By midday tomorrow, the University of Kentucky is expected to announce that Billy Gillispie has either been fired or “resigned” as the head basketball coach, a decision that was apparently made the morning after the Wildcats lost in the second round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament. If the decision is that Gillispie is gone, then all eyes will turn immediately to Gainesville and Billy Donovan. He turned the Wildcats down two years ago. Will he turn them down twice? That is the question that will have every Gator holding his breath for the next 48 or so hours.
Two years ago after Tubby Smith resigned in Lexington, I had no doubt that Billy would turn Kentucky down. He had just won his second straight NCAA championship at Florida and I thought the only thing that could make him move was a pro offer from the New York Knicks. I was wrong about the team but right about the pro offer. It came from the Orlando Magic and for a day, he was an NBA coach, saying he needed a new challenge.
We know the rest of the story. Cold feet on the way home. A press conference in Gainesville where he started thinking “Oh my gosh, what the heck have I done?” or words to that effect. Bunkering in at his home with Larry Shyatt and talking it out and then the call the next day to the Magic to say, “I’ve really screwed up.”
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