Rick Bozich: Billy Gillispie Beat The University Of Kentucky System And Cost The School $192,500 Per Victory. *SIGH*.

Billy G cost UK $192,500 per victory
By Rick Bozich

The University of Kentucky officially said goodbye to its $7.7Million Mistake on Tuesday. Billy Gillispie could not beat Gardner-Webb or the Virginia Military Institute. He could, however, beat the system.

The last chapter has been filed for my nominee as Worst Hire in UK Basketball History, but don't forget to include a daunting collection of zeros and commas before you apply that final punctuation mark.

Take the nearly $3million Gillispie will receive from his settlement with the UK Athletic Association, all for doing nothing but keeping his mouth shut. Add $4.7million, a conservative estimate of what he earned during two unsettling seasons on the job.

Divide by 40 victories.

What do you get?

Heartburn — and a guy who earned roughly $192,500 per win.

I realize inflation is an unforgiving bear, but that's a sweet deal when you consider that John Wooden never earned more than $35,000 per season during his run of 10 NCAA titles at UCLA.

(And a belated Happy Birthday to the Wizard of Westwood, who turned a glorious 99 Wednesday. Ah, the good old days. Nobody ever paid Wooden to shut up and go away.)

If you analyze it in the current economic climate of furloughs and layoffs, it is an appalling waste of resources in a world where nearly 10,000 people applied for 90 positions building washing machines for $27,000 per year plus benefits at General Electric.

Billy's Bye-Bye (or is it the Billy Boo-Boo?) should inspire another debate:

Which job was more poorly executed: Gillispie's on the UK bench or athletic director Mitch Barnhart's during the rushed recruiting of Gillispie from Texas A&M in 2007?

As much as Gillispie struggled with basketball strategy, he was worse with public relations and people skills. He could be brusque, difficult, stubborn and needlessly rude (See Jeannine Edwards interviews, Parts I and II). In a team sport, Gillispie was rarely a team player.

It was Part B, more than Part A, which led to his hasty but absolutely necessary dismissal two years into what was supposed to be a six-season run as Tubby Smith's successor. This was never going to end well.

It was Part B, more than Part A, which should have been uncovered during an exhaustive look into what UK was buying when Barnhart turned to Gillispie after he was turned down by Billy Donovan and Rick Barnes.

Only a hunch, but I'm guessing Gillispie didn't become brusque, difficult, stubborn and needlessly rude when he arrived in Lexington. There was documented evidence of his issues from two arrests for driving under the influence before his arrival at UK.

UK's response? Not going to be a problem. Billy's our guy. Shut up and enjoy the pep rally.

Barnhart faced his caveat-emptor moment early in the Gillispie era, when the coach simply would not sign a contract. They negotiated and negotiated. All they could agree upon was this: Gillispie's original memorandum of understanding would serve as his contract.

At least that's what UK kept saying — until it was time to ditch Gillispie. Then it wasn't a contract, at least not a contract that would entitle Gillispie to $6million. He would be paid $1.5million.

Turned out he got about twice that — for doing nothing.

Gillispie is not the first guy to walk away wealthy and laughing. Add his name to a list that includes Kelvin Sampson, Hal Mumme, Ron Cooper, Gerry DiNardo and too many others.

You don't have to beat Gardner-Webb. You only have to beat the system.

Reach Rick Bozich at (502) 582-4650 or rbozich@courier-journal.com. Comment on this column, and read his blog and previous columns, at www.courier-journal.com/bozich.