didnt see this here yesterday. good hire, but if he cant deliver, hes ruined.

source

Kentucky hires Gillispie as basketball coach

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Kentucky’s restless fortnight is over. The new leader of Big Blue Nation has a heart as big as Texas, and he’ll need it to help restore some of the luster to college basketball’s all-time winningest program.
Billy Gillispie was hired as Kentucky’s sixth coach in the last 76 years on Friday, a person familiar with the search process told The Associated Press. He’ll replace Tubby Smith, who spent a decade under the glare of college basketball’s brightest spotlight before bolting to Minnesota two weeks ago.
Gillispie, who led Texas A&M to the NCAA tournament’s round of 16 this year for the first time since 1980, will be introduced at a 12:15 p.m. EDT pep rally at Memorial Coliseum followed by a 12:45 news conference, said the person who spoke on condition of anonymity pending an official announcement.
The Wildcats turned to Gillispie after another Billy - Florida’s Billy Donovan - decided Thursday to stay with the Gators. Texas’ Rick Barnes also indicated Thursday he wasn’t interested in the job, but it was never formally offered to any candidate other than Gillispie.
Gillispie replaces Smith, who left the Wildcats after 10 seasons to take the head coaching job in Minnesota last month, despite having four years left on his contract.
Gillispie is 100-58 in five seasons as a head coach. He spent the last three years with the Aggies, molding the longtime also-ran into a Big 12 power. Texas A&M went 27-7 this season.
His success with the Aggies made Gillispie a hot commodity. He was approached by Arkansas after Stan Heath was fired, but decided to stay with the Aggies, agreeing in principle to a new contract worth $1.75 million that would have made him among the Big 12’s highest-paid coaches.
The 47-year-old Gillispie, however, never signed the deal and he didn’t hesitate when Kentucky came calling. Texas A&M athletic director Bill Byrne gave Barnhart permission to speak to Gillispie on Thursday night, and by Friday morning the Wildcats had their sixth coach since 1931.
Gillispie served as an assistant coach to Bill Self at Tulsa and Illinois before moving on to coach UTEP in 2002. He coached the Miners for two seasons, surviving a 6-24 season in 2002-03 before leading the Miners to a 24-8 record the next year.
Texas A&M lured him to College Station in 2004, and Gillispie didn’t waste time turning around a program that went winless in Big 12 play the year before his arrival. Texas A&M made it to the NIT his first season and the NCAA tournament the next two.
Behind the play of senior point guard Acie Law, the Aggies spent most of the 2006-07 season ranked in the top 10. They finished 13-3 in the Big 12 this season.
Gillispie’s finest moment came on the Rupp Arena floor in Lexington. He guided the Aggies to wins over Penn and Louisville in the opening rounds of this year’s NCAA tournament.
The Louisville game was unique because it featured Smith’s predecessor, Rick Pitino, coaching against Smith’s successor, Gillispie on Kentucky’s home court.

Also college bball coaching carousel-related: Huggy-Bear abandons K-State after just a year for WVU

This should make the two (?) Big East tilts between WFVU & UC quite fun.

Also, as a Marquette fan, I can't wait for Huggins to be back on the opposing bench in the Bradley Center. Of course, part of that is, Crean will own him.

i was hoping this would be about the primal scream guy going to kfc

Good Move by Gillespie, although he had signed an extension at A&M. Luckily, the Aggies appear to be hiring Mark Turgeon from Wichita State, which seems like a good choice and fit.
Huggins leaving K-State is a swift kick in the groin to the Wildcats. He had one good year with them after basically being a pariah in the college coaching world, and he jumps ship as soon as possible.
I kind of feel like it was a bitch move and hope he gets canned in a few years. Hopefully he doesn't mess up WVU the same way the dude from UCLA messed up Georgia.

Huggins is a drunk who doesn't care for graduation rates, but he's not crooked.

Harrick is in a class by himself, anyway. Right, Derris?

I don't know, I heard Huggins pulled a Kelvin Sampson before he left Manhattan and illegally contacted some recruits and may have a few recruiting infractions that the Wildcats could get punished for.

Before Huggins got to K-State, I think it was pretty well known that Bill Walker was going to commit wherever Huggins went. Then he went and hired an asst coach from UNC-Charlotte who had gotten a verbal commitment from Michael Beasley. Beasley broke his verbal with Charlotte and signed with K-State. Guy does shady stuff all the time.

Shady... does not NCAA violation make.