Friday, March 27, will be a day that goes down in the UK basketball history books. As players and coaches arrived and exited the Wildcat Lodge in the cold, dreary rain, the news was obvious, but the emotions and feelings of the news were not.
“He’s a hard working coach and I have a lot of respect for him, but a decision was made, it was out of our hands,†junior Jodie Meeks said in an exclusive interview with the Kernel. “… I think the final decision was a good decision and I wish him luck.â€
Emotions varied with the news of Gillispie’s firing. The players heard about the firing on Friday just like everybody else, Meeks said. Gillispie visited the Wildcat Lodge before the news conference from Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart and President Lee Todd, announcing his dismissal.
Outside the Lodge, sophomore Patrick Patterson walked around with his headphones in his ears and a skip to his step. When asked who the coach of Kentucky was, he responded, no one at the moment, with a smirk on his face.
Junior Matt Scherbenske had a solemn look on his face, while assistant coach Jeremy Cox had tears in his eyes.
“Yeah, it was emotional,†Scherbenske said. “Everybody was emotional.â€
Meeks sat on a bench at the Johnson Center basketball courts Friday evening, watching students play the game the state holds so dear to its collective heart. Meeks’ voice was relaxed and he appeared content with the decision, but most of all he seemed at ease.
For Meeks, 2009 was a career year. After a freshman year that saw glimpses of potential and an injury-riddled sophomore campaign, Meeks’ junior year was exactly what the doctor ordered. He finished the year with a scoring average of 23.7 points per game, and had the highest scoring performance of any game in the 106-year history of the program when he scored 54 points in Knoxville, Tenn., against the Volunteers.
With the season now over following a 77-67 loss to Notre Dame in the National Invitation Tournament quarterfinals, Meeks said he still isn’t sure whether he will return to UK or enter the NBA Draft. He also said he wasn’t really concerned with who the next coach will be.
“Right now I’m not really worried about that, I’m just worried about taking some time off just to clear my mind and figure out what I’m going to do,†Meeks said. “I’ll see who the new coach is and talk to him and go from there.â€
UK now faces its second coaching search in three years, and high-profile names are abound. No matter who the next coach is to walk the sidelines of Rupp Arena and become one of the most high-profiled people in the state of Kentucky, the belief is a need to move forward.
“I’m going to agree with whatever the staff decides, and they decided for the change, and I’m all with what they decided,†Meeks said. “We’re going to have to move forward.â€
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There was a lot of inter-team fighting when Tubby left. Billy tried to clean house, made progress, and ultimately the decision was made that he wasn’t the best fit. Two years is not really enough time, so wish him the best. Note to a couple players…you’re not ready for the NBA, by a long shot.
This is what happens when you have an utter failure of leadership, as we did two years ago when Mitch and Co. failed to quickly and decisively speak in favor of Coach Smith in the face of the whiners. This scared Smith into leaving, and will continue to scare any sane person from taking this job. Mitch and Co. stuck with Brooks under fire, and in the end won when the football team improved. But had the team not improved, the administration would still have a clear conscience and clean hands to be able to then fire Brooks and move on with the support of the community and players. Instead, they remained silent when idiots attacked Tubby, so they have no clear conscience and no clean hands and we will all continue to reap what they sowed. No players or coaches want to have anything to do with a renegade, out of touch with reality program. Look at what Nebraska’s fans did to their once-famed football program. I will bet that Pitino and Tubby will both win NCAA titles, and UNC will take over the total wins record, and others will at least tie our NCAA title record, long before UK basketball is ever able to rise above this shame. Stick with your coach, because it can always get worse! The elite eight doesn’t look so bad now, does it?
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Mitch Barnhart and the University of Kentucky Department of Athletics has made a serious error. Firing Billy Gillispie for his lack of PR skills shows that Barnhart is not the guy for the job.
Mr Barnhart and Dr Todd chose to make the University look arrogant and pompous buy saying that Billy didn’t have the PR skills needed for the position. Then they say there was no Formal contract, so they will not fulfill their part of the Memorandum of understanding.
If Kentucky had a problem with the coach, They should have simply said that after two years, they were not able to reach a Formal Agreement with Gillispie and for that reason they were withdrawing their offer and re-opening their coaching search and left all the garbage out of the discussion. But it appears that Barnhart feels that the extra drama is needed.
Kentucky is the “House that Rupp Built.” It was built with pride, hard work and tradition, not drama. The renovations to the house that Rupp built are substandard at best and that is the fault of the designer. When working on renovations, you don’t destroy the Foundation, and that is exactly what Mitch Barnhart has done.
Maybe Billy wasn’t a good fit, but Mitch Barnhart has now done a lot more damage than Billy ever did.
I would strongly suggest that the Board of trustees press Dr Todd to remove Mr Barnhart and hire a “Kentucky Guy” to fill the position of Athletics Director.
i would just like to tell MR meeks and his dad he is not ready for the nba.i would just like to see how many times he turnd the ball over on ball penatration
Rick Pitino ruined Kentucky basketball when he left, and it will never go back to the way it was unless he comes BACK!!!!!
Good site for true information. You should read this and then decide if this was a good decision.
I should have written http://www.kentuckysportsradio.com
OK_OK, we’ve heard from all sides of the equation now on who’s at fault and the why’s. I say, enough of the finger pointing, already. There is plenty of blame to go around. This includes the Fans, to the UKAD and even Lee Todd, too. The thing is that we as Fans need to do for the next Head Coach is to be Patient!!!! If UK hires a coach that is worth his reputation coming into this highly demanding job. Then we need to back off the new coach and let him get a feel for the job, the community, the players and university, the spoiled and impatient fan base. This will take more than 2 years. We were extremely lucky as fans that we had 2 great “Public” minded Head Coaches in Pitino and Tubby. Yes, they spoiled us with their ability to juggle Coaching at this level successfully and the demands of the Public and the Media. Billy Gillispie just wanted to coach and recruit. He did not encompass the full enormity of what it means and what it takes to be the Head Coach of the Nations most winningest college basketball program. Therefore his lack of that knowledge led to his ultimate and untimely dismissal after 2 years here. Moving on……….
The next Head Coach needs to know this right off the bat! The UKAD and his search committee really need to do their homework first on any viable candidate and then a series of interviews not only with the candidate, but with his players, former and present and also with possibly anybody within the coach’s circle, too. We need this search to begin right away, but not finish right away. This would be a good exercise for all of us in Patience…….
Another year???? This man was borderline abusive and did not need to stay in this position for another day! I wish the national media would read the above -mentioned article before they say Kentucky didn’t give him long enough. His release is not just about PR skills or wins/losses….it is more about humane treatment and tact!
As a teacher, I know that his particular strategy for motivation (public humiliation, sarcasm, and verbal abuse) are ineffective in the long run.
The last half of this season I think it was obvious there was something very wrong internally….something the public did not know? Turns out that “something” was Billy G.
Whether it is Barnhart’s fault or not – Coach Gillispie had to go! Thank goodness this man has been relieved of his duties at the University of Kentucky! Giving him another year would have been disastrous!