Billy Clyde Gillispie might have some insight into that query.
Gillispie has been the ultimate climber in basketball coaching. For a quarter-century, he has paid every due, logged thousands of miles and hours to finally land one of the handful of plumb jobs his line of work has to offer. Few are offered and few would turn down the prestige and millions of dollars that come with being the men’s basketball coach at Kentucky.
Gillispie and my career paths collided way back in the late 1980s when we were both in New Braunfels. He was an up-and-comer, having already spent a few years as a student assistant at Texas State, a few more under Bo Burgess at Killeen and a year as the head man at Copperas Cove.
After one year at Cove he moved on to New Braunfels Canyon. I was working for the local paper with a funny German name. He was always friendly and always had time to talk basketball.
Gillispie ricocheted back to this area after a couple of years to take over at Killeen Ellison. His shining moment in three years there came in 1993 when the Eagles denied No. 1-ranked Temple its first state tournament trip in 61 years.
The Wildcats, coached by Harry Miller, had beaten Ellison four previous times before meeting a fifth time in the Class 5A Region II final. Ellison stunned the Wildcats 65-61 to reach the Final Four and end the season of probably the best Temple team in history.
I ran into Gillispie at another state tournament many moons ago. I recall him asking me rhetorically, “Why did we ever leave New Braunfels?” I know why I did and I’m sure it was pretty much the same reason he did - to find bigger and better opportunities in our chosen fields.
Only with Gillispie he kept on moving and climbing, never staying in one place more than three years. He left Ellison for the first of a few assistant posts - a year at South Plains before joining Miller’s staff at Baylor for a few years, then with Bill Self at Tulsa before following Self to Illinois for a couple more.
Gillispie, with his recruiting connections, turned around Texas-El Paso’s program in two seasons. He loved that job, but the money and the prestige weren’t there. So he found his way back into the Big 12 Conference to take over moribund Texas A&M and got the Aggies in the Sweet 16 in just three years.
The driven yet amiable country boy from Graford - about the size of Milano - was a great fit in College Station. It’s a culture where he could have spent his remaining days recruiting Texas and beyond, making annual trips to the NCAA Tournament and keeping the Aggie faithful happy.
But Gillispie, who played junior college ball at Ranger, is a basketball guy and loves places that thrive on basketball, not as a second-fiddle filler between football season and spring football. He cashed in on being one of the hottest coaching commodities in the nation by taking over at Kentucky. Two mediocre seasons - horrific by the Wildcats’ standards - and Gillispie is available again, this time not of his own accord.
Sometimes the best jobs aren’t the right jobs. A&M wasn’t the best job, but it suited Gillispie’s below-the-radar style if not his wanderlust.
These things remind of coaches such as Bob McQueen and Don Godwin. They fended off overtures to leave Temple and Rogers, respectively, for greater football jobs elsewhere for years. But they were in the right jobs in the right towns for them.
Billy Clyde, who will turn 50 this year, will be fine. His name is being used in the same sentence with Texas Tech lately because it’s probably a good fit. The Red Raiders have a coach, but some feel Pat Knight was force-fed to them by his father, Bob. Knight may be considered expendable after another lackluster season, interrupted briefly by an embarrassing midcourt tirade that brought back memories of his dad’s chair-throwing heyday.
Yes, Gillispie will resurface. He’s too good. Only this time maybe it will be at a place that’s right for him.
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Former Temple girls basketball player Kaetlyn Murdoch completed a successful freshman season at the University of Denver. In fact, it was better than any other freshman in the Sun Belt Conference.
Murdoch was voted Freshman of the Year by coaches and media. She started the Pioneers’ last 21 games and averaged 9.7 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. In one game she blocked 13 shots to become the first freshman in recorded NCAA history to do so. Murdoch is one of the key reasons the Pioneers went from 11-19 to 16-15 in the last two seasons and from 6-12 to 10-8 in conference.
“Kaetlyn’s competitiveness, work ethic and sense for the game allowed her to come in and have an immediate impact on our program,” Denver coach Erik Johnson said in a release. “She is a great kid and an absolute pleasure to coach.”
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Former Rogers football warhorse Jacob Bane still is strapping on the pads and looking for somebody to hit.
Injuries have slowed the linebacker at Central Arkansas. Bane, who was back in the area recently to watch sister Jenna play third base for the Temple softball team, currently is rehabbing from shoulder surgery.
Not that Bane ever needs much incentive to get on the field, but he really wants to be in playing shape for the Bears’ opener Sept. 4, when they face Hawaii in Honolulu.
That’s a road trip everyone likes to make.
