Kentucky basketball coach Billy Gillispie made his first visit to Maysville today. Kentucky is one of several major colleges that are recruiting Mason County junior Darius Miller. Coaches are not allowed to talk about recruits, but Gillispie and I discussed a number of other topics during a brief interview. What are his thoughts about the first week on the job?
"Obviously excited. It's one of the best positions in college basketball. Obviously you're in a place that has unbelievable and probably unmatched passion for the sport that I love the most; I've finally found some people that have the same kind of passion that I do."
A lot of the national media has played up the high ( and sometimes unrealistic) expectations the UK fans have. Gillispie doesn't seem worried about them.
"You never know about anything until you live through it," Gillispie said. "I look forward to it. It's a great challenge. I want to cut down the nets. I've got a great opportunity here, that's the reason I'm here- is to cut down nets. That's what the people expect, but no one expects it more than me, and so I do look it as a positive more so than any kind of negative it could ever be."
Gillispie coached Texas A & M to two victories in Rupp Arena in the NCAA Tournament. He has also experienced Rupp Arena as an opposing assistant coach. Gillispie was on Bill Self's staff when Kentucky rallied to beat Tulsa in the 1997-98 season.
"It got really, really, really loud when the 'Cats got going, and what a great homecourt advantage it was," Gillispie said. "And I look forward to being a part [of it] on the right side this time."
It's been a hectic first week on the job for the new coach, but he's not looking for it to slow down
"You want to try to get some things taken care of," he said. "You want to develop relationships with your players. You want to establish recruiting things, and that's what we're trying to do right now. We're trying to put a staff together, but there's not any off-season anymore."
Gillispie showed his sense of humor when I told him I read that fans were posting messages on the Internet about where he was dining out.
"That's fine, I've gotta eat and nobody's cooking for me," Gillispie said.
Jeremy Cox, an assistant on Gillispie's staff at Texas A & M, also made the trip to Maysville.
I found Gillispie to be very down to earth. He didn't have to take the time to talk to me, but he did.
He says he can't wait until the Wildcats start playing next season. I'm sure the fans feel the same way.
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