Rumor has it that Kentucky head coach Billy Gillispie is on the hot seat, and that seat is incredibly hot. Kentucky is in the NIT this season and only managed to make the first round of the NCAA tournament last season. But Gillispie’s team’s performance is not the only reason the coach is in hot water. Gillispie’s ability to handle the media and the pressures of being the head coach at one of the most prestigious programs in the country is being called into question by many reporters that cover Kentucky basketball. Gillispie has done some strange things to warrant these criticisms such as get a commitment from an 8th grader. Gillispie has managed to bring in top talent to Kentucky but it’s how he handles this talent that is getting him into trouble.
So how does this affect Virginia? Well when Gillispie took the job in 2007 he was really Kentucky’s second choice. Ideally Kentucky would have landed Billy Donovan, head coach at Florida, who was coming off back to back national championships. Donovan however declined the offer and decided instead to build up the Florida program. If Gillispie is fired then you can bet that Kentucky will get Donovan on the horn within the minute, and this time Donovan may listen. Florida has also been struggling of late and its becoming clear that no matter how Donovan tries it will always be a football first school. If Donovan wants to coach at one of the premier basketball schools in the country and have a premier program than the jump to Kentucky makes sense. If that happens that sets up Anthony Grant for his return trip to Florida. It is becoming more and more obvious that for some reason Grant feels the SEC is a better basketball conference to coach in than the ACC. Grant will most likely jump all over the Florida job if it becomes available.
So that leaves Virginia, Alabama, and Georgia as the big programs in need of coaches, and Sean Miller of Xavier, Jeff Capel of Oklahoma, and Tubby Smith of Minnesota, as the big names left. Smith will not be making a return to Georgia and probably won’t leave for Alabama either. If he goes anywhere it will be UVA but it appears he’s staying put. That leaves Sean Miller of Xavier and Jeff Capel of Oklahoma as candidates for the 3 jobs. While I think UVA is far and away the best job out there I also think Alabama will be able to shell out a lot of money to get who they want. This could turn into a disaster for UVA and make them pay much more than they expected to land one of those two coaches. And every time their teams advance that price goes up and up. In the end I have to believe that Capel will end up at UVA for the reasons stated in yesterday’s entry, but I don’t think it will be cheap to get him. If Grant ends up in Florida Capel shoots to the top of the Alabama and Georgia list of candidates, which means his market value shoots up too. Let’s hope for UVA’s sake that Gillispie keeps his job as he is now the domino at the head of the line.
Other Cantidate for the Georgia job since I think they’re going to lose out on Miller and Capel are Frank Haith of Miami, Baylor Coach Scott Drew, Dayton Coach Brian Gregory, and Siena Coach Fran McCaffery
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