.

The biggest issue that will come out of this is the buy-out that is to be coming.  That is something that we will have to watch and see what happens.

The list of potential coaches according to sources at UK….and yes some of these coaches have said they are not interested.

Billy Donovan- 2 National Championships, 3 Final Fours, 345-146 Overall Record
John Calipari- 2 Final Fours, 446-139 Overall Record
Tom Izzo- 1 National Championships, 4 Final Fours, 334-136 Overall Record
Rick Barnes- 1 Final Four, 441-232 Overall Record
Jay Wright- No Final Fours, 229-174 Overall Record
Jamie Dixon- No Final Fours, 163-44 Overall Record
Thad Mata- 1 Final Four, 227-78 Overall Record
Sean Miller- No Final Fours, 117-45 Overall Record
Travis Ford- No Final Fours, 146-127 Overall Record

This list is a list of coaches that UK may have some interest in.  Billy Donovan and John Calipari have both said that they are not interested in the job, but I think Calipari would be interested if he was offered.
All of these coaches have very good qualities and each are strong in there own rights.

Donovan is a strong recruiter and could be compared somewhat to Rick Pitino.

John Calipari is probably the best recruiter out of this group and has great relationships with players.

Tom Izzo is a hard nosed coach that recruits well and always has very physical teams.

Rick Barnes has shown he can recruit the best players in the country and competes every year.

Jay Wright is probably the best dressed coach in basketball.  He is a good recruiter and plays a fun style of basketball using fast guards.

Jamie Dixon recruits well and has big strong physical players and has shown growth almost every year.

Thad Mata has had some great recruiting classes in the past and plays Big 10 basketball which is generally boring.

Sean Miller has done a great job at Xavier but not sure if would be ready for the big time program like UK.

Travis Ford has shown promise at every school he has coached at.  He has good recruiting skills and is from Kentucky, which you would think would count for something.  Especially after the issues the administration had with Gillispie.

After listening to a couple of months of fans, my coworkers and friends, complain about Gillispie how he needed to be fired, that day has finally arrived.  Initially it was all excitement, but now I think reality is setting in.  Donovan not interested, Pitino very likely not interested, Calipari has reports both ways and some media folks are saying UK will be hard pressed to find a good coach. All of the UK recruits did not say they were definitely backing out, but you could tell their reaction was not exactly favorable for UK.

Looking at all of that, I think people are over reacting a little bit and UK fans just need to take a deep breath and relax.  This process might be a little more quick than some think or it could be a longer process.  UK will get a good coach, because we are UK,  so I don’t think there is any real reason to worry. I think we have a very strong possibility of keeping our current recruiting class, but that will depend on who is our next coach.  I hope UK fans can handle this with a little bit of class.  If we consider ourselves the best program in the history of basketball then we need to have some class while we endure tough times.

Some comments that I can recall from today….

I listened to one gentlemen attack Gillispie and say he should never be trusted and he was a liar and the press conference tomorrow at 11:00 will be bash session trying to make UK look bad.  I personally believe that is total junk.

Another comment was a guy who said Donovan would never go to UK because we are a program of the past.

Probably the funniest of all was the guy, who in all seriousness asked if Darius Miller could be the next Michael Jordan.  Now I am a huge Darius Miller fan, but where do these people come from.  I had to laugh out loud on that one.

Billy Gillispie will hold a press conference Saturday morning at 11:00 A.M.  I expect this to be a speech with him thanking Kentucky for the opportunity to coach and those fans who supported him.

The press conference today with Lee Todd and Mitch Barnhart only backed up what most of expect.  Billy Gillispie was fired because he was not a good fit for the University of Kentucky.   A major issue that is on everyone’s mind is how much of a settlement will Gillispie get.  Barnhart did say that it will not be the full 6 million dollars that many have thought UK would have to pay.  There is no figure that has been put out there, but we do know that it will be less than the 6 million.   The final part of this extremely brief summary of the press conference is that Barnhart said that they do not plan on interviewing people this weekend.  I wonder if he knew that Donovan had already said he would not take the job?

What a whirlwind of a day!

Billy Donovan will not be the coach of  the University of Kentucky.  There was a lot of speculation and even reports that Donovan was in town.  But it was announced just a few minutes ago that Donovan will not be the coach.

Billy D is the big fish on the line from Florida…..(per Buzz on WKYT)….

It’s a done deal.  ESPN has it live right now.  Another bit of information is that Anthony Grant has accepted the Alabama job(probably a rumor), which raises the question about Donovan.  However, I firmly believe Donovan will be the next coach.  We might know at 4:30 or we might have to spend the weekend waiting.

Dave Baker is reporting that there is going to be a meeting this afternoon regarding Billy G. and his position at UK.  The meeting will be at 2:00 p.m.  Billy G. has also confirmed this report.

What does this mean?  Well it certainly has raised some questions about what is exactly going on with this situation.  Does this mean nothing has been decided and the University has made no comments because they had nothing to comment on?

Last night some Gillispie supporters showed their support for the coach who is on the hot seat.  There has been a large number of fans on call in shows and in interviews that are supportive of the current UK coach, but when you go to message boards similar to this one you see all sorts of comments which are mostly negative.

As of right now there is has been no official release from the University of Kentucky about the status of Coach Gillispie.  I did receive a phone call this morning from a person who is an employee at the University of Kentucky and did say that he confirms that the assistant coaches have cleaned out their offices.  I also received information from one of the players parents who said they believe Gillispie’s fate will be announced today and he will no longer be the coach at the University of Kentucky.

Pat Forde seems to know something that most of us don’t, if he is willing to bet his salary that Travis Ford will be the next University of Kentucky basketball coach.

With all of this said, right now at this moment everything is still up in the air for the UK fans and most of the media.  Today should be an exciting day to see what rumors get stirred up.  But I have to ask….what if Gillispie is not fired today?  What if he is fired?  What if Calipari is named coach today?  What if Donovan is named coach today?  There is a small chance that we will all have to wait another day for any news, but that is unlikely.

Apparently WHAS interrupted Grey’s Anatomy to announce that Billy G. has been fired.  I did not personally see this, but this is what is being said.  I wonder how WHAS would break this information before WKYT or any other Lexington station.  Who knows if they really have accurate information or not, but it is kind of funny…a bunch of women watching Greys Anatomy getting the information first.

No official announcement has been made by UK.

Update: WHAS Video Report