kepdawg
04-06-2007, 04:24 PM
Black Friday for A&M: Gillispie bolts for Kentucky
04:00 PM CDT on Friday, April 6, 2007
By RACHEL COHEN / The Dallas Morning News
rcohen@dallasnews.com
COLLEGE STATION – After men's basketball coach Billy Gillispie agreed to a new contract last week, Texas A&M officials conceded it essentially meant nothing.
One of the sport's ultimate prize jobs loomed, and they knew the ambitious Gillispie was unlikely to turn it down.
Sure enough, Gillispie, 47, was announced as Kentucky's coach on Friday during a pep rally and news conference at the school's campus in Lexington, Ky.
"It's a great honor for me to be here standing at the place where they basically invented basketball," he told the crowd.
The former Texas A&M coach succeeds Tubby Smith and agreed to a seven-year contract that will pay him $2.3 million a year in base salary, athletic department spokesman Scott Stricklin said. Gillispie could earn performance incentives up to $750,000 a year and academic incentives of up to $100,000.
"This program got turned around like 2,000 years ago and it's been turned around ever since," Gillispie said just before a campus rally. "Since they started putting those nets up there and used a round ball, they never needed a turnaround."
Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart hired Gillispie after another Billy - Florida's Billy Donovan - decided Thursday to stay with the Gators. Barnhart told the pep rally that the Wildcats had hired a coach who matches the fans' passion for basketball.
"He understands the mantle that he's been given here at Kentucky," Barnhart told the students and fans assembled in Memorial Coliseum.
Gillispie becomes Kentucky's sixth coach in the last 76 years and follows Smith, who spent a decade in the glare of the sport's brightest spotlight before bolting to Minnesota. Gillispie led the Aggies to the NCAA tournament's round of 16 this year for the first time since 1980.
Colleges
The Aggies are left to seek a replacement for the coach who did what seemed impossible, turning A&M into one of the nation's top teams. When Gillispie was hired three years ago, the Aggies hadn't posted a winning record since 1994, hadn't been to the NCAA Tournament since 1987 and hadn't won a tournament game since 1980.
A&M demolished all those droughts - and many more - during Gillispie's tenure. The Aggies were 25-103 over the first eight seasons of the Big 12 before the coach's hire; they were 31-17 in his three years.
This past season was arguably the best in A&M history. The Aggies set a school record for victories with 27, ranked in the top 10 for much of the year, finished second in the Big 12, and reached the Sweet 16. They became the first South Division team since the conference was formed to win at Kansas. Senior point guard Acie Law of Kimball, who under Gillispie blossomed from a promising but inconsistent prospect into perhaps A&M's all-time greatest player, became the Aggies' first player named first-team All-American.
New Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie prepares to speak to students and fans.
Gillispie leaves the program in far better shape than what he inherited. A state-of-the-art practice facility is in the works, fan support has skyrocketed and a highly rated recruiting class has been signed.
The last part may not remain intact, though: It's not unusual for recruits to ask out of their letters of intent after a coaching change. The immediate challenge facing Gillispie's successor will be keeping those signees, especially 7-footer DeAndre Jordan, who is widely considered one of the nation's top prospects.
Gillispie will enter his 26th year in coaching still having never stayed at a stop longer than three seasons. The Graford, Texas, native always seemed to bristle at the suggestion that he had a special connection to A&M because it was in his home state.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
04:00 PM CDT on Friday, April 6, 2007
By RACHEL COHEN / The Dallas Morning News
rcohen@dallasnews.com
COLLEGE STATION – After men's basketball coach Billy Gillispie agreed to a new contract last week, Texas A&M officials conceded it essentially meant nothing.
One of the sport's ultimate prize jobs loomed, and they knew the ambitious Gillispie was unlikely to turn it down.
Sure enough, Gillispie, 47, was announced as Kentucky's coach on Friday during a pep rally and news conference at the school's campus in Lexington, Ky.
"It's a great honor for me to be here standing at the place where they basically invented basketball," he told the crowd.
The former Texas A&M coach succeeds Tubby Smith and agreed to a seven-year contract that will pay him $2.3 million a year in base salary, athletic department spokesman Scott Stricklin said. Gillispie could earn performance incentives up to $750,000 a year and academic incentives of up to $100,000.
"This program got turned around like 2,000 years ago and it's been turned around ever since," Gillispie said just before a campus rally. "Since they started putting those nets up there and used a round ball, they never needed a turnaround."
Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart hired Gillispie after another Billy - Florida's Billy Donovan - decided Thursday to stay with the Gators. Barnhart told the pep rally that the Wildcats had hired a coach who matches the fans' passion for basketball.
"He understands the mantle that he's been given here at Kentucky," Barnhart told the students and fans assembled in Memorial Coliseum.
Gillispie becomes Kentucky's sixth coach in the last 76 years and follows Smith, who spent a decade in the glare of the sport's brightest spotlight before bolting to Minnesota. Gillispie led the Aggies to the NCAA tournament's round of 16 this year for the first time since 1980.
Colleges
The Aggies are left to seek a replacement for the coach who did what seemed impossible, turning A&M into one of the nation's top teams. When Gillispie was hired three years ago, the Aggies hadn't posted a winning record since 1994, hadn't been to the NCAA Tournament since 1987 and hadn't won a tournament game since 1980.
A&M demolished all those droughts - and many more - during Gillispie's tenure. The Aggies were 25-103 over the first eight seasons of the Big 12 before the coach's hire; they were 31-17 in his three years.
This past season was arguably the best in A&M history. The Aggies set a school record for victories with 27, ranked in the top 10 for much of the year, finished second in the Big 12, and reached the Sweet 16. They became the first South Division team since the conference was formed to win at Kansas. Senior point guard Acie Law of Kimball, who under Gillispie blossomed from a promising but inconsistent prospect into perhaps A&M's all-time greatest player, became the Aggies' first player named first-team All-American.
New Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie prepares to speak to students and fans.
Gillispie leaves the program in far better shape than what he inherited. A state-of-the-art practice facility is in the works, fan support has skyrocketed and a highly rated recruiting class has been signed.
The last part may not remain intact, though: It's not unusual for recruits to ask out of their letters of intent after a coaching change. The immediate challenge facing Gillispie's successor will be keeping those signees, especially 7-footer DeAndre Jordan, who is widely considered one of the nation's top prospects.
Gillispie will enter his 26th year in coaching still having never stayed at a stop longer than three seasons. The Graford, Texas, native always seemed to bristle at the suggestion that he had a special connection to A&M because it was in his home state.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.