On the way home from the Duke/Davidson game on Saturday, shep. and I got to talking about how hard it is, in a lot of ways, for young coaches in the NCAA men's basketball scene right now. There's no stability, it seems to me -- so much job-hopping so frequently, and the generation above the young generation getting ready to retire from long-time high-profile jobs. Jobs like Kentucky (where it takes balls of titanium to coach, and nobody but Pitino's really managed it since Rupp retired) and, eventually, Duke and Carolina and Kansas, where it takes a certain sort of person to really make it work, because the fan bases are just so demanding. (My mother says to tell you all that it is because her generation is full of people who demand instant gratification; blame it on the Boomers, she says.)
Despite all that, there are good young coaches who are going to survive to coach at major programs and thrive; A. and I made a list over IM on Sunday, because I have faith in John Pelphrey at Arkansas and Jeff Lebo at Auburn and Mark Turgeon at A&M, and she has faith in Jeff Capel at Oklahoma. Pat Knight won't be his dad but he'll get 20 solid years at Texas Tech, and Sean Sutton the same at Oklahoma State. Mark Few is just old enough -- and just crafty enough -- to have made Gonzaga a respectable national program without a fan base that needs championships every other year, and Dana Altmann was smart to bolt back for Creighton because I think Pelphrey's a better fit at Arkansas than he ever would have been. Oliver Purnell and his ugly orange coat will survive at Clemson, but it's looking like Paul Hewitt might not at Georgia Tech.
As many as there are who'll survive, there are others who aren't going to survive with the moves they've made; Jeff Czeblik should have stayed at Air Force and made them a true national power -- he could have. Steve Alford was right to get the hell out of Iowa, but New Mexico was a dumb-ass move.
And Mark Turgeon owes Billy Gillispie a fruit basket, because I truly, honestly believe that Gillispie will last no more than five years at Kentucky before he's run out on a rail. I'm saying that here and now: by 2012, Gillispie will be gone, and there's no real Rupp coaching tree to find that titanium-balled man (or woman, even) to take on that fan base. Pitino had the nuts to handle them, but he'd be stupid at best and suicidal at worst to leave Louisville to go back to UK. And I can't see anybody else out there who will be given the benefit of the doubt long enough to make the changes that program needs.
There's no good young coach who was bred to cope with the Kentucky fans, because right now it's all about taking the high profile jobs when they open up, regardless of whether or not there's qualifications. I survived the incredible pain and cruelty of the Doherty debacle at Carolina; I know what it looks like when someone gets caught in the cross-fire of fans that can't be controlled, because they expect to be the best, every year. When Gillispie goes, it won't be as personal, it won't be hurting family like they did at Carolina with Doherty, but it will be ugly, and it will be cruel, and it will be the end of his career.
Which is a fucking shame, if you ask me. He could have won titles if he'd stayed at A&M long enough; I think he's ruined his career taking this job.
And you know what? The Kentucky fans were awful enough that Tubby Smith, who is a great coach, left for Minnesota before they could fire him at UK. There's something rotting in the program at Kentucky, and I think it's the corpse of Adolph Rupp. Somebody with titanium balls should do something about that; nobody's going to.
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Legion leaving may prompt a few other players to leave, but nobody who rival's Legion's potential. The story with Legion is that he had "issues" at his high school, transfered to Oak Hill, committed then uncommitted to Michigan twice, came to Kentucky at the last minute before he (and his very-religious mother) could understand what Billy is all about. I wish the kid and his mother well, and hopefully they'll find the right opportunity for them to be both happy.
You gotta remember that the Kentucky regime change is as shocking as flooding a pitch-dark basketball court with stadium lighting. Tubby Smith was a great coach for Kentucky, but his methods for motivating and coaching the team are drastically different from the hard-nosed and foul-mouthed Gillispie. And a few of Tubby's leftovers may have had enough and could leave the team on January. Which is fine; the Tubby-bashers seem more Tubby-influence stripped away from the team, and the rest of us who are sane can look forward to seeing dedicated play from the rest.
Some folks are comparing Gillispie to Bobby Knight -- without the chair-throwing and player-choking. I'm wondering if he's more like the Baron; an adopted Texas child who claims the Rupp bloodline for his own. I'll have to research further the coaching style of Rupp before I can assert that comparison with confidence; try not to stumble all over yourself making "Hey, if Gillispie is like Rupp, is he racist too?" jokes, okay?
One thing that I've heard about Coach Gillispie is that he is *always* recruiting -- not in a "break the rules like Kelvin Samson" way, but always assessing talent and finding the right kids. If Gillispie keeps recruiting like he's recruiting -- have you heard about the inroads he's making for our 2008 and 2009 classes? -- I guarantee his job will be fine in 2012.
By the way, Roy's got a great team this year. The way you guys curb-stomped us for the first 8 minutes of the second half was very impressive, and was what great teams need to do. As long as your guards keep playing superbly, you should be a lock for the ACC title and the final 4. Enjoy the ride, as you have been doing these past few years!
Hey, thanks for giving me the UK perspective -- I don't personally know any Wildcat fans, and, to be perfectly honest, this was just me posting with a gut feeling (similar, actually, to the gut feeling that I had back in the day with Doherty) that had been rattling around in my head even before we played UK. I'd love to be proven wrong, I really would. I hope Gillispie makes it; I hope the fans are more patient with him than we ever were with Doherty. I think there's a lack of patience in the industry that's hurting coaches, was really my main point here. I just hope Gillispie -- who does, as you well know, inherit a fan base who's just as noisy and demanding as UNC's -- weathers the impatience and proves his mettle. I'd love to play against his teams for the next 20 years.
I also hope I didn't imply that I was under the impression that Gillispie or UK fans at large were racist, simply because that's the unfortunate legacy that Rupp has been saddled with; I think that the Tubby situation was handled badly, start to finish, by everyone involved including but not limited to Tubby himself. It may have had racial over- or undertones, but in any case, no offense or implication was meant at all. I don't know enough about your program to make those calls.
(Though I can't complain too much about impatience, really; now that I've finally forgiven everyone involved, including Coach Smith, for bungling that mess down here five years ago, well, it's real nice to have Roy home and Doherty's landed pretty well on his feet.)
Oh, no; my "racist like Rupp" joke was not directed specifically at you, but was made to circumvent the sometimes knee-jerk joke that is played, and also to joke around. No offense given, none taken.
Hope things turn around for my Wildcats that we see you in the tourney, and not as an 8 or 9 seed. Good luck!
Could you explain why Billy G would've won national titles at Texas A&M if he would've stayed a couple years but has no chance of doing that at UK? You guarantee that he'll be gone in 5 years, but what if he wins a title? Or is that not possible at UK? But it's certainly possible at the Aggie football school? You're delusional.
If Billy G can bring top talent to Kentucky, win games, and go to the tournament every year he will stay at Kentucky if he's not grabbed by the pros. We're not expecting a title every year or two, but we are expecting a coach that can recruit (unlike Tubby) and a coach that can give our great historic program a chance to win that title.
Here's the million dollar question, sir. What makes our fan base so different from any other program with similar prestige?
My whole point, Bo -- which I clearly articulated poorly -- is that there is a definite lack of patience in the major programs in the country, when it comes to winning titles and being competitive nationally year after year. I know -- I have been a Carolina fan all my life, and I suffered through the Doherty mess, and then I watched Roy Williams win his first title with Doherty's recruits.
Doherty probably wouldn't have won that title that year, but the guys, save Marvin Williams, that Roy won with weren't kids he recruited himself.
I think that Gillispie would have been better suited to somewhere with more patience, that is to say, less of a give-a-damn about basketball (like A&M), than Kentucky. I would have said the same thing if pretty much anybody but Donovan had ended up at UK, if only because Dononvan has proven he can win. There's a lot to fix at Kentucky, post-Tubby. It's a big job. I -- and this is my opinion -- think it's going to take longer to fix than will make the UK fanbase happy. Statement of opinion, nothing more.
When Coach K retires, the Duke fan base is going to have and/or cause the same problem. Carolina's already gone through it, and probably will again when Roy retires if Jeff Lebo doesn't get granted some patience at Auburn (which I think he likely will, if only because like A&M, if it isn't football, it doesn't matter there) between now and Roy's retirement. Bill Self is certainly not the most beloved dude in the state of Kansas. You're not alone, by a long stretch, you're no different -- you just have a new coach this year, and the strange contradictory news about Legion, and it all came together as an example of something that's been on my mind since Bill Guthridge left Carolina. That's all.
Good points, Dex. I definitely understand your views and where you're coming from. The thing is, Billy G has turned terrible teams into winning teams after inheriting the team. Kentucky is really a mess and maybe that's one of the reasons why Tubby decided to leave. He's responsible for the mess that he left behind as he couldn't recruit if his life depended on it. Trust me, I think Tubby Smith is a great guy and I wanted him to be a great coach and lead the Big Blue to a national title. But the truth is that Tubby lacked something. He couldn't consistently bring top talent to Lexington and without talent what do you have? The national title that Tubby did win was with what Patino left him.
So yeah, Kentucky is a mess right now and Billy G knew that well before he accepted the job. He accepted the job because he wanted one of the premiere jobs in college basketball. He knew it would be a great challenge and he's embracing it. Will he be able to turn it around? Only time will tell. But one thing that Billy has done in his short time at Kentucky that Tubby rarely showed was that he CAN recruit. And for right now, that's enough for me.
Oregon State Head Coach Jay John was fired in this past weekend, in what has apparently become a growing trend on the West Coast for mid-season coaching changes. The Beavers, though, are not just getting rid of a coach. Interim coach Kevin Mouton and the Oregon State Athletic Department started getting rid of players as well. Junior Center C.J. Giles was kicked off the team.
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