Handling the Heat: Gillispie struggles in media spotlight

UK head coach Billy Gillispie, still cooling off in the locker room after a win against Mississippi in the opening round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament, faces the usual horde of media members. This time, though, the media are in Gillispie’s comfort zone: the locker room. Gillispie picks at the lip of a plastic cup for the entire 12-minute interview.

The Cats just won, and Gillispie rants about freshman Darius Miller and the team’s offensive rebounding, among other topics. At a lull in the interview, a reporter asks Gillispie about his thoughts on the speculation of his job security — a frequent talking point in Big Blue Nation.

“I don’t worry about that at all, all I worry about is our next game,” Gillispie says, as his nerves pick up the tempo of his speech. “That’s all I’ve ever been able to do and that’s all I would do, so that’s not for me to answer.”

The reporter persists, pointing out that UK Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart told an ESPN reporter Gillispie needed to make some adjustments with his “self-awareness.”

“You need to talk to Mitch, I guess,” Gillispie says through a laugh. “I don’t know. I don’t have any response to anything. It doesn’t matter to me.”

When Gillispie arrived in Lexington on April 6, 2007, he was hailed as a “basketball nut” — a man who admits to leading a non-balanced life filled with basketball activities. As a result, he has publicly denied his need to be in the spotlight.

“That wasn’t on the job description,” Gillispie said after the first-round SEC tourney win on March 12. “You know, I like being out in the public. I’ve been very, very lucky and fortunate to make a lot of friends here in the Kentucky area, but you can be as public as you want to be and not win enough games, and it makes no difference.”

The problem is, Gillispie hasn’t won enough games in the eyes of many Cats fans. In Gillispie’s first year at the helm, UK finished 18-13 and was eliminated in the NCAA Tournament’s first round for the first time since 1987.

This season, a late meltdown (the Cats lost nine of their last 13 games) left UK out of the NCAA field for the first time since 1991 — and even that year, the 22-6 Cats finished No. 9 in the season-ending Associated Press poll. UK, led by second-year coach Rick Pitino, missed the field because of NCAA probation held over from former coach Eddie Sutton’s tenure.

This year, the Cats didn’t lack the eligibility needed to qualify — just the resumé.

“Every single team has their opportunities to play their way into the NCAA Tournament,” Gillispie said in a statement released after the Cats learned of their National Invitation Tournament fate. “The ones that get there, they deserve it and the ones that didn’t get there don’t deserve to play in the NCAA Tournament. We’ve not played well enough to be considered for that tournament.”

Gillispie and the Cats had a chance to put themselves in the field, though. It would’ve taken four wins in four days at the SEC Tournament (a feat eventual champs Mississippi State accomplished).

When the Cats lost in the second round to Louisiana State, Gillispie wasn’t ready to face the music.

Billy Gillispie stands in the locker room with his team and staff after losing to LSU in the SEC Tournament. Photo by Brad Luttrell | Staff

‘A poor man’s Bobby Knight’

Reporters, photographers and UK officials are all trying their best to weave through a crowded locker room following UK’s 67-58 loss to LSU. As reporters take their turns with the regular players while walk-ons like Landon Slone and Mark Krebs sit quietly at their lockers, Gillispie is nowhere to be found.

Eventually, Gillispie surfaces. He’s been pacing back and forth in the bathroom, which has an open entrance from the locker room. He washes his hands and splashes his face, all while talking with assistant coach Jeremy Cox. Occasionally he peers out to the locker room, eyeing the media mob awaiting him. A reporter eventually flags him down. Gillispie walks to the edge of the bathroom, where the tile and carpet floors meet.

The media swarms to get Gillispie’s comments on the loss. The reporters never leave the carpet of the locker room, and Gillispie never leaves the tile of the bathroom. The small threshold feels like a brick wall.

The interview — filled with not much more than basketball Xs-and-Os (a slice of Gillispie’s job few have questioned) — lasts just four minutes before the media’s allotted 30 minutes expires.

Gillispie’s two-year tenure has been sprinkled with unfavorable media brush-ups. Among the most publicized this season was Gillispie’s halftime interview with ESPN sideline reporter Jeannine Edwards on Jan. 27, when Gillispie told Edwards she asked “really a bad question.”

When Gillispie accepted the job at UK, not much was made of his sarcastic demeanor, especially in dealing with the media. After Gillispie left Texas A&M for the Cats, Bryan-College Station (Texas) Eagle sports writer Richard Croome called Gillispie “sort of a poor man’s Bobby Knight in that sense.”

Much like Knight (the longtime Indiana coach), Gillispie is in charge of a program with a proud tradition and an even prouder fan base. Although Gillispie does not get openly angry at reporters like Knight was known to do, Gillispie’s record isn’t unscathed, either.

On March 7, after the Cats’ 60-53 loss to Florida, a reporter asked Gillispie if he was worried about his job security. Gillispie didn’t skip a beat before offering his quick-hitting response.

“No. The season’s not over, is it?”

The Florida loss all but doomed the Cats to the NIT, a fact sophomore Patrick Patterson admitted after the game but Gillispie did not.

“I don’t want to go to the NIT because it’s Kentucky basketball,” Patterson said. “The NIT is not for us, that’s the way I feel. But if that’s our only option, I’m fine with going.”

Eventually, the Cats’ only option became the NIT. And because Rupp Arena was booked with the Kentucky high school boys’ basketball state tournament, the only option for the Cats to host a home game was to play at Memorial Coliseum.

The NIT first-round game on Tuesday was the Cats’ first game at Memorial since 1976, and the Cats lived up to the Coliseum’s vaulted expectations. UK extended its all-time Memorial record to 307-38, beating Nevada-Las Vegas 70-60.

After the win, the rumors ceased for a while. Long enough, at least, for Gillispie to enjoy the post-game.

Memorial madness

Gillispie, Patterson and Jodie Meeks approach the media room for the post-game news conference. It’s 11:50 p.m., but all three have energy to spare. Gillispie gives an opening statement. He mentions almost nothing about the game itself; he opts to spend his 38-second statement sparing few details about how honored he is to have coached a game in Memorial Coliseum.

The players field questions, and Gillispie listens intently to their answers. A moderator dismisses the student-athletes to the locker room and Gillispie stays behind to answer questions. As Patterson gets up, he pats Gillispie on the shoulder. Gillispie mutters something under his breath.

Patterson gets halfway off the platform as Gillispie turns to reiterate.

“Good game, buddy.”

With rumors flying and arduous speculation over Gillispie’s future in Lexington, Gillispie answers questions with a smile on his face for the rest of the news conference.

On Sunday, six days after the Memorial game, Gillispie fielded another round of questions about his job security at a news conference previewing the Cats’ second-round NIT match-up against No. 1 seed Creighton on Monday evening.

Gillispie acknowledged “a few rumors” might be out there about his future. But when asked about his job security, just like on March 12, he stuck to his guns.

“All you do is work, that’s all I’ve ever done and that’s all I’ll ever do,” he said. “Shoot, our guys are having fun, I’m having fun.”