A Heretical Thought About the BB Coaching Job

Like most Dawg fans, my main interest in the NCAA basketball tournament has been the potential impact on our prospects for hiring a top-notch coach to revive our sadly depressed program.  Now that the dominoes are finally beginning to fall in Lexington and Tuscaloosa, I, too, hope Damon Evans can land Jeff Capel or Mike Anderson, though I'm very skeptical that either will come to Athens or stay there for long. 

So: if those easy calls fall through, it's time to back up and ask what we most need, and that's even easier: a strong recruiter (Felton's main shortcoming in this prospect-rich territory) who knows how to rebuild a fallen program, and who won't be looking around for an opening elsewhere after that first trip to the NCAAs. 

And if you're objective about it, the very available coach who most fits that profile is--think about it before you scream--Billy Gillispie. 

Yes, I know, you hate to resort to a fired coach from another SEC team, but even Gillispie's detractors in Lexington keep saying, accurately, that his main problem there was that he was a "poor fit" for that insane atmosphere.  Stands to reason he might be a "good fit" somewhere else. 

And it well might be in Athens.  The man is without a doubt a great recruiter; his recruiting had a lot to do with Bill Self's success at Tulsa and Illinois, and he had nationally ranked recruiting classes at A&M and at Kentucky. 

Gillispie also has one of the best "rebuilding" records around, getting a completely moribund UTEP program into the NCAAs in two years, and lifting one of the most consistently underperforming programs in the country, at Texas A&M, to consistent excellence.  He was Big 12 Coach of the Year twice; think about the competition he had for that.  Clearly UK was too hasty in hiring him (after stupidly running off Tubby), but it's not as though his record didn't merit it. 

In terms of how he'd act in Athens: Gillispie is 49 years old, and would likely consider Georgia his last stop; he's just been humiliated by UK, and I suspect he'd love nothing more than the chance to coach at a competing SEC school.  The factors that made him a "poor fit" at Kentucky--crazy expectations, and an imperious group of big donors--won't be an issue at all at UGA.  His occasional over-zealousness as a recruiter worries me a bit, but he's never gotten a team on probation.  And his work ethic is undoubted by anybody.

So think about it, Dawg BB fans.  Yes, it's nice to hope that we can outbid other schools for the current Big Names, but if that doesn't work out, we could almost certainly hire someone without a lot of trouble whose Big Name may have gotten tarnished for reasons partially beyond his control, and for other reasons he can correct.

And as a bonus, it would be nice to have UK subsidize a basketball revival at Georgia with that buyout they are going to eat. 

Just thought I'd throw this out for brainfood and as a conversation starter as we wait for the Spring Game.