How mad were fans when Billie Gillispie was hired?

[Untouchables40]

On the other side of things, just like Cal has his supporters, BCG had his too. There were fans that made excuses and tried to validate everything he did and thought everything he did was exactly what the program needed. If you wanted him fired, you were an "idiot".

I originally joined this board in March 2009 because I wanted to discuss and share my thoughts on UK basketball with people. When I shared my thoughts on Billy and how I wanted him to get fired, it did not go over well. I was called a troll, an undercover Louisville fan, and a bunch of other stuff.
We had just missed the tournament and ended our streak of appearances. His supporters thought us being in the NIT was going to make us humble as fans and inject new life into the program. So when we won a couple games in the NIT, he was the second coming of Jesus in their eyes and we were just a year or two away from being a serious title contender.
When he was fired, just like we have now, there were threads titled "Careful what you wish for", "Hope you're happy", etc with people mad at the ones who wanted him fired and were saying we were going to be nothing because we ran off a great coach and "no one will want to come here" or saying "who out there would be a better replacement" ( Cal's name had come up, but several didn't want him because of the whole UMASS thing).
So when people are saying all that stuff now, I've heard it all before. Just like the program was fine after BCG left, it will be fine after Cal leaves.

 

[BigTyrone]

Most people were at least ok with it, some really excited. I was somewhere between the two. A small group was unhappy and vocal about it. They, of course, turned out to be right.

 

[HagginHall1999]

Wasn't happy happy at all...

 

[Coach Marrow]

We hoped it would work out since he was winning elsewhere. Apparently nobody checked into him to know about the alcohol issues, although I think that escalated big time here.

 

[KyCPA]

To be honest, didn't really know who he was and was confused by it. Don't think we make that mistake again.

 

[katwest]

He did a good job at Texas A&M and people across the sports world were talking about him being one of the best young coaches coming on the scene. This shows what can happen when somebody is not ready for the big time job Kentucky is. There had never been any pressure to win in basketball at Texas A&M, but he took their program to new heights. An outside firm was hired to help Kentucky find their new coach and he was the one selected. That's why you don't ever do that at a program like this one. This program always needs to be in the hands of Kentucky people when coaching decisions are made.

 

[Myotis]

It was a little before my time.

One thing about the hire that made some us wary was the apparent lack of any serious coaching search. But he'd had some success so people were willing to give him a chance. He obviously wasn't well vetted. Between his nutball antics with the players, poor on-court performance, and refusal to sign a contract, he set a modern record for alienating the fans of a major college sports program.

 

[ArtLaibsGhost]

I was haunting another board at the time,the old WIldcatfaithful, I like most everyone on there was mystified by the hire. I had barely heard of the guy,he had put UL out of the tourney and that's about all I knew of him. I couldn't understand why UK didn't hire a big time coach,still don't. Seemed to me Barnhart wanted to " get it over with" rather than get it right.

 

[fatguy87]

It took until Meeks hung 50 on UT for me to come around wrt Billy. He then squandered that goodwill in record time.