Comments on: E-mailbag: Reaction to Billy Gillispie column

By: Gary

Gary — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 09:54:42 +0000

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.

By: Sue N. Allen

Sue N. Allen — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 01:44:40 +0000

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.\

By: Scott Anderson

Scott Anderson — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 22:41:46 +0000

I love the response John. It made me literally laugh out loud!!!

By: Delaware

Delaware — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:54:27 +0000

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.

By: Rod

Rod — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:53:01 +0000

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.

By: John Clay

John Clay — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:31:08 +0000

High praise.

By: flomp83

flomp83 — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:19:14 +0000

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.