I want to start out by saying that I like Coach Gillispe. I like him a lot. As I have said before, I liked him before he came to UK and I will like him after he is gone - whenever that may be.
But, just because I am a BCG advocate doesn't mean I am blind to some of the rather unflattering things about his public persona and I have been thinking a lot about the suggestions that we all have (me included) for Coach Gillispie regarding how he handles himself with the media and the way he treats the fans and I asked myself the above question and will admit I am sort of torn about it.
On one hand I say "yes", he certainly must do something and make a change in order to calm the riled up and sometimes drama-starved BBN who are just looking for reasons to scrutinize and pick him apart, and part of me thinks that he must at least try to conform to the media relations aspects of his job as everyone has to compromise a little when they work for an employer and only if you work for yourself can you make all the rules and do as you please. Coach Gillispie does not work for himself, but as evidenced by his attitude at times, I think he either thinks he does or he wishes that his employer would learn to conform to him and his behavior. Well, I don't think that's a real possibility and sometimes I think, my goodness, why can't the man just play the PR game, if even a little bit? He doesn't have to change entirely, just play nice-nice with the media on occasion, prepare a boring blanket statement for the common questions and then move on. Wouldn't giving the media and the BBN as a whole what they want once in a while earn him a little leeway and then he could go about his business and focus on his true passion which is the game of basketball? Would it kill him to pacify the media and fans once in a while?
But, there is also a part of me that thinks, you know, it is rather silly that he should have to play the PR game and why should the man change who he is to please others? One of the reasons I like and appreciate Coach Gillispie is because he appears to be pretty genuine and doesn't have a blanket statement prepared for everything and although I admit I often cringe and hold my breath when he is interviewed as you never know what might fly out of his mouth or what his mood is like at that particular moment, I don't necessarily want a coach who is 100% politician and insults the intelligence of the fan base with a public appearance that isn't honest and true, but rather is dishonest and forced just to appease us.
So, in the end, I guess I really don't have a definitive answer to the above question of "should BCG change to please us?". I do however, think it would be a darn shame if Coach Gillispie didn't get the chance (whether that be this year, or in the future) to show us just how good of a coach and recruiter he could be because of something as silly as being rude in public, etc. -- because from my point of view his public savvy or rather lack of, really serves no purpose and I don't really see a good reason for it.