Gillispie out after two years at Kentucky
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Impatient for a winner, Kentucky fired Billy Gillispie as coach Friday after just two years, too many losses and too little appreciation for all the things that come with running college basketball’s all-time winningest program.
Saying the Wildcats deserve a leader who understands “this is not just another coaching job,” athletic director Mitch Barnhart and president Lee Todd made the unusual decision to dismiss Gillispie less than two years after he was hired to replace Tubby Smith.
“He’s a good basketball coach,” Barnhart said. “Sometimes it’s just not the right fit and that’s my responsibility.”
It’s a move Barnhart felt was necessary following a couple of turbulent seasons in which the Wildcats struggled to improve under their hard-working but sometimes aloof head coach.
Hired to rejuvenate a program after Smith bolted for Minnesota, Gillispie struggled to find any consistency on the court or off it.
Gillispie went 40-27 in two seasons with the Wildcats, including a 22-14 mark this year that tied for the second-most losses in the program’s 106-year history. A stumble down the stretch left the Wildcats out of the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1991.
Yet Gillispie’s problem went beyond wins and losses.
Barnhart said rebuilding years are expected when a new coach is hired. The troubles were “philosophical differences” between the university and Gillispie on the role the school’s coach plays in the fabric of a fan base that refers to itself as Big Blue Nation.
“There is a clear difference in how the rules and responsibilities of overseeing the program are viewed,” Barnhart said. “It is a gap that I do not believe can be solved just by winning games. It is a philosophical disparity that I do not think can be repaired when the chemistry is just not right.”
Barnhart said the university did not plan to pay Gillispie a $6 million buyout that was to be part of his seven-year deal that was never signed.
“Suffice it to say it will be less than that,” Barnhart said.
Gillispie agreed to a memorandum of understanding on the day he was hired in April 2007. A deal appeared to be a formality, but neither side could come to terms. In the end, the absence of a formal contract may have cost Gillispie a big buyout. Barnhart said the school would abide by the memorandum of understanding, but he considers it to be a year-to-year contract. Gillispie made $2.3 million annually.
Beyond the money, however, was Gillispie’s seeming inability to ingratiate himself to the fans. He could be gruff with the media and stubbornly refused to change his coaching strategy even as the program suffered embarrassing losses to schools like Gardner-Webb and VMI.
It seems it won’t be Florida coach Billy Donovan who replaces him.
“In response to the rumors circulating about my interest in other jobs, I wanted to address this as quickly as possible,” Donovan said in a statement. “I am committed to the University of Florida and look forward to continuing to build our program here.”