Quietly, one of Billy Gillispie’s ‘kiddie corps’ basketball recruits has made it to UK
Over the summer between his freshman and sophomore years of high school, Dakotah Euton fulfilled a life ambition.
In June of 2007, Billy Gillispie offered Euton a chance to play basketball — albeit four school years into the future — for the Kentucky Wildcats.
Euton said yes.
Freshly hired to reinvigorate a UK basketball recruiting operation that had grown stale in Tubby Smith’s final years, Gillispie adopted an unconventional approach. In his first two summers recruiting for Kentucky, Billy G. accepted commitments from four prospects who had yet to start their sophomore years in high school.
“Looking back, it was absolutely crazy,” Euton says.
None of those four super-early commits — Michael Avery, Euton, K.C. Ross-Miller nor Vinny Zollo — ever played for UK. In fact, before any of them had completed high school, Gillispie had been ousted as UK coach.
Yet, in recent years, one of Billy G..’s “kiddie corps” recruits has quietly made it to UK.
“Every Monday night, I’m over at the University of Kentucky,” Dakotah Euton says.
‘Combining Christ and sports’
As the Central Kentucky Area Director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Euton, 29, spends a lot of time working with middle school and high school athletes in Scott and Fayette counties.
“In the evenings, that’s when we do college ministry,” Euton says. “So, typically, every Monday, it’s UK. Then Tuesdays, we do Georgetown College.”
Now a married father of three, Euton says it was, in part, the way his dream of playing basketball for Kentucky unraveled that led him into the life he lives today.
At the time Euton committed to UK in 2007, he was a 6-foot-7 1/2 forward with a dialed-in outside shot. What should have been warning signs to recruiters, he was also “old for his class” at age 16 and was a below average run-and-jump athlete.
“In the game of basketball, unless you are 7-foot-2, 7-foot-3, 7-foot-4, you have to have a certain amount of athleticism — and I just didn’t have it,” Euton says. “I did everything I could to develop that. I jumped rope until I could have died. I did box jumps, VertiMax, I did all those things until I was blue in the face. But I could only take those weaknesses of my ‘unathleticism’ so far.”
After two tempestuous years as UK head man, Gillispie was fired in 2009. The staff of the new Kentucky coach, John Calipari, informed Euton that his Wildcats scholarship offer was no longer viable.
By the time Euton — who had transferred from Ashland’s Rose Hill Academy to Scott County for his final two seasons of high school basketball — was ready to pick a different college, his choices were down to Akron and Eastern Kentucky.
Under former EKU coach Jeff Neubauer, the Colonels played their post players out on the floor and let them fire three-pointers. Defensively, Eastern primarily played zone — ideal for a player who lacked foot speed.
“Basketball-wise, EKU, literally, could not have been a more perfect fit,” Euton says. “But I was not making a basketball decision. I knew if I went to Eastern, I had many friends already going there — and I love them — but I knew if I went there I would fall into being the same old Dakotah I had always been. I wanted college to be a fresh start.”
The one season Euton spent playing basketball for the Akron Zips was not memorable. He averaged 1.1 points and 0.9 rebounds in 14 games.
Yet he feels it was his life’s pivot point. “That was the year that God really used to humble me, to change my heart,” Euton says.
After that season, Euton transferred back to the commonwealth, choosing Asbury University, the private Christian liberal arts school in Wilmore.
While playing NAIA Division II basketball at Asbury, “I really felt like God was calling me into the ministry,” Euton says. “I didn’t know exactly what that was going to look like.”
During Euton’s senior season, Asbury Coach Will Shouse forwarded him an email about a possible job with the FCA, a non-profit Christian sports ministry.
Says Euton: “I thought it would be awesome to combine two of my main passions in life, Christ and sports.”
‘Something greater’ than basketball
When Euton speaks before groups that include adults, he says it is not uncommon for people to recognize his name.
Euton played for Scott County in the 2010 Boys’ Sweet Sixteen in Rupp Arena. He finished his high school career with lofty totals of 3,049 points and 1,547 rebounds.
He also got almost two years under the searing spotlight that falls on an in-state hoops player committed to UK.
The overarching message Euton feels compelled to impart to young athletes is drawn from his own playing experience.
“As I was growing up, my life was a roller coaster,” Euton says. “When I was playing well and things were going well, I was on cloud nine. But, when I would have a few bad games and things weren’t going my way, then all of a sudden, my life was a train wreck.
“Now, being able to go back and speak to middle school and high school and college athletes, I want to let them know that there is something greater than sports. They can put their identity and purpose in Christ, and know there is a greater purpose, a greater plan for their lives.”
Rather than reflect back on the “what ifs” from his playing days, Euton says he focuses on his life now, especially his roles as husband and father. He and his wife, Colby, have three sons — Titus, 5; Channing, 4; and Knox, 9 months.
Euton says he’s never spoken with Gillispie — recently hired as the new coach at Tarleton State — since the days when he was part of Billy G.’s unorthodox “youth movement.”
“I’m happy for him,” Dakotah Euton says. “Glad that he is doing well.”
This story was originally published April 30, 2020 at 5:07 PM.
