Gillispie learning ropes quickly at UK

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By LONNIE WHEELER
Scripps Howard News Service
Thursday, June 07, 2007

It was shortly after his resonant recruiting triumph _ Patrick Patterson _ and also after the one that came before, without the earth tremors _ Alex Legion _ that Billy Gillispie, Kentucky's new and very happy basketball coach, was out having dinner with his staff and was approached by two engaging young ladies.

"They were probably 25, 27 years-old, and they came over to introduce themselves and introduce their dates," Gillispie was recalling Wednesday, "and they were really, really, really nice. And then, two minutes later, they were talking about our incoming recruits and their style of play. You might get that somewhere else, but in Kentucky you get it from every age and gender. It's different."

It takes more than a couple months to truly understand how different. But it doesn't take as long to understand that.

"I'm just learning," the sweet-talking Texan said on the two-month anniversary of his hookup with Kentucky's infatuated constituency. "I'm aggressive on some things, but slow-moving on others. I think I'm an astute observer.

"I watch and see how people receive you, and with this position, anytime we go out for dinner, you can see that people have such a high, high respect for the position you hold. But I think I'll be able to tell you more after we've gone through an entire season and calendar year, gone through the gamut of recruiting, media and encounters with fans, the way those fans passionately love their Wildcats."

As those of us around here are well aware, the only thing Kentuckians love as passionately as their Wildcats is a coach who can take them where pride and tradition demand they should go. Tubby Smith did that. Just not enough.

They blamed it on recruiting. The common complaint _ the cause celebre of the commonwealth _ was that Smith was set in his ways when it came to recruiting, and his aging assistants were set in theirs, and the upshot was that kids like Patterson were ending up in places like Duke and Florida. And it was Duke and Florida, don't you know, that were still in the picture on the last day of the April signing period, when Patterson sat down in front of all the television cameras in Huntington, W. Va., and about half of the ones over the border, and put on the same hat that everybody wears in Ashland and Alexandria.

Patterson's mother, who liked Smith _ what mother wouldn't? _ had said, when Tubby left for Minnesota, that her son was no longer likely to play college basketball in the state next door. Gillispie's challenge had been carved out.

But that's the sort of thing that Billy Clyde gulps down like the Dr Peppers he drinks for breakfast. He wouldn't be at Kentucky if he weren't a recruiting artist, his style a cultivated combination of good-ol'-boy sociability and new-age communication skills. The man can slap a back with one hand and text-message a lanky high-school kid with the other.

Along those lines, incidentally, he's predictably not thrilled with the NCAA decision to prohibit text messaging from coach to recruit. "I would rather it had stayed in," Gillispie said. "But the reason you instill any rule is because there has been abuse, and I agree with that philosophy. I understand what they're trying to do. I just think text messaging gave us a great opportunity to develop relationships, because it's the common communication link today for people the age we're recruiting. So I really do like it.

"We just have to figure out a different way to communicate. I have an idea, but I'd rather not share that. I'd rather keep that amongst our staff."

Gillispie's unadvertised solution comes under the category of what Kentuckians would prefer not to know, if the secrecy might provide a competitive edge. They'd rather know how Legion, a Parade all-American who de-committed from Michigan after Tommy Maker was fired, will meld into the perimeter mix, and if Patterson, a top-10 recruit who led Huntington High to three straight state titles, is going to start at power forward next season, which can be arranged if Jared Carter is ready to assume the center position after a year off.

"Those guys are going to make a great impact on our program," said Gillispie, who intends to do the same. "Signing them was big for us because we addressed needs that we have. It was really important for a number of reasons, the least of which is because we recruited against certain schools."

Maybe so. But the most important recruit of the spring has been Gillispie himself, who gained Kentucky's attentions after Billy Donovan turned the job down. With no time to waste, he promptly took on the Florida coach in the biggest game of the offseason, for the best player out there. His triumph restored the shimmer in the commonwealth's fading shade of blue. He had, in fact, promised to do that.

"It's a genuine caring that the people have here, the passion they have for the sport," remarked the state's most conspicuous bachelor. "I think that's what makes them special, and I fit into the same boat. I care so much. I care a lot, and I know the fans care a lot. That's a great situation. It's not overwhelming. That's what makes Kentucky such a great place for basketball ...''

Billy Clyde has come to understand a lot in two months. He appears to be every bit the observer he claims to be.

And the recruiter he was hired to be.