The losses could be forgotten. People would be willing to understand — if Billy Gillispie were different.

Gillispie has faced the critics dealing with everything from home losses to Virginia Military Institute, Gardner-Webb, San Diego and Georgia, to his attitude toward the media — most notably ESPN’s Jeannine Edwards.

Kenny Walker, UK’s No. 2 all-time leading scorer with 2,080 points, said UK fans are willing to put the losses behind them, only if Gillispie would have embraced UK’s tradition better.

“I don’t want to lose, Kentucky fans don’t want to lose,” Walker said. “People are willing to put VMI and Gardner-Webb behind them, but there’s more to Kentucky than wins and losses. You are part of a tradition as the head coach, you have to build on that.”

Walker, who dealt with a coaching change before his senior season in 1986, said he feels for the current players. Joe B. Hall coached Walker in his first three seasons. In 1985, Hall retired, and Eddie Sutton replaced him for Walker’s senior campaign. Walker remembered the underclassmen feeling uncomfortable and a lot of pressure on the whole team.

Another thing Walker remembered is the coaching change’s effect on recruiting. Dave Telep, the national recruiting director for Scout.com, said over the last ten years, he has noticed a trend of top-100 recruits revisiting their decisions after a coaching change.

“Recruits make personal connections with coaches and their styles, and that’s what they become interested in.” Telep said. “Most people go to Duke, (North) Carolina and Kentucky to play there, but the elite players will be more likely to reopen their commitment.”

And with a potential top-10 recruiting class — including Daniel Orton, Jon Hood and G.J. Vilarino — Gillispie seems to be on the right track of building his team. It’s something Walker said he backs Gillispie 100 percent on: giving him time to build the team he wants.

Walker believes Gillispie needs more than two years to do what’s pictured in his mind, but his demeanor toward the media might be too much to handle.

“Gillispie has an idea and vision of how he wanted to run the program and he did it that way,” Walker said. “I back him 100 percent that he needs more than two years to build the program, but as we found out late in the year Gillispie kept saying he didn’t sign up for the other part of the job, the celebrity part.”

Being the celebrity in the Bluegrass State is something Walker said people don’t fully understand until you’re a part of the program. Whether it’s the media, fan base or expectations, it’s something that you don’t understand when you’re on the outside looking in.

It’s something — along with the UK tradition — Walker warns the next coach to be prepared for, whether UK keeps Gillispie or not.

“I know what Kentucky basketball means to me,” Walker said. “And it would be ideal to have someone that understands it as well.”