i don’t want BCG to change – either it works his way or it does not.

NONE of the things that clay makes an issue would be if we were going to the dance.

of course, the fact is we are not. if john’s point is to get barnhard to review him – ok – maybe i can see it.

i have always thought clay was the best over at the HL

Pitino had 36 W, Hall 33 W in their first 2 UK seasons. Not felonies, nor misdemanor.

Other than Larry Vaught, I don’t like ANY of the Central Ky media.

Unbelievable.

"It’s interesting how nobody was making these types of observations last year when the coach was winning co-SEC Coach of the Year. "

This is not true by any stretch!!! Talk about your ridiculous assumptions! Some of us saw the signs from Day 1 and lots of you have just not been paying close enough attention. I don’t have time to remove your blinders right now but I will. You make great points and write well and you’re dead on about what John Clay is becoming but you’re also dead wrong about Billy G and your love is blinding you to reality. Ever notice how battered women don’t leave their abusers? Billy G is abusing this program and the signs and stats are staggering. Very similar to the majority of fools in this state who were ga-ga over another Texas moron named Bush. It’s baffling to the point of absurdity how reality can be so ignored just because of someone’s love of a celebrity figure. Got to run to a tournament game in Louisville but I’ll enlighten you tonight or tomorrow.
Be careful Tru because you could be completely wrong and you neglect to imagine the damage that will be done as a result.

I may not agree with everything in the article but there is nothing wrong with “change” if it’s to the good. And I think there are some things BG needs to at least soften up on. As a lifelong UK fan, BG irks me at times especially when in front of the media. I think you do have to sell yourself as a coach and sell the program when you get those opportunities and when you don’t ,the media rakes you over the coals. He has brought a lot of this on himself with his attitude and ego. I want attitude and ego in a coach but not if its used the wrong way.

I guess you never met Adolph Rupp.

He had both, bigger than G does.

before getting piled on by most the Gillispie supporters. I agree with John Clay on this, but not for all of the same reasons. I was glad to have Gillispie when we got him. He had me. I didn’t want Donovan and was glad to have someone else, even if I didn’t know a lot about him. He lost me after the UAB loss and the way he handled losing that game on his show. He didn’t lose me this year. As far as SEC coach of the year. I’ve talked to tons of UK fans and SEC fans who agree that was a huge joke. Maybe I’m not around enough Gillispie guys, but there is no way that a UK coach that doesn’t win the conference should be coach of the year. I’m not even sure a UK coach who does should be, since we always have the best players.

We can dislike Pitino and Tubby and still not want BG to be our guy either. It seems to me that the only fans defending keeping BG are the ones who said, “Get rid of 20 win Tubby”. Almost like BG has to succeed for them to be proven right.

The longer we keep BG around the longer it will be until we hang another banner in the rafters. I’d rather do it sooner than later.

I’m very torn on this. On the one hand, I completely agree that the coach should not resign or be fired. Most fans have been disappointed with the on-court results. But two years is just not long enough to build and/or judge the result of implementing his players and system. I would like him to stay. Continue to be a recruiting machine, and get the team back in to national relevance.

However I do have to agree with much of the larger point of Clay’s article – BCG would do himself and the program well to reevaluate some of his approach to the media and fans. What’s the downside? Why would you NOT want to be perceived better among the fans and potential recruits? If the answer is “…But that’s just perception. People don’t know me. I don’t care what they think if they don’t understand me.” Well, there’s a saying in communications that says “It is not the person listening who is responsible for understanding, it is up to the person speaking to be understood.” If a large portion of an audience perceives you as rude and inflexible, than you are. Whether you think it or not. How is that a good thing? And bringing up coach Rupp and his persona is no longer relevant. That was a different time. There was no ESPN. There were no blogs. Kids did not have texting. We have a black president! The country has moved on.

Doesn’t need to get in the way of winning basketball games. How much longer does it take to be courteous in an answer to a question than it does to be rude? Or to give a real basketball explanation for an in-game decision than “I thought that might work”. It doesn’t show weakness to strive to improve for the better, it shows intelligence. I don’t want him to turn in to Tubby or Pitino, just to keep improving on a better version of himself. That’s all anyone can ask of a coach or, frankly, of anyone. Said a different way, it’s fair to ask him “Are you satisfied your results?” If yes, than keep doing things exactly the same way. If no …. ?

I have never posted anything here or on any blog for UK despite being an avid reader and UK fan. I find what Truzenzuzex has written here today to be spot on and I am grateful for his views. Thank you.

Most of Clay’s column was redundant, a rehash, piling on. There was no fresh information, clever wording or anything close to an insight. It was not up to his usual performance.

However, his last sentence is interesting: “And my guess is that UK is tired of hoping (for Gillispie to change).” Seasoned columnists generally don’t make these kinds of “guesses” unless they know something. And I have no idea what “tired of hoping” portends.

My guess is — and I have no information — is that when they meet Mitch will give Gillispie an ultimatum. Or two.

Sorry.

It’s not about him being a good man. I don’t dislike Gillespie. He is just in a behavioral pattern that will not change for quite some time, if at all. In the meantime, how long are we going to endure this roller coaster ride with someone who is not a good fit. Sometimes in life we have the ability to quickly admit to ourselves that something is constrained by its inability to adapt, and that is the case here. Yes, Billy could take us as high as the Final Four in a couple of years with Orton and Hood. It’s just that for every high he achieves he’s going to take the program to an equal low.

Tru, you are kidding yourself if you don’t think that the substitution patterns were once again questionable at best in the LSU game. I was shocked he took Harris out when he did….Cats were down 5 and he took him out with ten minutes to go….LSU proceeded to go up 12. Harris played great today and I dont get why they put him on the bench. This is the exact same substitution that let the lead slip away in the first meeting with LSU.

“While it may be true that Gillispie won’t play zone, won’t stop his game day practices or adhere to "normal substitution patterns” (Clay invites the reader to provide his own definition of “normal,” or assumes it’s so obvious it needs no further exposition), it is far from certain that he won’t change anything meaningful."

what exactly would you call meaningful? adjusting your defense to your team and the situation is about as “meaningful” as it gets in my view. With Liggins likely gone after the season, whether you think he could benefit the program on the court, having 3 top 50 guards transfer in two years (legion jasper and liggins) is extremely detrimental to recruiting. Billy has burned his bridges with most of the media, not just john clay, and while you may not agree that Gillispie was wrong in saying that he is not supposed to me an ambassador of the program, apparently Mith Barnhart disagrees since when asked the same question and told of BCG’s answer completely disagreed.

You may call me a bad UK fan for voicing well thought out lucid opinions about the direction of this program, but the fact the you are so misguided in your fleecing of john clay’s article makes your opinion of the status of my fandom less than important to me.

I just joined the Sea of Blue family and this is my first post. I read this response to John Clays article and thought that it captured much of the sentiment I feel about UK’s current coaching situation. It is amazing that we all pretty much knew what we were getting with Coach G, and yet many have thrown him to the wolves anyway. It’s also amazing that for the most part, his toughness and no-nonsense attitude was credited with giving last year’s team its identity and 3-4 tough wins against superior teams (UT, VU, UF, etc). If we win 4-5 more games this season, BCG is probably lovingly characterized as a “maverick” rather than “smug or trite”, a la Bill Belichick sans Cleveland. Winning will take care of a lot of BCG’s percieved problems, IMO. If we give him a fair opportunity to turn this around, I think his no-nonsense attitude will suddenly become an endearing trait to UK fans just as it was last year.

I don’t know whether BCG is the long-term answer. I certainly hope he is because it’s in the best interest of the UK program in both the short and long term. What I do know is that he should be given a reasonable opportunity to learn from his mistakes, grow into the job, and get his players on the roster. If in 2-3 more years we are still having the same on-court and off-court issues, then we cut our losses and move on, but not before giving him a realistic chance at succeeding.

It’s certainly amazing that the simple absence of a true, playmaking point guard who’s solid with the ball has resulted in, IMO, 95% of our inconsistency, and has likewise led to the controversy, and hand-wringing this season has created. If we had Ramel Bradley or even Derrick Jasper, we win 25-26 games, we head to the Dance with a decent seed, and the Cats are considered “back”.

A point-by-point refutation of a blog entry or (especially) news story. A really stylish fisking is witty, logical, sarcastic and ruthlessly factual; flaming or handwaving is considered poor form.

For the most part, Tru, you performed the fisking quite well, congratulations.

John Clay’s recent performance and pieces are ample evidence that some particular Gillispie incident, action or comment proved to be the tipping point in Clay’s evaluation process, causing him to topple from astride the fence onto the turf of the Gillispie-must-go inhabitants. Perhaps it was an unwanted bachelor advance towards Clay’s wife, or something a bit less personal like a perceived assault — something as minor as denying the exalted status the media self-bestows — on Clay’s media cohorts, or challenging Clay’s insinuated knowledge of basketball fundamentals and coaching tactics. For whatever reason John Clay has morphed from a journalist I could respect into an agenda-bound, axe-grinding, petulant knave.

As my own fisk I would point out Clay’s quote of Gillispie’s answer to the comment of coaching UK being different: “Not to me”. If Clay wanted to be objective he would have included the rest of the quip:

“Well, that wasn’t on the job description. … You can be as public as you want to be and not win enough games and it makes no difference. We have to win games.” “I think, like I’ve said many times before, our No. 1 thing is to coach the team and our No. 2 thing is to recruit, and those are very, very, very close,” he said moments before. “And those are the main things that we need to do to get this program back where it needs to be. Celebrity, whatever, makes me no difference.”

Now that may be incredibly naive — and naivete, rather than obstinacy, is his greater failing — on the part of Gillispie but it is also incredibly accurate. And, given adequate time, coaching and recruiting will push the other concerns into the background where they belong.

On the subject of Gillispie’s naivete and its crucial part in delivering him and the program to this equally crucial point I would point out that his failure — even though it was pointed out numerous times — to understand the enormity of UK BB in the psyche of its fans could lead to his undoing.

Since Gillispie’s assumption of the leadership of the BBN I have on 5 separate occasions called in to his radio program — thank goodness for VoIP — and each time my question has addressed the subject of his understanding of UK BB and its reverential status among fans. Each time he assured me he did understand that they were the greatest, most passionate, most supportive and most demanding, and each time I hung up thinking either I didn’t make my point or he didn’t/couldn’t grasp the concept. My most recent call asked the question: Given your respect for UK fans, what obligation, if any, do you have to explain to them your coaching decisions, such as lineups, substitutions, etc.? His answer was, to the effect, fans should know that my lineups, substitutions and decisions are always designed to give us the best chance to win. I couldn’t argue with that then, can’t now. I don’t think John Clay or any other person outside the program can either. Until such time Gillispie has had the full and complete opportunity to recruit and coach his players making a change in leadership of the program would be foolish and counterproductive.

I do not understand what is the point of beating someone up in print. John Clay has become very very angry…This is no way to support the Wildcats…I think he has crossed the line and really is becoming mean. No one should be mean about the fact that someone isn’t as polished as someone else. Many of the things we complain about.. many many good coaches do…(same day hard practice) As fans we need to support the team, players and coaches….Are the ones that want BCG fired, the same fans who boo our players?….Let’s take a deep breath….We were a good team and we will be great in the future…..it just takes time…..

On the larger issue, Clay’s article was an absurd reach, probably resulting from his professional obligation to say something in the paper on a regular basis, whether it was well-considered or ill. Columnists have to columnize, and sometimes they say things just because they have to say something or they don’t get paid. I cut them some slack on those rare occasions when an otherwise sane man publishes less than lucid commentary.

I do not get any more upset at John Clay for exposing the limitations in his own understanding of human nature and the game of basketball than I get at any other fan or blogger. He’s wrong, just as 90% of the melodrama on this blog (and others) is misplaced and hyperbolic. Read it for your own amusement and as frustrating as it is, don’t let it bother you that more fans will see that crap than this infinitely more useful blog.

Next year we get BCG, Patterson, and Meeks back, and Pilgrim, Orton, Hood, and Villarino join the stable, plus whoever the staff surprises us with again this year (I’m hearing we’ll get a JUCO point of some repute).

Until then, relax and enjoy bringing another NIT trophy to Lexington.

tru,
        give john, mark, and jerry a break, they had to sit on their typewriters for the last 6 or 7 years and not write anything negative or merlene would have their respected careers relegated to some rag covering things such as “what book is on your nightstand” instead of sports. Let them get it out of their system, its been building for several years.
    I hope Gillispie is the answer, hopefully the people in charge can make an informed decision, he may not be but I would hope they know more than we do.

A lot of people were not. And maybe you knew what you were getting, but the rest of us didn’t know a lot about him before he came here. Without being specific, he has embarrassed himself and the Kentucky program by his off-the-court behavior and that alone, makes him the wrong choice for UK coach. Sorry.

I agree with your thoughts, I was trying to make a point that the three reporters didnt write anything negative during the last coaching tenure as the program crumpled from neglect. As for the merlene reference, she was one that told tubby not to come here, which I love her for, she also said she feared for his life here, which I do not love her for.
LHL thinks alot of its customers.

when we win no one cares what the coach says. We all laugh and say “go Billy”. Adolph Rupp received death threats from so called “Kentucky Fans” and look what he accomplished. I’m glad there are others out there who are willing to give Billy G. a chance to turn the program around. I know he will do it and when he does I hope those who doubted will eat some humble pie.