on basketball
Ha! Duke got thoroughly trounced by Villanova. Woot!
Though Memphis also lost, and this makes me sad. I really wanted this to be their year.
And last but most importantly (if you're me), Kentucky lost to Notre Dame in the NIT. Which...may actually be a good thing in the long-term. If we had, say, won the NIT, or at least done better than this, there might have been more incentive to give Billy G. one more year, etc., and I just don't think any good could possibly come of that.
The rumors are flying on the internet message boards and comments--"BCG and staff already fired," "Billy Donovan on a plane to Lexington," "Barnhart [UK athletic director] talking to Calipari," "Will we get Pitino back?"--all of which are no more than wishful thinking, I'm sure. Officially, the university has said nothing, though I wouldn't be terribly surprised to learn by the end of the day that Gillispie has been fired. What happens after that, however, is anyone's guess.
The fan in me, of course, wants to put as much of the past two years behind me as possible, get going on a new start, preferably with the winningest coach we can possibly find.
The broke academic in me will point out the following, however: the economy is in bad shape. Universities are feeling this as much as everyone else. Faculty hiring at many North American universities--including, I believe, the University of Kentucky (they canceled their English jobs this past year, in any event)--is frozen, and in most of the places that didn't completely freeze it, it's dramatically reduced to essential hires only. Plenty of us with newly-minted or about-to-be-newly-minted PhDs are seriously considering career changes because the chance of some university somewhere hiring us is so bleak.
The men's basketball coach is the highest-paid employee of the University of Kentucky. If UK fires Gillispie, they will owe him millions in severance, and on top of that, they will have to offer an incredibly lucrative package to any coach of the caliber they're trying to attract. Meanwhile, they can't afford to hire any new faculty. I love college sports, but sometimes it does get rather ridiculous.
(I feel like Tami Taylor with the Jumbo-Tron...)
Though Memphis also lost, and this makes me sad. I really wanted this to be their year.
And last but most importantly (if you're me), Kentucky lost to Notre Dame in the NIT. Which...may actually be a good thing in the long-term. If we had, say, won the NIT, or at least done better than this, there might have been more incentive to give Billy G. one more year, etc., and I just don't think any good could possibly come of that.
The rumors are flying on the internet message boards and comments--"BCG and staff already fired," "Billy Donovan on a plane to Lexington," "Barnhart [UK athletic director] talking to Calipari," "Will we get Pitino back?"--all of which are no more than wishful thinking, I'm sure. Officially, the university has said nothing, though I wouldn't be terribly surprised to learn by the end of the day that Gillispie has been fired. What happens after that, however, is anyone's guess.
The fan in me, of course, wants to put as much of the past two years behind me as possible, get going on a new start, preferably with the winningest coach we can possibly find.
The broke academic in me will point out the following, however: the economy is in bad shape. Universities are feeling this as much as everyone else. Faculty hiring at many North American universities--including, I believe, the University of Kentucky (they canceled their English jobs this past year, in any event)--is frozen, and in most of the places that didn't completely freeze it, it's dramatically reduced to essential hires only. Plenty of us with newly-minted or about-to-be-newly-minted PhDs are seriously considering career changes because the chance of some university somewhere hiring us is so bleak.
The men's basketball coach is the highest-paid employee of the University of Kentucky. If UK fires Gillispie, they will owe him millions in severance, and on top of that, they will have to offer an incredibly lucrative package to any coach of the caliber they're trying to attract. Meanwhile, they can't afford to hire any new faculty. I love college sports, but sometimes it does get rather ridiculous.
(I feel like Tami Taylor with the Jumbo-Tron...)