Kentucky basketball coach Billy Gillispie's job status was officially "unclear" as of this afternoon. Hearing that made me think of terms like "sort of married," or "partially dead," or "stabbed gently in the face," all being permanent conditions poorly masked by gentle modifiers.
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↵Gillispie is now slightly fired and kind of banished from the Kentucky job after just two middling seasons with the Wildcats, setting into motion a whole cavalcade of possible coaching shuffles and program turmoil. Kentucky will most assuredly pursue Billy Donovan, the ever-flirtatious coach who nearly left Florida two years ago for the Orlando Magic coaching job. Given the middle-age itch Donovan may be feeling and any tension between Florida and Donovan's wandering eyes, the probability of Donovan ending up in Lexington is certainly there.
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↵Other possibilities exist, though: Mike DeCourcy lists Texas' Rick Barnes and OSU's Travis Ford as real possibiliities, too. Recall this, though: Kentucky finds itself in this situation because of what many consider a rushed coaching search last time. Gillispie wouldn't be gone this quickly and unceremoniously if the university didn't have some kind of plan in place. Whether UK bothered to really think ahead this time or not will unfold over the next 24 hours...well, that's sorta kinda impossible to see at this point.
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↵Whoever it is, they're headed there fast: the assistants have been told to leave the building and clear out their desks by 5 p.m. (From the Herald-Leader's Twitter feed.)
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↵Gillispie is now slightly fired and kind of banished from the Kentucky job after just two middling seasons with the Wildcats, setting into motion a whole cavalcade of possible coaching shuffles and program turmoil. Kentucky will most assuredly pursue Billy Donovan, the ever-flirtatious coach who nearly left Florida two years ago for the Orlando Magic coaching job. Given the middle-age itch Donovan may be feeling and any tension between Florida and Donovan's wandering eyes, the probability of Donovan ending up in Lexington is certainly there.
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↵Other possibilities exist, though: Mike DeCourcy lists Texas' Rick Barnes and OSU's Travis Ford as real possibiliities, too. Recall this, though: Kentucky finds itself in this situation because of what many consider a rushed coaching search last time. Gillispie wouldn't be gone this quickly and unceremoniously if the university didn't have some kind of plan in place. Whether UK bothered to really think ahead this time or not will unfold over the next 24 hours...well, that's sorta kinda impossible to see at this point.
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↵Whoever it is, they're headed there fast: the assistants have been told to leave the building and clear out their desks by 5 p.m. (From the Herald-Leader's Twitter feed.)
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