Crazy Billy Gillispie stories...

[brianpoe]

I meant about not liking SB on a personal level. Was just curious if there is something interesting you could share. If not, no worries.

Lots of people here know about it. It was in USA Today and on ESPN.


In the early 2000's I was working with the pioneers of recruiting - Max Emfinger, Tom Lemming and even Clark in the dark Francis.

I was pretty close to taking over Wildcatfaithful for Mel before he passed, but things became very complicated.

I was approached by Jim Heckman and Bernie Kosar. Heckman had founded Rivals (this network) but couldnt get it going, Rivals basically shut down in 2001 after its bankruptcy and fired Heckman. The company brought in new money and leadership.

Heckman immediately started the Insiders.com (which eventually became Scout).

He and Kosar wanted me to start the Insiders KY website.

This site also came with a publishing deal from Vulcan Publishing for a monthly full color magazine.

I accepted and named my company Nations Media.

I named the UK portion of the media Big Blue Nation and realized I was the first to ever use the name in commerce.

So I filed to trademark it.

This was 15 years ago and long before all the other "Nation" craze, I also set out to trademark Buckeye Nation, Gator Nation, etc, even Sports Nation and many more. One of the few things i was very early on.


So we started our website and really took off very well, primarily because of recruiting. We couldnt hang with Darryl Bird at the time with all of his connections with the Cats Pause so we had to go another route. And since recruiting was my sweet spot we hit that.

The Insiders were also actively setting up a very tight recruiting network. You may recognize these guys, who were very young in the biz at the time:

Dave Telep
Jamie Newburg
Chris Fetters
Greg Hicks
Chris Pool
Myself and a few others I cannot remember.


Things moved very rapidly and we were able to build good relations with many coaching staffs, not just UK.

We eventually started a radio show which aired weekly on Monday nights, we also did pregame and post game shows, and a Sunday morning call in show all on Clear Channel.

We eventually launched a television show which aired on Ch27 local CBS and 56, then on Fox Sports South and even on ESPN2.

We always had former players on the radio and TV shows, and Jim Tirey was our host, we eventually hired a couple of Fox Sports anchors for our television show.

I hired some very good writers for the magazine:

Dan Wetzel now with Yahoo.
Larry Vaught
Lonnie Demaree
and several writers from other publications


We started doing screen printing and embroidery, moved to a 20,000 sf building and were awarded NCAA licensing rights. We sold to Wal Mart and many other locations and even had an SEC tourney contract.

I actually opened a UK only store on Nicholasville Road.


We were KSR on steroids long before KSR ever started and we blew the Cats Pause away.


But things started to go badly.

Host Communications had the media contract for UK sports and these guys were awful.

Our show aired right before their coaches show with Rob Bromley (boring)...and we had recruiting highlights, music, slow motion, all kinds of cool stuff. Made that show look amateur.

Jim Host was not happy and I heard about it.

UK began to prevent access to my staff, and were throwing away our magazines on campus.

Sandy Bell let us know that she had to proof our magazine prior to printing, she also demanded unfettered access to our website including the moderator forums.

Then UK found out about my trademark application for Big Blue Nation. They wanted it bad. I offered free use for eternity but that wasn't good enough.

Sandy launched a war against us.

She said Dougie Allen couldnt interview recruits because he didnt have a journalism degree, she blackballed us at away games.

She was incensed that I had been at Claude Bassett's secret recruiting update meetings for big boosters. Of course I was there, I was the area recruiting expert, i never gave money however.

She was also was mad that I told fans who we were recruiting and when/where they were playing.

Remember the whole KSR go to Damian Harris football game campaign? Ours wasn't nearly that intense at all, but she said this was helping UK recruit. We did also ask fans for info on any potential walk ons or grey shirts (a request that came from the staff).

We also were the first to hold combines, before Rivals or any other Insiders company.

We were at Auburn, Bama, and held a big one at UK, some posters here actually volunteered and worked that camp. All of our coaches attended.

But Sandy didnt like this, even though we refused to interview any player without their coach present.

When I fought their lawsuit on the trademark the hammer came down hard.

Sandy accused me of being a booster and a rogue fan. Although I never gave the school one penny and graduated from Transy.

She claimed that our interview of Woodsen and Tamme on our TV show was a NCAA violation. Their coaches were there as well btw.

We posted the televised interviews on the BBN website and Sandy proclaimed:

"Websites are NOT media" she totally dismissed our other media units.

Only Sandy could determine if you were a media entity regardless of your operation.

The NCAA said it MAY be a violation but we heard nothing from them.

We never contacted kids like these guys do today and we never asked leading questions.

Nevertheless UK banned me for 27 years.

I was declared a rogue fan, not a business owner, despite the 25 employees, website, magazine, radio and tv shows.


UK just buried us in the lawsuit as we tried to fight it, they kept extending knowing we would run out of cash.

We eventually folded, all of these employees were just like you guys, I basically hired from our website. Big time fans happy to be in the sports industry.


Friends and family lost money, I was destroyed financially.

I could go through way more stories than the BCG thread on all the little things Sandy and her office did to hurt us.
- Making our camera guy leave Rupp at tip off
- Telling away opponents we were under investigation and they revoke our passes after driving 12 hours.

In my opinion she is not a good person, and many in Lex will tell you that. She is good at her job though.

Mitch as well, he knew all of it, and he and I went to the same church. Lots of dirty play.

But I learned that college sports is fun for us fans but in reality it is BIG business and you will get run over if a school doesnt want you around.


USA Today:
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/college/other/2004-01-14-kentucky-booster-ban_x.htm

ESPN:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=1709656&type=news

 

[mj2k10]

Here is what I have said about Gillispie for several years...his hiring was the best thing to happen for KY basketball in over a decade. Before you think I'm crazier than Billy G himself hear me out. Would Mitch have had the balls to hire Cal if he hadn't failed so miserably with the Bill G hire? I say no because he had the chance to hire Cal to replace Tubby but from all indications he didn't even consider it. So no Bill G = no Cal.

There's a lot of validity to this.

if you look at college sports' history, you can make a very good argument that the most destructive thing for traditionally great programs is NOT a coach who basically just sucks, but is actually a guy who's decent enough to keep his job while slowly dragging the level of the program down. The coach who completely sucks comes and goes quickly. He can't handle the job, and it becomes pretty obvious to everyone in a very short period of time. The mediocre guy causes huge dissension among the fanbase, and can last year after year after year, because it's not as obvious that he's failing.

And then you can add in the fact that when a school hires a coach who turns out to be a complete fiasco, they will be far more willing to go hard after the guy who looks like a potential superstar. The Gillispie situation illustrates this perfectly, as does the Matt Doherty/Roy Williams transition at UNC.

 

[bigbluelou]

Lots of people here know about it. It was only in the USA Today and on ESPN.


In the early 2000's I was working with the pioneers of recruiting - Max Emfinger, Tom Lemming and even Clark in the dark Francis.

I was pretty close to taking over Wildcatfaithful for Mel before he passed, but things became very complicated.

I was approached by Jim Heckman and Bernie Kosar. Heckman had founded Rivals (this network) but couldnt get it going, Rivals basically shut down in 2001 after its bankruptcy and fired Heckman. The company brought in new money and leadership.

Heckman immediately started the Insiders.com (which eventually became Scout).

He and Kosar wanted me to start the Insiders KY website.

This site also came with a publishing deal from Vulcan Publishing for a monthly full color magazine.

I accepted and named my company Nations Media.

I named the UK portion of the media Big Blue Nation and realized I was the first to ever use the name in commerce.

So I filed to trademark it.

This was 15 years ago and long before all the other "Nation" craze, I also set out to trademark Buckeye Nation, Gator Nation, etc, even Sports Nation and many more. One of the few things i was very early on.


So we started our website and really took off very well, primarily because of recruiting. We couldnt hang wit Darryl Bird at the time with all of his connections with the Cats Pause so we had to go another route. And since recruiting was my sweet spot we hit that.

The Insiders were also actively setting up a very tight recruiting network. You may recognize these guys, who were very young in the biz at the time:

Dave Telep
Jamie Newburg
Chris Fetters
Greg Hicks
Chris Pool
Myself and a few others I cannot remember.


Things moved very rapidly and we were able to build good relations with many coaching staffs, not just UK.

We eventually started a radio show which aired weekly on Monday nights, we also did pregame and post game shows, and a Sunday morning call in show all on Clear Channel.

We eventually launched a television show which aired on Ch27 local CBS and 56, then on Fox Sports South and even on ESPN2.

We always had former players on the radio and TV shows, and Jim Tirey was our host, we eventually hired a couple of Fox Sports anchors for our television show.

I hired some very good writers for the magazine:

Dan Wetzel now with Yahoo.
Larry Vaught
Lonnie Demaree
and several writers from other publications


We started doing screen printing and embroidery, moved to a 20,000 sf building and were awarded NCAA licensing rights. We sold to Wal Mart and many other locations and even had an SEC tourney contract.

I actually opened a UK only store on Nicholasville Road.


We were KSR on steroids long before KSR ever started and we blew the Cats Pause away.


But things started to go badly.

Host Communications had the media contract for UK sports and these guys were awful.

We came on right before their coaches show with Rob Bromley...and we had recruiting highlights, music, slow motion, all kinds of cool stuff.

Jim Host was not happy and I heard about it.

UK began to prevent access to my staff, and were throwing away our magazines on campus.

Sandy Bell let us know that she had to proof our magazine prior to printing, she also demanded unfettered access to our website including the moderator forums.

Then UK found out about my trademark application for Big Blue Nation. They wanted it bad. I offered free use for eternity but that wasn't good enough.

Sandy launched a war against us.

She said Dougie Allen couldnt interview recruits because he didnt have a journalism degree, she blackballed us at away games.

She was incensed that I had been at Claude Bassett's secret recruiting update meetings for big boosters. Of course I was there, I was the area recruiting expert, i never gave money however.

She was also was mad that I told fans who we were recruiting and when/where they were playing.

Remember the whole KSR go to Damian Harris football game campaign? Ours wasn't nearly that intense at all, but she said this was helping UK recruit. We did also ask fans for info on any potential walk ons or grey shirts (a request that come from the staff).

We also were the first to hold combines, before Rivals or any other Insiders company.

We were at Auburn, Bama, and held a big on here at UK, some posters here actually volunteered and worked that camp. All of our coaches attended.

But Sandy didnt like this, even though we refused to interview any player without their coach present.

When I fought their lawsuit on the trademark the hammer came down hard.

Sandy accused me of being a booster and a rogue fan. Although I never gave the school one penny and graduated from Transy.

She claimed that our interview of Woodsen and Tamme on our TV show was a NCAA violation. Their coaches were there as well btw.

We posted the televised interviews on the BBN website and Sandy proclaimed:

"Websites are NOT media" she totally dismissed our other media units.

Only Sandy could determine if you were a media entity regardless of your operation.

The NCAA said it MAY be a violation but we heard nothing from them.

We never contacted kids like these guys do today and we never asked leading questions.

Nevertheless UK banned me for 27 years.

I was declared a rogue fan, not a business owner, despite the 25 employees, website, magazine, radio and tv shows.


UK just buried us in the lawsuit as we tried to fight it, they kept extending knowing we would run out of cash.

We folded, all of these employees were just like you guys, I basically hired from our website. Big time fans happy to be in the sports industry.


Friends and family lost money, I was destroyed financially.

I could go through way more stories than the BCG thread on all the little things Sandy and her office did to hurt us.
- Making our camera guy leave Rupp at tip off
- Telling away opponents we were under investigation and they revoke our passes after driving 12 hours.

In my opinion she is not a good person, and many in Lex will tell you that. She is good at her job though.

Mitch as well, he knew all of it, and he and I went to the same church. Lots of dirty play.

But I learned that college sports is fun for us fans but in reality it is BIG business and you will get run over if a school doesnt want you around.


USA Today:
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/college/other/2004-01-14-kentucky-booster-ban_x.htm

ESPN:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=1709656&type=news

Wow...Brian I had no idea. Sorry for being so clueless. It sounds as if you had a great thing going and it was driven by genuine passion. Sorry it went south like that, but thanks for sharing. I'll read those links tomorrow to further educate myself.

 

[brianpoe]

Wow...Brian I had no idea. Sorry for being so clueless. It sounds as if you had a great thing going and it was driven by genuine passion. Sorry it went south like that, but thanks for sharing. I'll read those links tomorrow to further educate myself.

It turned out well.

This is a very tough industry to make money in and luckily i went in a totally new direction.

Went from below zero to back on top.

Was able to pay my family back the money they invested.

And I learned a whole lot from that experience.

Mitch's kids and mine played in the same league a few years ago so things tempered.

Never spoke to Sandy again although we have seen each other a few times.


I still get pissed about it but I would not change it because life now is so much better.

 

[EvilMD]

When he was younger Gillispie starred on Laverne and Shirley. He and his roommate Lenny were the neighbors. There was a running gag where someone would say something like "what kind of disgusting filth could possibly come up with something like that?" and Billy would push open the door and say "'Ello".

 

[-LEK-]

Kentucky is not a job for training. You hire proven winners.

Pitino wasn't proven. Tubby had a sweet 16 at Georgia, not that proven either.

 

[musrat59]

Bottom line, It was a bad hire and I would venture to say that very, very few of us knew anything about this guy. All I really knew was he beat the Cards in an NCAA Tournament game at Rupp Arena the previous season.

 

[brianpoe]

Weren't you banned from all UK athletics in 2003?

How were you around the coach?

Why are you on my back again?

Do you think the coaches live on campus and they are not allowed to leave?


No reason for you to start a mess once more. I still have no idea why you did the first time?

 

[brianpoe]

Pitino wasn't proven. Tubby had a sweet 16 at Georgia, not that proven either.

Rick did have a final four with Providence and coached in the NBA...

 

[brianpoe]

Always good to hear how the evil big scary UK was out to get a normal everyday Joe, and they got banned for 30 freaking years. Innocent bystander just minding their own business. Almost a lifetime special.

Your incessant stalking is beyond juvenile.

Since you like to jab people for no reason, why dont you just say what it is I did to you that is causing this?

I have provided links to everything I have said, included a party I attended that you insisted I didnt attend???

So either be a man and say what your deal is or just stop it.

 

[brianpoe]

Always good to hear how the evil big scary UK was out to get a normal everyday Joe, and they got banned for 30 freaking years. Innocent bystander just minding their own business. Almost a lifetime special.

Never said you were wrong, just added that he had more than BCG. Why are you so sensitive?

 

[brianpoe]

Not starting anything, just in one long post, you claim you're banned from all things UK, yet in another say your around the coach multiple times. Trying to figure out how those discrepancies work...

Ok let me help you.

Lexington is not a very big town.

There are many functions that coaches attend that are not UK specific.

There are restaurants and bars that coaches go to as well.


My ban basically consists of being around football and basketball teams on campus and season tickets.

Ok?

 

[brianpoe]

Man, it's a message board. Not sure what causes you to get so violent and insecure, but it's a message board. Relax.

Really?

So out of the blue you straight up call me a liar in another thread in regards to a party I attended.

I try to provide you, an anonymous stranger, some proof of the happenings that night and you continue to badger me.

Then you try to embarrass me with the ban story, that many here already know of.


Mods finally make you stop.


And yet here you are again questioning my honesty, even though i provided two links from major news sources.


You have a personal issue with me. Fine
You want to hide behind your user name. Fine


But can you grow up and just move along to someone else, because I have no idea who you are or what i did to hurt your feelings.

 

[brianpoe]

So did you go to the bars BG went to purposely to meet him then? Since not allowed at official functions?

What kind of question is this?

Is there a purpose to this?

Why are you antagonizing so much?


Keep hiding behind your user name and keep picking at people, if the mods want you to hang around and support this type of pathetic behavior then have at it

In my opinion you need to take a break, this is not the LEK and BPoe message board.

People dont necessarily want to read this crap.

I have told you to PM me or here is my personal email:

brian@bpoe.me

 

[brianpoe]

Man, you've messaged me multiple times trying to fight me, you've threatened me at least 5 times.

You make stuff up, you got called out, and get violent about it.

Pretty sure mature people don't threaten violence to any random stranger.

What did I ever make up?

Who has called me out?


Threatened you?

LOL, now you are going to cry that i have threatened you...?

When? The same places I was called out on?


Did I bang your wife back in the day or something?


Good job derailing another thread.

 

[brianpoe]

Please stop threatening me.

No idea where i am threatening you?

This is like some movie...

How about I just ignore you and you can rant on to yourself...?

 

[Peeled Oak Cat]

Wow...the thread about Bill G really got hijacked. How does any of this relate to the OP's post. Sounds like the two of you need to start your own thread or give it a rest.

 

[TIE543]

Sounds like LEK needs to give it a rest... This is the second thread I've seen where he just randomly starts bashing Brian

 

[-LEK-]

Sounds like LEK needs to give it a rest... This is the second thread I've seen where he just randomly starts bashing Brian

Uhm, perhaps you missed where he called me name after name, then threaten me with violence, after asking about a discrepancy he posted. Either way, I should be able to ask about glaring discrepancies without the barrage of attacks on person with a threat of violence.

But it's also obvious you are a second account of another poster with your 5 messages.

 

[TruBluCatFan]

Uhm, perhaps you missed where he called me name after name, then threaten me with violence, after asking about a discrepancy he posted. Either way, I should be able to ask about glaring discrepancies without the barrage of attacks on person with a threat of violence.

But it's also obvious you are a second account of another poster with your 5 messages.

Well either way thanks to both of you for hijacking this thread.

 

[.S&C.]

You have to wonder how many banners would be hanging if MB had gone with Cal from the start. IMHO,
he was clearly the man for the job.

I believe boosters along with Pratt and company forced MB's hand to hire Cal, if solely left to MB, Mike Brey would have been hired.

I have spoke to mike Pratt about this several times. i won't spill his ish here, but people would be shocked if they knew what had to be done to get Mitch and todd to allow Cal. Mitch absolutely didn't hire Calipari and he's really got no control over basketball today. The way I've heard it, Barnhart wanted to be removed from anything to do with basketball decisions because he didn't trust cal. People like like Barnhart really have no idea what they're taking about. He's a crap AD.

 

[EvilMD]

People are forgetting the main reason we hired Gillispie. Everyone thought Donovan was a done deal. When it blew up we were left scrambling. Gillispie had just beaten Pitino, and had turned two programs completely around. He was about to get hired by Arkansas when we stepped in. I can see why Mitch didn't want to do a thorough background check and risk losing out on another candidate. He should have, but I can see why he was afraid to.

 

[.S&C.]

People are forgetting the main reason we hired Gillispie. Everyone thought Donovan was a done deal. When it blew up we were left scrambling. Gillispie had just beaten Pitino, and had turned two programs completely around. He was about to get hired by Arkansas when we stepped in. I can see why Mitch didn't want to do a thorough background check and risk losing out on another candidate. He should have, but I can see why he was afraid to.

There were better candidates out there to feel. It was a crazy hire by a bad AD. There's no excuses in his business and Barnhart sure as hell doesn't get one. Too many bad moves on his part to be a one time thing.

Barnhart wants clean and cheap. He could care less about wins except when the pressure hits.

 

[zannmann]

Mitch should have been fired when BCG was.

 

[EvilMD]

I think you guys are being harsh. Yes, the Gillispie hire was wrong, but he did the right thing and fired his ass. He didn't do the heavy lifting with Cal, but Cal's still here seven years later, isn't he? He's been smart enough to not make it about him or his ego. Football is football. Most of the schools in the SEC treat football the way we treat basketball. We're not only swimming upstream, we're swimming uphill.

He has done a great job with all the other sports. At least give him that.

 

[true blue1]

Mitch should have been fired when BCG was.

Mitch wanted to go and get Coach Cal, instead of BCG, but Todd wouldn't allow him to.

 

[.S&C.]

Mitch wanted to go and get Coach Cal, instead of BCG, but Todd wouldn't allow him to.

Complete lies and there's no truth to this. I'm sorry you've been lied to so badly.

 

[UKvisitor]

The free throw block was so ridiculous. At random times I still think about it trying to figure out what was in his head. All this time and I still don't have a clue. I actually tried to find a video of it a few months back, but I couldn't find one. It seems as though it was so dumb, history has rejected it.

 

[EvilMD]

.S&C., I love Cal, and I love the program he has created, but let's be honest. If Mitch hires Cal the first time around, the Derrick Rose situation happens to us instead of Memphis. And the Eric Bledsoe thing hinged on a decision the Alabama clearance people made. If that goes the other way, we vacate all of 2010. Let's not act like Cal didn't have baggage.

Mitch had to replace Tubby, a guy with a squeaky clean reputation and someone who stayed out of muddy waters like the AAU circuit. If Mitch was against hiring Cal, can you at least see that maybe he had reason to shy away? If Cal comes in and we vacate 38 wins because of Derrick Rose, Mitch is toast.

I remember when Tubby left, I was living in Charlotte. I told everybody who would listen that I wanted Donovan and if he wouldn't come, I wanted Calipari. Everyone said the same thing....Calipari? But he's so slimy.

Put yourself in Mitch's shoes. That's your job on the line. You have to replace a guy with a squeaky clean reputation, it's not a no brainer to replace him with someone who, fairly or unfairly, had the opposite reputation.

 

[CatPhight]

Complete lies and there's no truth to this. I'm sorry you've been lied to so badly.

Yep, common knowledge MB had a huge man crush and made it no secret he wanted Mike Brey.

 

[brianpoe]

.S&C., I love Cal, and I love the program he has created, but let's be honest. If Mitch hires Cal the first time around, the Derrick Rose situation happens to us instead of Memphis. And the Eric Bledsoe thing hinged on a decision the Alabama clearance people made. If that goes the other way, we vacate all of 2010. Let's not act like Cal didn't have baggage.

Mitch had to replace Tubby, a guy with a squeaky clean reputation and someone who stayed out of muddy waters like the AAU circuit. If Mitch was against hiring Cal, can you at least see that maybe he had reason to shy away? If Cal comes in and we vacate 38 wins because of Derrick Rose, Mitch is toast.

I remember when Tubby left, I was living in Charlotte. I told everybody who would listen that I wanted Donovan and if he wouldn't come, I wanted Calipari. Everyone said the same thing....Calipari? But he's so slimy.

Put yourself in Mitch's shoes. That's your job on the line. You have to replace a guy with a squeaky clean reputation, it's not a no brainer to replace him with someone who, fairly or unfairly, had the opposite reputation.

Evil, you make a good point. But we could also say that UK would have handled the situation differently. Perhaps Rose does not play? I do not see UK mucking that up quite as bad.

 

[TyCatPrice14]

I remember someone posting on another board that the A&M adminstration was celebrating after Gillispie left - the administration was actually relieved that we had hired him away. At the time I just thought it was butthurt A&M fans doing their best Zipp impersonation

Its only a Zipp impersonation if he says "LPT" 10 times in a single response.

 

[FiveStarCat]

Lots of people here know about it. It was in USA Today and on ESPN.


In the early 2000's I was working with the pioneers of recruiting - Max Emfinger, Tom Lemming and even Clark in the dark Francis.

I was pretty close to taking over Wildcatfaithful for Mel before he passed, but things became very complicated.

I was approached by Jim Heckman and Bernie Kosar. Heckman had founded Rivals (this network) but couldnt get it going, Rivals basically shut down in 2001 after its bankruptcy and fired Heckman. The company brought in new money and leadership.

Heckman immediately started the Insiders.com (which eventually became Scout).

He and Kosar wanted me to start the Insiders KY website.

This site also came with a publishing deal from Vulcan Publishing for a monthly full color magazine.

I accepted and named my company Nations Media.

I named the UK portion of the media Big Blue Nation and realized I was the first to ever use the name in commerce.

So I filed to trademark it.

This was 15 years ago and long before all the other "Nation" craze, I also set out to trademark Buckeye Nation, Gator Nation, etc, even Sports Nation and many more. One of the few things i was very early on.


So we started our website and really took off very well, primarily because of recruiting. We couldnt hang with Darryl Bird at the time with all of his connections with the Cats Pause so we had to go another route. And since recruiting was my sweet spot we hit that.

The Insiders were also actively setting up a very tight recruiting network. You may recognize these guys, who were very young in the biz at the time:

Dave Telep
Jamie Newburg
Chris Fetters
Greg Hicks
Chris Pool
Myself and a few others I cannot remember.


Things moved very rapidly and we were able to build good relations with many coaching staffs, not just UK.

We eventually started a radio show which aired weekly on Monday nights, we also did pregame and post game shows, and a Sunday morning call in show all on Clear Channel.

We eventually launched a television show which aired on Ch27 local CBS and 56, then on Fox Sports South and even on ESPN2.

We always had former players on the radio and TV shows, and Jim Tirey was our host, we eventually hired a couple of Fox Sports anchors for our television show.

I hired some very good writers for the magazine:

Dan Wetzel now with Yahoo.
Larry Vaught
Lonnie Demaree
and several writers from other publications


We started doing screen printing and embroidery, moved to a 20,000 sf building and were awarded NCAA licensing rights. We sold to Wal Mart and many other locations and even had an SEC tourney contract.

I actually opened a UK only store on Nicholasville Road.


We were KSR on steroids long before KSR ever started and we blew the Cats Pause away.


But things started to go badly.

Host Communications had the media contract for UK sports and these guys were awful.

Our show aired right before their coaches show with Rob Bromley (boring)...and we had recruiting highlights, music, slow motion, all kinds of cool stuff. Made that show look amateur.

Jim Host was not happy and I heard about it.

UK began to prevent access to my staff, and were throwing away our magazines on campus.

Sandy Bell let us know that she had to proof our magazine prior to printing, she also demanded unfettered access to our website including the moderator forums.

Then UK found out about my trademark application for Big Blue Nation. They wanted it bad. I offered free use for eternity but that wasn't good enough.

Sandy launched a war against us.

She said Dougie Allen couldnt interview recruits because he didnt have a journalism degree, she blackballed us at away games.

She was incensed that I had been at Claude Bassett's secret recruiting update meetings for big boosters. Of course I was there, I was the area recruiting expert, i never gave money however.

She was also was mad that I told fans who we were recruiting and when/where they were playing.

Remember the whole KSR go to Damian Harris football game campaign? Ours wasn't nearly that intense at all, but she said this was helping UK recruit. We did also ask fans for info on any potential walk ons or grey shirts (a request that came from the staff).

We also were the first to hold combines, before Rivals or any other Insiders company.

We were at Auburn, Bama, and held a big one at UK, some posters here actually volunteered and worked that camp. All of our coaches attended.

But Sandy didnt like this, even though we refused to interview any player without their coach present.

When I fought their lawsuit on the trademark the hammer came down hard.

Sandy accused me of being a booster and a rogue fan. Although I never gave the school one penny and graduated from Transy.

She claimed that our interview of Woodsen and Tamme on our TV show was a NCAA violation. Their coaches were there as well btw.

We posted the televised interviews on the BBN website and Sandy proclaimed:

"Websites are NOT media" she totally dismissed our other media units.

Only Sandy could determine if you were a media entity regardless of your operation.

The NCAA said it MAY be a violation but we heard nothing from them.

We never contacted kids like these guys do today and we never asked leading questions.

Nevertheless UK banned me for 27 years.

I was declared a rogue fan, not a business owner, despite the 25 employees, website, magazine, radio and tv shows.


UK just buried us in the lawsuit as we tried to fight it, they kept extending knowing we would run out of cash.

We folded, all of these employees were just like you guys, I basically hired from our website. Big time fans happy to be in the sports industry.


Friends and family lost money, I was destroyed financially.

I could go through way more stories than the BCG thread on all the little things Sandy and her office did to hurt us.
- Making our camera guy leave Rupp at tip off
- Telling away opponents we were under investigation and they revoke our passes after driving 12 hours.

In my opinion she is not a good person, and many in Lex will tell you that. She is good at her job though.

Mitch as well, he knew all of it, and he and I went to the same church. Lots of dirty play.

But I learned that college sports is fun for us fans but in reality it is BIG business and you will get run over if a school doesnt want you around.


USA Today:
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/college/other/2004-01-14-kentucky-booster-ban_x.htm

ESPN:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=1709656&type=news

Wow. What a story. I'm sorry you had to go through all that.

With the way the media has changed in recent years (through Twitter mostly) is there any grounds for an appeal of that 27 years?

 

[FiveStarCat]

View embedded media

LMFAO at Perry's eyebrow raise after the goaltend. Funniest thing I've seen in awhile.

 

[zannmann]

Regardless of hiring Cal or not the first time around, Gilispie should have NEVER been hired.

 

[*CatinIL*]

Lots of people here know about it. It was in USA Today and on ESPN.


In the early 2000's I was working with the pioneers of recruiting - Max Emfinger, Tom Lemming and even Clark in the dark Francis.

I was pretty close to taking over Wildcatfaithful for Mel before he passed, but things became very complicated.

I was approached by Jim Heckman and Bernie Kosar. Heckman had founded Rivals (this network) but couldnt get it going, Rivals basically shut down in 2001 after its bankruptcy and fired Heckman. The company brought in new money and leadership.

Heckman immediately started the Insiders.com (which eventually became Scout).

He and Kosar wanted me to start the Insiders KY website.

This site also came with a publishing deal from Vulcan Publishing for a monthly full color magazine.

I accepted and named my company Nations Media.

I named the UK portion of the media Big Blue Nation and realized I was the first to ever use the name in commerce.

So I filed to trademark it.

This was 15 years ago and long before all the other "Nation" craze, I also set out to trademark Buckeye Nation, Gator Nation, etc, even Sports Nation and many more. One of the few things i was very early on.


So we started our website and really took off very well, primarily because of recruiting. We couldnt hang with Darryl Bird at the time with all of his connections with the Cats Pause so we had to go another route. And since recruiting was my sweet spot we hit that.

The Insiders were also actively setting up a very tight recruiting network. You may recognize these guys, who were very young in the biz at the time:

Dave Telep
Jamie Newburg
Chris Fetters
Greg Hicks
Chris Pool
Myself and a few others I cannot remember.


Things moved very rapidly and we were able to build good relations with many coaching staffs, not just UK.

We eventually started a radio show which aired weekly on Monday nights, we also did pregame and post game shows, and a Sunday morning call in show all on Clear Channel.

We eventually launched a television show which aired on Ch27 local CBS and 56, then on Fox Sports South and even on ESPN2.

We always had former players on the radio and TV shows, and Jim Tirey was our host, we eventually hired a couple of Fox Sports anchors for our television show.

I hired some very good writers for the magazine:

Dan Wetzel now with Yahoo.
Larry Vaught
Lonnie Demaree
and several writers from other publications


We started doing screen printing and embroidery, moved to a 20,000 sf building and were awarded NCAA licensing rights. We sold to Wal Mart and many other locations and even had an SEC tourney contract.

I actually opened a UK only store on Nicholasville Road.


We were KSR on steroids long before KSR ever started and we blew the Cats Pause away.


But things started to go badly.

Host Communications had the media contract for UK sports and these guys were awful.

Our show aired right before their coaches show with Rob Bromley (boring)...and we had recruiting highlights, music, slow motion, all kinds of cool stuff. Made that show look amateur.

Jim Host was not happy and I heard about it.

UK began to prevent access to my staff, and were throwing away our magazines on campus.

Sandy Bell let us know that she had to proof our magazine prior to printing, she also demanded unfettered access to our website including the moderator forums.

Then UK found out about my trademark application for Big Blue Nation. They wanted it bad. I offered free use for eternity but that wasn't good enough.

Sandy launched a war against us.

She said Dougie Allen couldnt interview recruits because he didnt have a journalism degree, she blackballed us at away games.

She was incensed that I had been at Claude Bassett's secret recruiting update meetings for big boosters. Of course I was there, I was the area recruiting expert, i never gave money however.

She was also was mad that I told fans who we were recruiting and when/where they were playing.

Remember the whole KSR go to Damian Harris football game campaign? Ours wasn't nearly that intense at all, but she said this was helping UK recruit. We did also ask fans for info on any potential walk ons or grey shirts (a request that came from the staff).

We also were the first to hold combines, before Rivals or any other Insiders company.

We were at Auburn, Bama, and held a big one at UK, some posters here actually volunteered and worked that camp. All of our coaches attended.

But Sandy didnt like this, even though we refused to interview any player without their coach present.

When I fought their lawsuit on the trademark the hammer came down hard.

Sandy accused me of being a booster and a rogue fan. Although I never gave the school one penny and graduated from Transy.

She claimed that our interview of Woodsen and Tamme on our TV show was a NCAA violation. Their coaches were there as well btw.

We posted the televised interviews on the BBN website and Sandy proclaimed:

"Websites are NOT media" she totally dismissed our other media units.

Only Sandy could determine if you were a media entity regardless of your operation.

The NCAA said it MAY be a violation but we heard nothing from them.

We never contacted kids like these guys do today and we never asked leading questions.

Nevertheless UK banned me for 27 years.

I was declared a rogue fan, not a business owner, despite the 25 employees, website, magazine, radio and tv shows.


UK just buried us in the lawsuit as we tried to fight it, they kept extending knowing we would run out of cash.

We folded, all of these employees were just like you guys, I basically hired from our website. Big time fans happy to be in the sports industry.


Friends and family lost money, I was destroyed financially.

I could go through way more stories than the BCG thread on all the little things Sandy and her office did to hurt us.
- Making our camera guy leave Rupp at tip off
- Telling away opponents we were under investigation and they revoke our passes after driving 12 hours.

In my opinion she is not a good person, and many in Lex will tell you that. She is good at her job though.

Mitch as well, he knew all of it, and he and I went to the same church. Lots of dirty play.

But I learned that college sports is fun for us fans but in reality it is BIG business and you will get run over if a school doesnt want you around.


USA Today:
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/college/other/2004-01-14-kentucky-booster-ban_x.htm

ESPN:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=1709656&type=news

BP, I've never heard about any of this...interesting, I had no idea. I'm glad you landed on your feet.

 

[Stonewall12]

@brianpoe

I am sorry that happened to you. Matt Jones does 100 x's more than you and she is ok with it. Any theories you got why she came down on you so hard?


Again, I am very sorry that happened. It would be hard for me not to snap on her every time I saw her.

 

[brianpoe]

Wow. What a story. I'm sorry you had to go through all that.

With the way the media has changed in recent years (through Twitter mostly) is there any grounds for an appeal of that 27 years?

Nothing to really appeal other than the ban.

I never gave recruits money or coerced any player, we were pretty vanilla.

I am not in the business anymore, so maybe... but it got a little testy so probably not.

Sandy and Host teamed up on me in one meeting, and Mitch and I had quite a conversation in his office a couple of times.

Make for a book or movie that only KY people would see or read.

I actually started a book a few years after it happened but stopped..
"The Big Blue Screw"
Ended up being more of an outlet for me.

We were part of the wave of "Internet is not Media" campaign brought on by the publication world.

Obviously the internet won that fight.


We were also part of many new beginnings.

The first to use BBN and many other "nation" names.

We were the earliest recruiting information outlet.

We were the first to expand to multiple forms of media web/radio/magazine/TV


I obviously wasn't as smart as Matt Jones, but we did kind of pioneer things.


I still love the Cats, the Athletic Dept is pretty separate to me.

You would be surprised at the number of past/present coaches who do not have a couple of the athletic execs on their annual Christmas card list...

I have been to the biggest games the past 15 years in Chicago, NYC, Indy, etc.

Still watch every bball and football game.

As i said, the money in the early days was very hard to come by and i have far exceeded what i thought i could make back then.

Family is great and life is good.

Thanks for the kind words.

 

[brianpoe]

@brianpoe

I am sorry that happened to you. Matt Jones does 100 x's more than you and she is ok with it. Any theories you got why she came down on you so hard?
.

Absolutely I know, and none of them had to do with NCAA violations.

MONEY


Mitch actually said that we were going after the same money people (investors) that they were and they needed these people.


UK knew immediately that the Big Blue Nation trademark could be worth millions. I had never thought of it that way, just protecting my little company.
- It is funny how much UK used BBN immediately after the legal issues, they even stole our logo (upside down Nike swoosh), they put it on bill boards all over town.


Host Communications was paying a lot of money to be the media representative at the time.
_ You guys need to think back, there wasn't a whole lot of fan interaction media, the Cats Pause was a news paper, Host did the coaches show and game programs, other than a couple of early message boards, which were not news based just fan discussion, that was it.


The internet was just coming into its own. There was no Facebook, Google wasn't even the largest search engine when i started.

No social media, no texting, not even Youtube - yet we were the first with streaming videos!

We had a couple great techies who burned up Mac G4's and we were the very first to order the new G5's in KY.

We had a youth, creativity, enthusiasm and technology advantage.

Lots of fun, lots of stress, lots of memories and lots of business lessons learned.

 

[Kycatspaws]