Louisville Courier Jornal Editorial: Coaches Behaving Badly -- And Embarrassing Us ALL. *SIGH*.

Coaches behaving badly

Memo to Rick Pitino and Billy Gillispie:
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Both of you guys, knock it off.

First, Mr. Pitino:

We hate it when public relations agents and defense attorneys advise their clients not to talk to the media. It makes our jobs harder. Yet, we understand. What we don't understand is why you don't understand that attacking the media for a personal nightmare of your own making usually isn't a smart move.

But, you did it anyhow, and we're thinking that if you were one of your own players, you would coach yourself not to let anger and frustration cause you to lose sight of the goal. And the goal, you have said, is your desire to allow your family to get on with healing in the face of nasty allegations about your sexual misbehavior.

You still have your job, and your family is still intact. Yes, the unpleasantness is going to linger for a while longer, even if there are no new revelations (and there better not be for the University of Louisville's sake). But Coach, if you were to be honest about it, more often than not you have been the beneficiary of good press, not just for being a great coach, but for being one of the best when it comes to motivating young men. Bottom line, Coach Pitino: Follow your own advice, stay cool, and let the justice system work.

As for you, Coach Gillispie — or more accurately, ex-Coach Gillispie — your challenge is to stay off the bottle, and if you can't, to stay off our roads before you kill somebody or kill yourself. Of course, you are presumed innocent until proven guilty, but this isn't your first suspected DUI; it's your third. It hardly bolsters your argument that the University of Kentucky was wrong to fire you.

Meanwhile, both of you stand as unfortunate examples of why parents should not depend on big-time coaches to be role models for their children.

We wish that weren't the case, but right now in Kentucky it would be hard to argue otherwise.