Crazy Billy Gillispie stories...

[TankedCat]

Mary Jo Perino
I saw him at dinner at a restaurant later that night. He again came up to my table and stood there and said, "Did you know I've been married twice. Both my wives are dead." I said, "Coach, I thought you were divorced just once." He said, "No, both my wives are dead. Do you want to know how they died?" I said sure. He said, "The first one died from eating poisonous mushrooms. And the second one died from a blow to the back of the head when she wouldn't eat the poisonous mushrooms."

I will say, the stupid shyt he did got a lot of support on this board. When he treated that reporter like a jerk, I would bet 80% of posts were all "go billy. I don't know why coaches have to take questions at halftime and she asked stupid questions." When he skipped the rotary, it was spun that he was standing up to the good old boy network. And wasn't it great we have a coach out there recruiting instead of back slapping. Tipton used to ask him about those same day practiced allot. But because it was Tipton, everyone jumped to defend Billy. Todd wasn't a big fan of him recruiting eighth graders. But he was just the president and he needed to let BCG do his job.

That is going to happen. Right now the only example I have of Cal is his blatant manipulation of the media - which is pretty funny and not a big deal, but if he were putting sub .500 teams on the court every year and he was talking about being a players first program, fans would be turning on him like a bad breed of dog.

Gillispie was supported during the honeymoon period which should have lasted 3 years at least given the state we were in when he came on board, but because Gillispie managed to make us worse in about...oh....2 weeks after he got here, the fans support didn't last long at all. But we're all UK fans and we have an inherit belief that a coach of a program like ours is going to do things the right way

Look at IUs support of Bob Knight. He could have been putting babies on pikes and as long as he was winning...or Nolan Richardson at Arkansas..and finally...look no further than UL.

A former UK coach, with a sex scandal on his resume and now another one involving new recruits and underage girls...is supported because he won a national championship in 2013.

 

[lobbyman]

Seriously, we were at the Oxford inn during his second year. We travel to lots of away games and stay at the teams hotel. Every UK coach since Hall (he would actually allow fans into his room to talk) would mingle with the fans, be active around the hotels, and so on. We were stunned to find Gillispie locked in his room the entire time, and the players told us they weren't allowed to talk on game day. They looked miserable. When he finally stumbled out of his room, he smelled like a bottle of makers. We couldn't believe it. I was still in love with him at the time ( just glad he wasn't tubby).

I made a post on this on rafters and was crushed. I laughed and thought to myself "these idiots will see in time". A few months later everything broke, team was transferring, people were gonna be fired etc.

That's my Gillispie story, but there's many more.

I still stand behind my opinion Barnhart should have been removed from hirings after that. It was his guy, he hired him on his own, without anyone. It's no wonder the cal hire happened, as the right people made it happen. I still to this day don't believe Mitch is in charge of basketball, and from the looks of it, needs to be removed from football.

Gillispie is the single worst hire in this schools history by a long shot. Joker is one of the worst in football history. How does Mitch survive? I wish I could suck this badly at my job and survive.

 

[KMKAT]

That is going to happen. Right now the only example I have of Cal is his blatant manipulation of the media - which is pretty funny and not a big deal, but if he were putting sub .500 teams on the court every year and he was talking about being a players first program, fans would be turning on him like a bad breed of dog.

Gillispie was supported during the honeymoon period which should have lasted 3 years at least given the state we were in when he came on board, but because Gillispie managed to make us worse in about...oh....2 weeks after he got here, the fans support didn't last long at all. But we're all UK fans and we have an inherit belief that a coach of a program like ours is going to do things the right way

Look at IUs support of Bob Knight. He could have been putting babies on pikes and as long as he was winning...or Nolan Richardson at Arkansas..and finally...look no further than UL.

A former UK coach, with a sex scandal on his resume and now another one involving new recruits and underage girls...is supported because he won a national championship in 2013.

That's exactly where I was headed after reading this entire thread today. BCG is Pitino, who can do no wrong for some. Fans are very accepting as long as you win.

BCG was a complete reach, and his hire reminded me immediately of Kevin O'Neill @ Tennessee, who got that job because he beat Pitino in the NCAA tournament in '94. Same way BCG got the job here.

BCG and the Jasper injuries was a big deal in itself because we had no PG and were stuck with Porter. It didn't get much worse than that at the time. Tubby did us zero favors bringing Porter here, and yet, BCG was considered a terrific recruiter compared to Tubby at the time. He wasn't married, but married to his job, and so many of us fell for it including MB.

The Ga Dome tornado tournament was a huge low for us. BCG acted like he didn't want to be there, and was offended to hear that had we beat Georgia with us being the top seed, we would have had to come back and play later that day. BCG looked past UGA/Felton and he looked stupid in the process.

That was a long 2 years of UK history.

 

[Kycatspaws]

 

[.S&C.]

.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.

I think you're somewhat missing the point. The athletic Directors job is to 1. Produce a winning product/raise money and... 2. Not embarrass the university.

Under Mitch Barnhart we have regressed where he's made decisions in the win department. I give him zero for cal, as it's not his hire. Who I've spoken with makes that crystal to me. He also nearly embarrassed the university (could've been worse) with the whole Gillispie fiasco. We've had huge revenue drops in football(aside from stadium upgrades), which look to continue. His only real accomplishment was football under Brooks, and it's capital long since spent. He was more concerned with giving joker the keys (many people said don't) than continuing progress.

To be a fan of Mitch Banrhart, you have to be ok will mediocracy or less. You certainly aren't getting more. Mitch cares about academic prestige and cost. He's not a business/sports AD, he's more of an academia AD.

I want an AD who makes proper hires and is able to get the money he needs to produce big for our ATHLETIC department. screwing up on some hires is one thing, what Mitch does is another. He's ok with risking losing.

There's lots wrong with Mitch but at his price tag he keeps his position. I don't believe it's got much more to do with anything else.

My opinion.

 

[MudererofCrows]

[QUOTE=".S&C., post: 2678000, member: 12422]
I still stand behind my opinion Barnhart should have been removed from hirings after that. It was his guy, he hired him on his own, without anyone. It's no wonder the cal hire happened, as the right people made it happen. I still to this day don't believe Mitch is in charge of basketball, and from the looks of it, needs to be removed from football.

Gillispie is the single worst hire in this schools history by a long shot. Joker is one of the worst in football history. How does Mitch survive? I wish I could suck this badly at my job and survive.

I still stand behind my opinion that Barnhart should have been fired the second he hired Cal. Fired because he did not hire Cal over Otis because he thought Cal was smarmy, or fired because he compromised his moral and ethical stand from two years earlier and hired Cal. Unless you like Field Hockey and Rifle and enjoy softball stadiums, Barnhart has been a cancer on the entire athletic department.[/QUOTE]


People who keep saying this bother me. They have zero clue as to what the Athletic Department was before Mitch's arrival. It was an absolute dumpster fire. Rife with corruption, complacency, cronyism and mismanagement. Facilities were terrible across the board. Fundraising was at the bottom of the SEC. Football (already a mediocre, yearly joke) was about to hit rock bottom due to scandal. When Tubby broached the subject of a practice facility because of the situation at Memorial Larry Ivey's response? "We're Kentucky. We don't need it."

Mitch was given one mandate: Fix this mess and modernize the athletic department. This alienated a ton of old money, CM Newton cronies who barely donated anyway. Guys like Rob Mullens were shocked at the inability to raise money all while under a mandate that UKAA must be a self-sufficient, debt free organization that also gives back to the Academic side. Things have changed tremendously and for the better after a lot of hard work by a lot of people-many of whom are now running their own Athletic Departments at places like Miss State and Oregon.

Is football still a mess? Yes, but the checkbooks have actually opened for once. I don't really care for Stoops at the moment and my anger at DECADES of futility clouds my judgement on him but I can't deny there is talent coming in and facilities have or are improving vastly.

As for the Calipari issue...the divide the first time wasn't centered around Barnhart. There were a lot of people (including UK President at the time Dr. Todd) who wanted no part in it. Honestly? It kind of worked out. Calipari gets hired the first time and Derrick Rose is playing at UK. Calipari would have never survived that firestorm here with banners coming down. The LHL alone would have a field day in the quest for their next Pulitzer.

Mitch Barnhart has been the best Athletic Director for UK since at least the 40's. Does that mean he hasn't made mistakes? No. Does that mean everything has gone smoothly? No. But the foundation is rock solid now and thriving. Cancer? Hardly.

 

[.S&C.]

I still stand behind my opinion that Barnhart should have been fired the second he hired Cal. Fired because he did not hire Cal over Otis because he thought Cal was smarmy, or fired because he compromised his moral and ethical stand from two years earlier and hired Cal. Unless you like Field Hockey and Rifle and enjoy softball stadiums, Barnhart has been a cancer on the entire athletic department.

People who keep saying this bother me. They have zero clue as to what the Athletic Department was before Mitch's arrival. It was an absolute dumpster fire. Rife with corruption, complacency, cronyism and mismanagement. Facilities were terrible across the board. Fundraising was at the bottom of the SEC. Football (already a mediocre, yearly joke) was about to hit rock bottom due to scandal. When Tubby broached the subject of a practice facility because of the situation at Memorial Larry Ivey's response? "We're Kentucky. We don't need it."

Mitch was given one mandate: Fix this mess and modernize the athletic department. This alienated a ton of old money, CM Newton cronies who barely donated anyway. Guys like Rob Mullens were shocked at the inability to raise money all while under a mandate that UKAA must be a self-sufficient, debt free organization that also gives back to the Academic side. Things have changed tremendously and for the better after a lot of hard work by a lot of people-many of whom are now running their own Athletic Departments at places like Miss State and Oregon.

Is football still a mess? Yes, but the checkbooks have actually opened for once. I don't really care for Stoops at the moment and my anger at DECADES of futility clouds my judgement on him but I can't deny there is talent coming in and facilities have or are improving vastly.

As for the Calipari issue...the divide the first time wasn't centered around Barnhart. There were a lot of people (including UK President at the time Dr. Todd) who wanted no part in it. Honestly? It kind of worked out. Calipari gets hired the first time and Derrick Rose is playing at UK. Calipari would have never survived that firestorm here with banners coming down. The LHL alone would have a field day in the quest for their next Pulitzer.

Mitch Barnhart has been the best Athletic Director for UK since at least the 40's. Does that mean he hasn't made mistakes? No. Does that mean everything has gone smoothly? No. But the foundation is rock solid now and thriving. Cancer? Hardly.[/QUOTE]

peoole try to take his approach, but I never go for it. You like lots of ther people are giving him credit for things he didn't do. SEC football money has made lots of things possible and it's has ZERO to do with Barnhart. If he was as decorated as you're trying to make him, he'd make a helluva lot more than the small salary we pay, and others would have already poached him.

I'm not going to get into all of this. I don't agree with most of your premise. It's not worth rehashing.

 

[TankedCat]

I'm not sure that its really relevant that Mitch is a straight arrow compared to C.M.

C.M. also had a mandate - don't let the basketball program turn into what IU is right now.

 

[MudererofCrows]

Of course not because you have no leg to stand on and no idea what you're talking about. You push an agenda. Simple as that.

peoole try to take his approach, but I never go for it. You like lots of ther people are giving him credit for things he didn't do. SEC football money has made lots of things possible and it's has ZERO to do with Barnhart. If he was as decorated as you're trying to make him, he'd make a helluva lot more than the small salary we pay, and others would have already poached him.

I'm not going to get into all of this. I don't agree with most of your premise. It's not worth rehashing.

 

[EvilMD]

A lot of the people on here bitching about Mitch being about academics are the same people bitching about Tommy Turtleneck being a win at all costs AD 75 miles down the road.

I'll take our success across the board against theirs any day, because I know we do it much, much cleaner than they do.

 

[yoshukai]

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

This is so far from true it is laughable !

 

[MudererofCrows]

This is so far from true it is laughable !

'But there wasn’t anything confusing about it. UK President Dr. Lee T. Todd Jr. had concerns about the academic backgrounds of Calipari’s players at Massachusetts and Memphis. He also Rick wondered about the Bozich NCAA’s decision to vacate the Final Four appearance UMass made in the 1996. Todd had endured an NCAA investigation of UK’s football program. He had no appetite for another. “I was not willing to take a chance on a coach I’d heard about,” Todd said.'

http://kdl.kyvl.org/catalog/xt72ng4gnh0v_67/text

 

[AirRaidFan]

Anyone got any crazy long lost BCG stories? With the news of Kevin Galloway I could go for a good laugh as I was teenager when he coached.

Billy? Who was that?

 

[mkasten25]

It is telling the difference between BCG and Cal.


Gillespie's house was not even in Lexington.

"Pannell said she didn't know exactly what attracted Gillispie to that particular house except "he wanted some privacy, something big enough for the team. And this just fit the bill.""


"During his first news conference as the head UK men's basketball coach, Calipari said he would prefer to live near campus."

Cal currently lives 1.9 miles away from the lodge. He always wanted to be close to his players so they could reach him at any time.

That's not true. He lived down in Olde Bridge, which is in Fayette county, right before Firebrook. It's not on campus, but it's 10-15 minutes depending on traffic. Hardly a big deal. I worked at Murrays from 2006-08. 07 Summer he was at the bar every night. Tons of fun. Terrible tipper for a guy who made $2m and we let drive home drunk (usually it was $10-20 for us to look the other way) 3-4 nights a week. I took some time off during the summer and then came back that winter and he was a changed man. He had started losing. He had fewer crowds around him. He was more surly.

 

[brianpoe]

That's not true. He lived down in Olde Bridge, which is in Fayette county, right before Firebrook. It's not on campus, but it's 10-15 minutes depending on traffic. Hardly a big deal. I worked at Murrays from 2006-08. 07 Summer he was at the bar every night. Tons of fun. Terrible tipper for a guy who made $2m and we let drive home drunk (usually it was $10-20 for us to look the other way) 3-4 nights a week. I took some time off during the summer and then came back that winter and he was a changed man. He had started losing. He had fewer crowds around him. He was more surly.

Why do people do this?

"Thats not true"

Call someone out without any research?


BCG lived at:

619 BURR OAK DR
NICHOLASVILLE KY40356

JESSAMINE COUNTY

Much farther out than Firebrook. I have been by there several times.

See the red dot in the bottom left hand corner...

Oh and here is one of many links on that Google searchy thing....

http://www.wkyt.com/home/headlines/46116772.html



Geez.....


BTW, I had a home in Palomar at the time and frequented Murray's often. Bobby and I actually worked together at the Merrick when his Dad was still around.

 

[bigbluelou]

Honestly if BCG woulda won. None of these stories matter. There's stories like this across the nation. Glad they hired him and got cal who seems to b a faithful family man. Go big blue!

If my aunt had a ****, she'd be my uncle.

He didn't, so they do.

 

[UKgreatinmyveins]

Getting kicked out of a hotel for being drunk and jumping into the pool and having sex with a coed in the vehicle outside Malones.

 

[UKgreatinmyveins]

Why do people do this?

"Thats not true"

Call someone out WITHOUT any research?


BCG lived at:

619 BURR OAK DR
NICHOLASVILLE KY40356

JESSAMINE COUNTY

Much farther out than Firebrook. I have been by there several times.

See the red dot in the bottom left hand corner...

Oh and here is one of many links on that Google searchy thing....

http://www.wkyt.com/home/headlines/46116772.html



Geez.....


BTW, I had a home in Palomar at the time and frequented Murray's often. Bobby and I actually worked together at the Merrick when his Dad was still around.

He also had a spot downtown so he didnt have to drive to Nicholasville....Him,and Mr Wildcat getting hammered.

 

[brianpoe]

He also had a spot downtown so he didnt have to drive to Nicholasville....Him,and Mr Wildcat getting hammered.

I heard this as well. Thought it was at the Radisson right before it became the Hilton? Webb brothers special...

 

[kybassfan]

Getting kicked out of a hotel for being drunk and jumping into the pool and having sex with a coed in the vehicle outside Malones.

Pitino or BCG? Hard to tell sometimes.

 

[UKortho]

Sandy is very good at her job regarding the athletes.

People do not realize how much she does on the business side. All of the infringement cases against local businesses come from her office as well. Bigg Blue Martini downtown (which was originally Big Blue Martini before UK threatened and forced the name change), Wildcat Liquor (who total them to pound sand), there was a Dominos issue, many others back then, and now the KY Mist Distillery.

The fact that UK athletics trademarked the word Kentucky and think they own the word and the color Blue is so arrogant, KY companies cannot use the state name without UK permission... WTH?

I mean I can see how people would confuse this with UK sports...

You can read UK's letter to KY Mist Moonshine here, it actually states "the use of "Kentucky Mist Moonshine" is likely to cause deception and confusion to consumers as an affiliate of UK...

http://www.wkyt.com/home/headlines/...ry-says-UK-disputing-trademark-335157651.html




And Bassfan, you are correct, we had people that quit their jobs to join our company. These were guys from the message board that worked like crazy on the magazine, selling advertising, learning how to use TV cameras, etc.

We had a tight, committed group.

We were all naive because we couldn't see UK's big picture, our goal was simply to promote KY high school sports and UK sports with the best technology possible. We thought UK would love us.

UK didn't care about that, they cared about protecting their revenue stream (Host Communications) and grabbing any and all Intellectual Property they could.

However, we were not alone in this struggle as many other Insider and Rival sites had issues with Universities and the whole Internet is not media issue. We happened to be the first and the largest situation.

Class act, sir. That is why you came back and experienced good things. Not sure I would have been as professional regarding the USA quote.

 

[Aike]

What were his strengths? You read this thread and you wonder how he survived the first month on the job.

He survived the first month because he convinced Patrick Patterson to sign.

 

[brianpoe]

"Looks like you kept your head up (good quote in USA today) and moved on. I am sure that was hard to do. Letting go of the past allowed good things to happen. I can't imagine a scenario where I would have restrained. Not sure I could still be a UK fan actually."


Thanks for the kind words.

I definitely never said anything negative about the programs. Although I could have. Mark Story and a couple other national guys really kept after me to say something.

For one we were trying to sell off the divisions of the company at the time (you know the company that Sandy Bell decided wasn't a company...)

Secondly, Tubby and Guy, and really the entire staffs, were very good to us, definitely didn't want to cause any trouble.

Thirdly, UK was on probation and any recruiting issues would have been devastating.


I grew up with the Cats - Macy and Goose, along with the Curci teams were my first favorites.

I stayed away for awhile and was bitter, then thought why should I give up something I really enjoy and let Sandy win again.

She has already been made to look silly with her internet isn't media remark, and calling me just a rogue fan with 20 employees and tv/radio/print divisions, a retail store and screen print/embroidery operation.

I'm glad to see that things have evolved and guys like TJ and Justin are doing a great job. I'd like to think we were the pioneers that took the resistance punches for these guys nowadays, not that Matt Jones, who has done a great job, would ever admit something like that.

 

[yoshukai]

'But there wasn’t anything confusing about it. UK President Dr. Lee T. Todd Jr. had concerns about the academic backgrounds of Calipari’s players at Massachusetts and Memphis. He also Rick wondered about the Bozich NCAA’s decision to vacate the Final Four appearance UMass made in the 1996. Todd had endured an NCAA investigation of UK’s football program. He had no appetite for another. “I was not willing to take a chance on a coach I’d heard about,” Todd said.'

http://kdl.kyvl.org/catalog/xt72ng4gnh0v_67/text

Yes , I do agree that Lee Todd did not want Cal at that time .