The answer to this seems obvious, but before you answer, think about it.
Coach Gillispie has clearly created a buzz around the UK basketball program, and even a little awe from people surprised at his work ethic, or to paraphrase the Coach himself, "lack of work-life balance".
Most UK fans could hardly be expected to complain about a coach who thinks about their Kentucky Wildcat basketball team 23.5 hours out of the day. But I wonder how it will be perceived outside our Big Blue Universe, after the novelty wears off? Will Gillispie's admittedly eccentric life, i.e. the whole Dr. Pepper® and peanut butter cracker thing as well as late nights reviewing tape and prolific text-messaging, enhance Kentucky's reputation, harm it, or have no significant impact?
At this moment, I would argue it helps for a couple of reasons: 1) the sharp contrast to the media-phobic, private and relatively ineloquent Tubby Smith, and; 2) the current press fascination with his recruiting effort, and effort in general. The buzz created by Gillispie's non-stop effort has put "UK basketball" at the front of the sports consciousness, from whence it has been conspicuously absent for the last several years.
But this hype won't continue indefinitely. We are already seeing signs of fatigue in the media with The Loathsome Troll's blog post of the other day. That is a harbinger of things to come, trust me. I know how the media thinks, and Gillispie looks kind of cute and different right now, but it won't continue much longer.
So when the talking heads start sobering up from their mild intoxication with our new coach, what do you suppose we can expect? We are seeing some resentment from other SEC coaches (which actually pleases me no end -- I want them to be upset), but how long will the media continue it's honeymoon?
I don't have the answers. You probably don't either, but it's something to talk about.
So talk, already ...