UK notebook: Gillispie's misstep might hurt the most

In big-time athletics, Winning helps erase fans' memories of a coach's missteps

Jerry Tipton / Herald-Leader Staff Writer

Billy Gillispie reached agreement with UK, in which the former coach will get almost $3 million from UK.

Which Kentucky coach past or present most damaged his career this year:

■ Rick Pitino? Sex scandal included he said-she said accusations of extortion and hush money that included payment for an abortion.

■ Billy Gillispie? A DUI charge was his third alcohol-related arrest.

■ John Calipari? He became the only coach in college basketball history to have two Final Four appearances vacated because of rules violations.

In judging, don't forget to consider the difference winning makes.

Winning excuses a lot (see Knight, Bobby), so Gillispie, who hasn't won at the rate of Pitino or Calipari, did the most harm to his professional career.

"If Billy Gillispie was a Hall of Fame-quality coach, people would find a way to say, well, you've got to give him another chance," ESPN commentator Dick Vitale said in a recent interview.

Vitale said a third DUI arrest is "devastating" for an unemployed coach such as Gillispie. If Gillispie had won more and been celebrated as a coaching titan, he'd be better situated to absorb the hit to his reputation. The big winner is colorful. Mere mortals have a problem.

"It's sad," Vitale said. "It's unfortunate. But that's the way society is. With anything in life, be it the corporate world or the athletic world, the little guy gets shunted to the side all the time."

Southeastern Conference basketball consultant C.M. Newton agreed that winning equates to diplomatic immunity. Money is the reason. A proven winner is a proven money maker for athletic programs ever in need of more revenue to pay six- and seven-figure salaries.

"Intercollegiate athletics has gotten to be a bottom-line business," said Newton, a former UK player and athletic director. "So many decisions are made on that business basis."

CBS Sports reporter Tony Barnhart, who also contributes to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, also saw Gillispie as most vulnerable.

"Pitino will be forgiven," he wrote in an e-mail. "Calipari's critics will move on. Both Pitino and Calipari have been to multiple Final Fours. They are a proven commodity. Gillispie will find it much more difficult to get his next high-profile opportunity."

Winning brings another positive byproduct. To paraphrase one of Pitino's book titles, success isn't a choice. It's a necessity. So the programs with winning traditions are more determined and more capable of recovering.

"Where some of those programs have not recovered from those embarrassments (Iowa State, Georgia), Louisville and Kentucky will endure," said columnist Blair Kerkhoff of The Kansas City Star. "Winning basketball is too important."

Jay Bilas, one of ESPN's college basketball analysts, saw the problems of Pitino and Gillispie as "personal failings." Drunk driving is a serious offense, thus making Gillispie's career most in doubt.

Although Kerkhoff noted that Larry Eustachy got another job after an Internet posting of photographs showing him drinking with co-eds. That makes the Kansas City-based writer confident that Gillispie will resurface.

Kerkhoff saw Pitino facing multiple problems as the butt of jokes in enemy gyms and a recruiter with a fresh controversy to explain away. "And how could any player take seriously a message of personal responsibility (from Pitino)?" he asked.

All agreed that Calipari is best positioned to move forward. The NCAA did not directly implicate him in either Final Four abdication (UMass in 1996, Memphis in 2008). Bilas wrote a lengthy defense, noting that the NCAA cleared Derrick Rose to play.

"For people to simply seize on the common denominator is Cal is incredibly unfair," Bilas said. "I think it's ridiculous."

Rex on Davender

In an e-mail sent Thursday morning, former UK teammate Rex Chapman vouched for Ed Davender's basic honesty and good nature. But Chapman acknowledged his disappointment that police charged Davender with three felony counts of theft by deception last week in connection with allegations of selling UK tickets he did not possess.