Former UK head coach Billy Gillispie has not yet had any contact with any schools regarding open coaching positions, he said at his news conference Saturday morning at the Griffin Gate Hotel in Lexington.

Gillispie said after taking a brief rest from working after his dismissal yesterday, he is ready to get back to work.

“Well, I slept late today for the first time in the while so that’s my vacation,” Gillispie said. “I’ll get going again tomorrow. So I’ll take a one day vacation where I slept until 9:30 and I hadn’t done that in a while. So we’ll get going.”

During the 30-minute news conference, Gillispie said he had no regrets concerning his tenure at UK and repeatedly marveled at how fortunate he has been throughout his coaching career.

“I’m the luckiest guy that’s ever lived,” Gillispie said. “There’s never been anyone more lucky than me, more blessed than me. There just hasn’t. Sixteen years ago I was a high school coach and I’ve had the opportunity to coach at three great places as a head coach in college and I’ve been a few other places as an assistant coach in college. I’m telling you what, I’m the luckiest guy there ever has been. And I’ll keep on being lucky. This is just a small bump in the road.”

Gillispie said he sees himself as a proven coach and hopes any program will look at the work he has done throughout his career, including engineering a pair of quick turnarounds at Texas El Paso and Texas A&M.

“I think my track record proves that we can recruit, we can really coach, and the people that really get to know you know what kind of person I am and those kinds of things,” Gillispie said. “We won’t let this bother us. It’s a bump in the road, it’s not an ending in the road, and we’ll definitely bounce back very quickly I would think.”

Gillispie also expressed gratitude for his assistants and said he hopes they will join him wherever he may find himself.

“I love our assistants,” Gillispie said. “I don’t think anyone could ever have a better staff than what we have. They’re unified, they’re loyal, they’re hard-working, they’re really, really, really, really competitive, they want to do things the right way, they’ve been great role models for our players, they’ve been great ambassadors for the University, I mean, they’re the best. When we get another chance, and hopefully that’s going to be real quick, they’ll definitely have the offer to be with me. Absolutely. 100 percent. Every single one of them. I hope all the managers that do all the tireless work and get no credit for it, I hope all those guys come with us.”

When asked if he would like to be coaching again as early as next season, Gillispie responded quickly.

“Absolutely,” he said. “Yeah. Heck yeah. Like I said, my vacation’s over. I slept until 9:30 this morning and I’m ready to roll.”

Gillispie said he had no immediate plans to leave Lexington, but said his house is on the market.

Gillispie has complied a 140-85 overall record as a head coach in stints the University of Texas at El Paso, Texas A&M and UK. In two years at UTEP, the team’s record improved from 6-24 in his first year to 24-8 in his second year. He guided the Texas A&M to the NCAA tournament in two of his three years with the team. In two years at UK, Gillispie piloted the Cats to a 40-27 overall record.

Several prominent head coaching positions have opened recently, including vacancies at the helm of the men’s basketball programs at the University of Virginia, the University of Georgia, and Virginia Commonwealth University. More opportunities are likely to present themselves in the coming weeks as the coaching carousel continues to turn following the conclusion of the season.