Mostly positive response to the Billy Gillispie tactics column, but there were a couple of quibbles.
Mary wrote:
It is very sad that you and Jerry Tipton are obsessed with our former coach. Now though you have printed a story that will serve to humiliate Josh Harrellson in future. In your zeal to tell yet another tale about Billy Gillispie ( not at all new news) you have now confirmed in print an humiliating incident.
I have worked with young people for many years. The student who says “it does not matter”..or ” I just shrugged it off,” rarely does. We can assume that not all students have the wonderful support system like Pat Patterson does in his parents. They are truly unique. Does anyone ever reign you in when you are hurting a young totally innocent athlete? Josh is just caught in the middle of your and Tipton’s inability to find another story. Yes Josh was a victim of bullying. Yes some people knew it happened. Others heard about it. But those who saw it choose not to repeat it because they realized how hurtful it was..but not you. And as to why he confirmed it with Jerry Tipton when asked? Well many young people are so anxious to please an adult, that they will act against their own self interests in order to do so.
I find it hard to believe that you did not realize the long term consequences of printing a story like that. Everyone knows that Gillispie’s method of coaching was outdated. You did not have to humiliate a student to prove that. So the student was victimized twice..first by Gillispie and now you…. If I didn’t know better, I would think that the legal department at UK was signing your and Tipton’s paycheck.
My response: While it is unfortunate if Harrellson suffers any additional embarrassment over the episode, my feeling is that methods such as Gillispie’s should be exposed and condemned whenever possible.
Jim wrote:
I read your article in today’s Herald-Leader on Billy Gillispie. While it was insightful as to how Billy treated his players and his motivational style your comparison to Bob Knight while tempting was not completely accurate. Both coaches liked to use profanity in coaching their players but that is where similarity in their coaching styles ends. While Bob banished players from practice he never banished a player to a bathroom stall. And to my knowledge he never made a player ride home in an equipment truck. Bob had anger management problems and other boorish behavior off the court that ultimately led to his dismissal at Indiana. But he remains highly respected in the coaching community. I am not sure Billy Gillispie has that same respect.
My response: In John Feinstein’s book Season on the Brink, the story is told of how Knight once put a feminie hygiene product in a player’s locker. I believe the comparisons between Gillispie and Knight are apt.
John Clay is a sports columnist for the Lexington Herald-Leader. A native of Central Kentucky and graduate of UK, he covered UK football for 13 seasons before being promoted to columnist in 2000. He lives in Lexington with his wife and two sons. You can e-mail him at jclay@herald-leader.com.
When Harrellson makes it public himself there’s really no reason to argue. Besides, at least John isn’t as bad as that Alan Cutler douche.
High praise.
I am a KY native and I now live in Indiana. I am still a die hard UK fan. Therefore, what people say about Gillespie’s tactics not being like Bob Knight is wrong. I have heard some stories about Knight from some former players and people close to the program. The difference is Knight won and won a lot. Gillespie lost and alienated the team and fans. If Gillespie was as successful as Knight the story of Harrelson would have been considered a myth. Maybe Gillespie coached in the wrong error.
Go Cats, Good Luck Coach Cal. I just hope we can keep our Final Four banners. We should be getting some.
Seriously? I really wish Mary was kidding. Newsflash to the people outside of the Kentucky bubble: there are still plenty of folks out there unaware of Gillespie’s rather abhorrent actions. They should be widely publicized (nationally, in my opinion), if only to quell much of the nation’s idea that UK fired Billy G and hired Calipari because of some “win at all costs” viewpoint. I like to think that the University simply caught on to the fact that Gillespie was a less than capable coach, with less than acceptable, utterly antiquated coaching methodologies. Harrellson’s embarrassment, if any, is a very unfortunate byproduct of this, but not something that should be swept under the rug because it bothers you, and you assume it bothers him.
I love the response John. It made me literally laugh out loud!!!
John,
I personally thank you for your article on Billy Gillispie. If Josh Harrelson were that embarrassed, he would have never told the story.
I have “bled blue” for 70plus years. My husband and I felt that something was terribly wrong with the team for the two years that Gillispie was here. We heard “rumors”, but they were mostly about his personal behavior - nothing substantial about his coaching. Now we have heard an authentic story from a young man who suffered his humiliation.
I believe we all learned long ago that that isn’t the best way to teach young people - whether it is basketball or life.
Personally, I am glad that Gillispie is gone. I pray that we never have another coach use those tactics.
As much as I have loved seeing “my team” win - and I have been fortunate enough to see quite a few of those- I never want it to be done in that manner.
We shall hope that Coach Cal doesn’t go “there”. If he does, then we need to look elsewhere once again.
Just as the H-L has exposed a lot of things that have been going on in our state that needed to be corrected, we need to be able to depend on you sport’s writers to tell us what is really going on with athletics at the University. Not rumors - but proven facts. How better than from the kids themselves.\
Harrelson has nothing to be embarassed about. He did nothing wrong. But the person that was supposed to be the leader and molder of these young men certainly did something antiquated and idiotic. Sad thing is this is not an isolated incident.
Good article, people need to know what really happened these last 2 seasons.