Vlyrock
03-27-2007, 06:35 PM
http://media.collegepublisher.com/media/paper657/stills/92x0t5h5.jpgGillispie Rumors Continue
Oh, how quickly seasons change in Aggieland. Not even a week ago, A&M fans were driving in droves to watch the Gillispie led Aggies battle the Memphis Tigers in only the 3rd Sweet 16 game in Texas A&M history. Aggie basketball had reached a pinnacle not seen for decades and all was wonderful. Four days later, those same A&M fans felt like they hit rock bottom when rumors surfaced that Billy Gillispie was possibly leaving to go to another program.
News sources and internet message boards (not sure who's informing who) have reported that both Arkansas and Kentucky are interested in acquiring Gillispie's services. Fox Sports even went so far as to report that Arkansas had an agreement in principle. Nearly two full days have passed, and the Arkansas rumors have yet to come to fruition. And, with each day that passes, A&M is one day closer to hearing how much Gillispie means to Texas A&M. On Thursday, the Board of Regents are meeting and will vote on a salary increase for Gillispie. Many expect it to be approved, and many fans now hope that's enough to battle back any programs looking to pry one of the hottest coaching commodities from College Station.
Internet message boards tend to overreact as many anonymous posters claim to have anonymous sources that told them something guaranteed to be fact. 95% of those claims are false. That's where the saying comes from: "Don't believe everything you read." With that said, let's analyze Gillispie's situation to better gauge what could happen. Here's why Billy Gillispie will:
Go to Arkansas
Arkansas is more of a basketball school than A&M
Arkansas returns a majority of their roster, poising them for a tournament run.
They offer LOTS more money
He likes Arkansas
He likes to travel (recruiting will take him farther (and more places) because Arkansas doesn't have as many large, populated cities as Texas)
He does not care who his boss will be. The current AD (Broyles) is stepping down and is using this hire as his "last stamp" on the program.Stay at Texas A&M
BG is from Texas.
He has been a high school coach and has connections with Texas coaches. High school coaches tend to want to keep talent in state, so BG would have more success recruiting Texas kids staying in state.
BG is 1.5-2 hours from millions of potential recruits in Houston, Austin and San Antonio.
BG has become a "rock star" in College Station. What BG asks for - he'll most likely get.
BG is having a new basketball facility built that will be added on to Reed. This will help Texas A&M in the recruiting and preparation aspects of basketball.
Texas A&M has become a program that talented recruits are looking at now because of our recent success (and BG).
Given continued success, Gillispie will be the "Rupp" or "Pitino" at Kentucky, or the "Calhoun" of UCONN, or the "Dean Smith" of North Carolina. He'll be the guy that built the program.
Gillispie and Byrne see eye-to-eye on building a winning tradition/program at A&M.Go to Kentucky
Historically, UK is one of the top basketball programs.
Rebuilding UK wouldn't be as "hard" as other programs. They have not fallen that far, and given the history, fan base, and mystique, they could be a national powerhouse again soon.
UK is a basketball school. BG would be "The Man" on campus year round.
Recruiting for UK is not as difficult as other schools not named Texas A&M.
He would jump into the SEC as one of the top 3 teams. Possibly higher depending on the drop off at Florida, Tennessee and LSU.
Does not care about his own legacy. He'd be following in big footsteps (Rupp, Pitino, etc).Given the circumstances, most signs point to Gillispie staying in College Station (at least for the time being). A&M finished in the Top 10 this season and show no indications of dropping off. Texas has a deep recruiting pool of which BG now has the resume to be skimming the best ones off the top. This is no indication of him always being at Texas A&M, but most sources and signs point to BG sticking around at least 1 to 2 more years to finish riding this wave of success.
Oh, how quickly seasons change in Aggieland. Not even a week ago, A&M fans were driving in droves to watch the Gillispie led Aggies battle the Memphis Tigers in only the 3rd Sweet 16 game in Texas A&M history. Aggie basketball had reached a pinnacle not seen for decades and all was wonderful. Four days later, those same A&M fans felt like they hit rock bottom when rumors surfaced that Billy Gillispie was possibly leaving to go to another program.
News sources and internet message boards (not sure who's informing who) have reported that both Arkansas and Kentucky are interested in acquiring Gillispie's services. Fox Sports even went so far as to report that Arkansas had an agreement in principle. Nearly two full days have passed, and the Arkansas rumors have yet to come to fruition. And, with each day that passes, A&M is one day closer to hearing how much Gillispie means to Texas A&M. On Thursday, the Board of Regents are meeting and will vote on a salary increase for Gillispie. Many expect it to be approved, and many fans now hope that's enough to battle back any programs looking to pry one of the hottest coaching commodities from College Station.
Internet message boards tend to overreact as many anonymous posters claim to have anonymous sources that told them something guaranteed to be fact. 95% of those claims are false. That's where the saying comes from: "Don't believe everything you read." With that said, let's analyze Gillispie's situation to better gauge what could happen. Here's why Billy Gillispie will:
Go to Arkansas
Arkansas is more of a basketball school than A&M
Arkansas returns a majority of their roster, poising them for a tournament run.
They offer LOTS more money
He likes Arkansas
He likes to travel (recruiting will take him farther (and more places) because Arkansas doesn't have as many large, populated cities as Texas)
He does not care who his boss will be. The current AD (Broyles) is stepping down and is using this hire as his "last stamp" on the program.Stay at Texas A&M
BG is from Texas.
He has been a high school coach and has connections with Texas coaches. High school coaches tend to want to keep talent in state, so BG would have more success recruiting Texas kids staying in state.
BG is 1.5-2 hours from millions of potential recruits in Houston, Austin and San Antonio.
BG has become a "rock star" in College Station. What BG asks for - he'll most likely get.
BG is having a new basketball facility built that will be added on to Reed. This will help Texas A&M in the recruiting and preparation aspects of basketball.
Texas A&M has become a program that talented recruits are looking at now because of our recent success (and BG).
Given continued success, Gillispie will be the "Rupp" or "Pitino" at Kentucky, or the "Calhoun" of UCONN, or the "Dean Smith" of North Carolina. He'll be the guy that built the program.
Gillispie and Byrne see eye-to-eye on building a winning tradition/program at A&M.Go to Kentucky
Historically, UK is one of the top basketball programs.
Rebuilding UK wouldn't be as "hard" as other programs. They have not fallen that far, and given the history, fan base, and mystique, they could be a national powerhouse again soon.
UK is a basketball school. BG would be "The Man" on campus year round.
Recruiting for UK is not as difficult as other schools not named Texas A&M.
He would jump into the SEC as one of the top 3 teams. Possibly higher depending on the drop off at Florida, Tennessee and LSU.
Does not care about his own legacy. He'd be following in big footsteps (Rupp, Pitino, etc).Given the circumstances, most signs point to Gillispie staying in College Station (at least for the time being). A&M finished in the Top 10 this season and show no indications of dropping off. Texas has a deep recruiting pool of which BG now has the resume to be skimming the best ones off the top. This is no indication of him always being at Texas A&M, but most sources and signs point to BG sticking around at least 1 to 2 more years to finish riding this wave of success.