It’s sad that nobody in the media has called out Kentucky basketball coach Billy Gillispie on the shabby way he treated Mark Coury. You remember Coury, right? He was the big, hard-working walk-on who was good enough to start 29 of 31 games last season but not good enough to be given a scholarship.
This sends a lousy message not only to the eight walk-ons on this season’s team, but to everyone who believes college sports should be about more than winning games and making money. By all account, Coury was a good student, which is more than can be said for some of Gillispie’s incoming recruits.
Tubby Smith would have given a scholarship to a walk-on who gave as much as Coury. Ditto for Rick Pitino, Tom Crean, Mike Krzyzewski and just about any other first-class college coach you can name. But not Gillispie. He pushed Coury out the door so he could bring in somebody more talented.
No question, the 6-foot-8 Coury was seriously lacking in the talent department. But he scrapped and hustled. He did everything his coach asked. He hung in there when some quit and others were thinking about it. And he did start all but two games.
But rather than reward Coury for his dedication, Gillispie let him transfer. Wherever he ends up, I’m sure I join many right-thinking Wildcat fans in thanking him for his contributions and wishing him the best.
Unfortunately, that’s not all that can – and should – be deplored as “Midnight Madness” approaches on Friday night.
I’ve never been to “Midnight Madness” and am proud of it. Cawood Ledford was the same. The beloved “Voice of the Wildcats” avoided the event like the plague. We agreed that it had little or nothing to do with basketball and everything to do with excess.
The way we looked at it, the last thing the players at UK – or anywhere, for that matter – need are a couple of hours of pure, unadulterated hero worship. No wonder so many of them develop inflated egos.
Of course, the Cats are hardly the only program to adopt the gimmick that was invented by Lefty Driesell at Maryland in the early 1970s. It’s just that anything UK has a pathological need to prove that anything you can do, it can do better (and, of course, bigger).
Now, only a few months after he was at the center of a national controversy about the ethics of offering scholarships to eighth- or ninth-graders, Gillispie is back on the cutting edge of another developing ethical controversy, this time about UK’s decision to jump the gun on the rest of the nation by holding “Madness” a week earlier than just about anybody else.
Here’s what I found on Rivals.com:
Read the Rest After the Jump…
Leave it to Kentucky.
The Wildcats figured out a way to grab the stage all to themselves for the start of basketball practice. Instead of waiting to open on the NCAA-mandated Friday, Oct. 17, they’ll hold “Big Blue Madness” a week earlier, on Oct. 10.
UK found a loophole. The NCAA allows two hours of team workouts per week beginning Sept. 15. The Wildcats will save their two hours that week and use them on Oct. 10, no doubt in front of a packed house at Rupp Arena.
Is it fair? Will other schools follow suit, or will the NCAA add to its already-brimming rulebook to say no one can do this?
We asked basketball editor Bob McClellan and staff writer Andrew Skwara to debate the merits of moving up for Midnight Madness type of activities. Here is what they said:SKWARA’S PICK: LET ‘EM ALL MOVE UP
Kentucky is obviously taking advantage of a loophole in the rules here, but it makes sense for more schools to do the same.
Every year, several teams have trouble deciding whether to hold a “Midnight Madness” to open the start of practice.Some coaches don’t like it. They want to use the first practice to set a tone instead of starting the season off with slam dunks and a 3-point shootout. Some are worried about not having enough fan support. Others, like the Wildcats, are worried about sharing the spotlight with a football team who has a game that upcoming weekend.
The NCAA can fix much of that by allowing all teams to pick one day between Sept. 15 and the “official” start of practice where they can host their versions of Midnight Madness.
It also would allow prospects to see what Midnight Madness is like at a handful of schools, instead of having to pick just one. Kentucky will have a big advantage in the recruiting game since their event will be a week before everyone else’s this year. Changing the rules will create a more even playing ground for everyone.
MCCLELLAN: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
Isn’t this getting to be a little silly? Midnight Madness got its start because someone – Lefty Driesell in particular – wanted to get a jump on the competition. He figured he could start practice at midnight since it technically was the first minute of the first day he was allowed to begin practice.
Driesell’s brainchild mushroomed from there. First it was an innocent midnight mile run. Within a few years, thousands were coming to see an intrasquad scrimmage.
But these events really are elitist. In the midst of football season, how many of the 341 schools that play basketball really are capable of holding a legit Midnight Madness in which the fan base is truly interested?
Maybe 10?
It’s much ado about nothing. It’s a practice. Are we really talking about practice? Where is Allen Iverson when you need him?
I can only praise Kentucky for a great idea. They get the stage to themselves, and it’s a nice recruiting tool, too. Should others follow suit? No. Should the Wildcats or anyone else be allowed to continue the practice? No.
Somehow, given UK’s history of trouble with the NCAA, I’m not comfortable with the knowledge that Gillispie is looking for loopholes that force both the NCAA and the National Association of Basketball Coaches to review policies and change rule.
Many of his peers censured him for offering scholarships to kids who had yet to play a minute of high school ball. Now, apparently, the both the NCAA and the coaches’ association will address Gillispie’s “coup” with “Midnight Madness.”
It’s too bad for Mark Coury – or is it? – that he’s not around to experience Year II of the Gillispie Era of UK hoops.
35 responses so far ↓
1 Doug // Oct 9, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Nice piece of trash you hired UK…
2 s.smith // Oct 9, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Billy there you go again. You know when you are critical of UK Athletics you invite hate mail. Latest statistics from the UK Athletics Department, we are number one and nothing else in this world matters.
3 will smith // Oct 9, 2008 at 6:16 pm
I don’t think Mark is good enough to get a scholarship. Mark is going to have a good career in another school.
Bill, I have to say to you: Cao!
4 clippergap // Oct 9, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Hey Billy,
What a scumbag you are! May a large truck roll slowly over your sorry head.
5 j.austin // Oct 9, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Hey Billy, what if Coack K or your beloved Coach Roy Williams would have moved Madness to this week, what if they had sent Mark Coury packing, would they be the lowlife that you paint Coach Gillispie to be. I WOULD BE WILLING TO BET THAT THERE WOULD NOT BE A SINGLE ARTICLE WRITTEN ABOUT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT IS ABSOLUTELY PATHETIC THAT YOU SO CALLED JOURNALISTS LOOK FOR ANYTHING THAT YOU CAN WRITE WHICH IS NEGATIVE ABOUT KY BASKETBALL. GET A LIFE AND FIND SOMEBODY ELSE TO PICK ON IN THE BASKETBALL WORLD I.E. THE MEDIA DARLINGS FROM DURHAM OR CHAPEL HILL.
SINCERELY,
ALL KY B-BALL FANS
6 Dan Simon // Oct 10, 2008 at 7:41 am
Billy- here you go pushing your agenda against BCG again- give it a rest nobody cares about you- you’re not relevant and haven’t been for quite some tiime
7 Colin Hennessey // Oct 10, 2008 at 8:46 am
If Billy ran another sub-talented team out on the floor because he gave out scholarships to hard working guys who could have never made a team at UK, you would be the first to ask for his job. Make some headlines some other way.
8 Michael // Oct 10, 2008 at 9:34 am
Honestly Billy, he started the guy all last season over many other talented players. That sounds like he really has it out for Mark Coury doesn’t it? If you didn’t want a kid on your team, why would you start him all season, play him a lot more than the fans even wanted you too, and then give him the boot? Doesn’t have any logic to it at all, like most of your stories. Why don’t you try asking Mr. Coury what went down?
9 John O'Brien // Oct 10, 2008 at 9:39 am
That would be “Midnight Madness”. Mark Coury started last year because he was rewarded for his hard work ethic and performance during practice. When he was given an opportunity to shine during a game situation he never rose to the occasion. How about all of the other UK students who are hard working and good students……. should they all be given basketball scholarships regardless of their talent level?
10 scoretowin // Oct 10, 2008 at 9:45 am
Bill,
I really feel bad for you. You used to have such a good name and reputation as a writer. However, in the last five years you have decided to on run on your reputation and not actually work. Big Blue Madness is a celebration for the the fans and an opportunity to recruit. It has been used by the majority of NCAA schools for that purpose for the last 20 or so years. Kentucky is no pioneer in moving the practice date up either. Illinois has there scheduled for the same date. They were the first do do this. And, as far as bigger, Illinois is also holding thier Madness at the football stadium. We all know what Mark Coury brought to the team last year. And, everyone is well aware that he was not good enough for a scholarship. If you truly believe he earned it. Then I feel even more sorry for you. Maybe it is time to lay the pen down and enjoy the golden years. Just like Pitino and Rupp, Billy G is taking Kentucky back to the top. I guess you had the same problems with them.
11 Shane Burgin // Oct 10, 2008 at 10:11 am
Are college coaches not paid to produce wins and championships? Tubby, Roy or coach K aren’t paid to be a 1st class guys who would hand out schollys to guys who work hard but just aren’t good enough. They are paid to produce wins and titles, and paid quite well mind you. BCG did what every other coach who wanted to win would have done. Do what he needed to do to put the best possible team on the floor. We all loved Mark and for his contributions we thank him and wish him the best of luck, but in no way shape or form did I think he was worthy of a scholly.
12 Your Worst Nightmare // Oct 10, 2008 at 10:19 am
You are a piece of work. Did Gillispie sleep with your wife or something?
The man has broken NO rules…
Your hatred of Kentucky knows no bounds…
PS- Mark Coury isn’t that good, but he was very much welcomed back to the team this year, as a walk-on.
13 Shawn // Oct 10, 2008 at 10:19 am
Have a go at a real, objective writer like Mike DeCourcey at the Sporting News. Read his thoughts on the matter.
By the way, do a little fact checking before you start you’re typical whining.
1). It’s Midnight Madness this weekend, not March (oh I’m sorry, do you not have an editor anymore).
2). Cawood Ledford made a cameo at madness one year.
3). UK cleared this event with the SEC and the NCAA before moving it up. If the NCAA says no, then the event is held a week later. End of story.
4). Mark Coury was rewarded for his hard work by being given a scholarship for 1 year and for starting all of those games. If you had bothered to actually watch the games, you would see that Mark only played the first 3-4 minutes and then typically did not see the court again. The young man was fully aware that his scholarship was for 1 year and the fact that our roster has so many holes in it contributes to the fact that Coach had to use the scholarship on a recruit.
5). I graduated from UK with a 4.0 and a doctorate degree. I would gladly push myself to the brink for a chance to be a wildcat. With my good grades and my willingness to leave it all on the court for my team, I should get a scholarship also by your reasoning.
You, sir, are one of the reasons that I quit subscribing to the Herald Leader a long time ago. If Jerry Tipton would only find new employment, I could actually subscribe again.
14 paul // Oct 10, 2008 at 10:21 am
First off Billy, it’s ‘Midnight Madness’, not ‘March Madness’. If you don’t know the difference, you shouldn’t even be writing about basketball.
Coury was never good enough to start at UK. He started by default. Gillispie is here to win games and championships, not coddle untalented walk-ons and so-called journalists. If your buddy Tubby Smith hadn’t left us with such a deficit of talent, we wouldn’t need every single scholarship to find better players.
No one wants to mention that Illinois is the first school to change their madness because of the rule change. But when UK does what other colleges are doing, we gotta change the rules.
If Coach K does it, it’s genius. If Gillispie does it, its some sinister plot to break the rules. The ones crying about this are coaches because they didn’t think of it first and it allows UK to have the basketball world to themselves one night of the week.
15 John Smith // Oct 10, 2008 at 10:22 am
Billy, please die already. Your age-old flaming diatribe is washed, predictable, and boring. Retire, play some golf, or spend some time at the “Rainbow Room”. Whatever you do, please quit the job you arrogantly refer to as your profession. You’re a joke.
16 Booker Noe // Oct 10, 2008 at 10:40 am
Billy Read is a worthless hack drunk
17 Todd // Oct 10, 2008 at 11:16 am
What a complete embarrassment for writer. I would be ashamed to write this kind of garbage. Reed needs to be fired or is that the going standard nowadays for a writer at a major newspaper co.?
18 Anonymous Hater // Oct 10, 2008 at 11:19 am
You and Jerry Tipton of the LHL should get a room and work out your hate for Billy Gillispie on each other’s bum. Both of you clearly are mad that he has UK going in the right direction again. He will have us winning championships again and you just can’t stand that can you?
19 r donalds // Oct 10, 2008 at 11:20 am
Billy - what has Coach G done to Tee you off? This is a totally unnecessary piece! Garbage and nothing, but a rant. You need to see your doctor and get on or back on your medication. Don’t be a hater. Tubby wasn’t getting it done and now we have a guy who gives 110% every day to put UK hoops back where it belongs and you diss him? I don’t get it.
20 mark // Oct 10, 2008 at 11:40 am
Bill, please do a little research before you go writing this junk you call a story. You want to take up for Mark Coury when it is obvious that BCG did him a favor by telling him to explore other options. If you really believe that coach k or cryin roy would have gave him a scholarship you are sadly mistaken. At duke or nc he would have never seen the floor just a bench warmer. I respect what Mark did but there is only one reason he saw the floor last year, we did not have enough players thanks to your beloved Tubby. Why don’t you try doing something you might be decent at, you sure have no clue writing this garbage!! That is some of the biggest bunch of crap I’ve read!! Why don’t you mention Illinois or the fact roy williams is after the young boys too!!
21 John from Mt. Sterling // Oct 10, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Billy,
Is this what your career has come down to? Years ago, I used to enjoy reading your columns on Kentucky sports and college basketball, especially. However, it seems that you’ve become much more like your old pal, Jerry Tipton, in condemning anything Billy Gillispie does at UK.
Do you honestly think that a school that has been previously punished by the NCAA would have not received prior permission to move up their first practice of the year? It’s not “skirting the rules” if you ask and receive permission, which is exactly what Gillispie and UK did.
As for Mark Coury, Gillispie gave him a year to get with the program. Yes, Coury hustled and worked hard and yes, he was a great student. But even at the end of the year, Coury was still out of position at times on the court and hadn’t found a jumpshot of any sort. That Coury was even at UK says much more about Gillispie’s predecessor than it does about our current coach. Gillispie gave him a chance — it didn’t work out. Best for both of them to move on.
And Billy, we won’t be looking for you tonight at Big Blue Madness. But we’ll still have a great time celebrating the team we love and a Coach who has once more brought excitement to a program that desperately needed it. And maybe, we might just help a little bit in swaying a new recruit to the Big Blue. Which is something that a column such as this one would never accomplish.
It’s times like this I wish you weren’t from my hometown, too.
22 Phil // Oct 10, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Who edits you? Does your editor advise you at all that your tone makes you seem bitter and cranky? And not in a good, poke-fun-at-yourself way? I ask only because only a moron would criticize a coach personally for aggressively recruiting and aggressively trying — within the rules — to make his team better. Only a moron would NOT notice that Kentucky had fallen woefully behind in recruiting before Gillispie got here and only a moron would suggest that he should expend a scholarship on Mark Coury and eschew ways of distinguishing the kick-off practice from everyone else’s program. Only a moron would suggest that Gillispie didn’t love Coury last year in light of the fact that Coury was still starting even when other, more talented players’ development had consigned Coury to the bench after a couple minutes. And only a moron would suggest that it is a GOOD idea in recruiting young kids to put an end to “Big Blue Madness” because it only inflates the egos of the kids you’re trying to recruit. (I can see the headlines in October of the 1st year of Billy Reed’s head coaching career: “Coach Reed Cancels Midnight Madness: Says Kids’ Heads Already Too Big; Big Time Recruits Announce Commitment to Other Schools.” Moron.)
Congratulations, Billy. Your bitterness has ushered in your irrelevancy. You are interesting only as a moronic sideshow.
23 A. Fante // Oct 10, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Billy Reed, you need to check the whole story out? What about B. Donavon taking a commitment from Doc Rivers boy a month or two after the NBAC came down with their edict? What about Illinios having their Midnight Madness in the end zone of their football field on Oct. 10? Why is everyone afraid of UK/Gillispie?
24 ronald studle // Oct 10, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Billy, I worked at the CJ when you were there. Everyone considered you an asshole and you’ve certainly done nothing over the years to disprove that theory. This is a shameful, cowardly attack void of substance and validity. Give it up! Kentucky will recover from your boy Tubby’s failures and shortcomings. Get used to it……………………….
25 JD // Oct 10, 2008 at 3:12 pm
If Reed would bother to get facts he would know that tubby put Coury on scholarship and then took him off of it just before leaving. Under NCAA rules BCG could not put Coury back on it under any circumstance. Tubby is the one that should be bearing the brunt of Reed’s ignorance, not BCG.
As far as offering ride to younger kids, that must be a terrible thing for the kid’s parents to know that their son’s education is taken care of? The only people that have a problem with it are the UK/BCG haters. Of course, tubby hates it, too. If that catches on, he would have to get out and try to work.
26 Sam C // Oct 10, 2008 at 3:33 pm
I was going to respond to your inaccurate post
but enough people nailed you for once again revealing your worship of “coach average”
and your hate and resentment for Coach Gillispie. Mark Coury is an excellent example of
the inept and lazy recruiting by your hero.
I hope someday you will write a worthwhile article on UK or politics that would allow me to agree with you but I am not optimistic.
27 Kelly // Oct 10, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Typically when a player that, “deserves a scholarship” at an elite school like UK, wants to transfer. Most of the other elite programs, such as the ones Billy listed, are interested. So Billy, which school offered Coury a scholarship? I looked at Louisville, Indiana and Duke’s roster, but I didn’t see Mark Coury listed on any.
28 Doug // Oct 10, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Billy Reed, I love it when you get the rednecks all riled up!! Its entertaining to read!
One of the posters mentioned that UK is # 1. Please tell me in what area they are #1.
29 mase // Oct 10, 2008 at 4:36 pm
I guess all Billys can’t be great at what they do…and I’m not talking about Gillispie. Billy,If you’re a Louisville fan you should just come out and say it. I know you like to write negative articles, so being a UL fan would probably benefit your work because UL has plenty of negative material for you to write about. You must feel lonely sometimes being one of the few Gillispie bashers on the internet. Critisize all you want because when Gillispie starts taking us to final fours and winning titles you might start to feel like Tom Hanks in Castaway, and then there was one.
30 Dan // Oct 10, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Are you freaking kidding me? What a pathetic piece of trash article. There is absolutely nothing that the staff did that was improper regarding Midnight Madness. Even calling it a “loophole” is begging. UK checked it out with the SEC and NCAA before choosing to hold its practice tonight. Both said, “Okay.” Sounds pretty damn shady and illegal to me… Idiot.
And regarding Mark Coury, are you freaking kidding me, again? It sets a bad precedent to the current walk-ons that they can have a chance to start at the biggest basketball school in the country if they bust their tails everyday in practice? You, sir, are an idiot.
31 Aaron // Oct 10, 2008 at 5:56 pm
The reason Tubby got run out of town was because he wasn’t winning with kids like Mark Coury. And if other coaches criticize Gillispie for finding loopholes, they just aren’t smart enough to keep up. As for the commitments from 8th and 9th graders, Gillispie isn’t the only one doing this, he is only being criticized because he coaches at UK. You can hate us, but you can’t be us!
32 RVZ4UK // Oct 10, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Bobby Knight gave Damon Bailey a scholarship when he was in seventh or eighth grade. Roy W. has taken a few underclassmen recruits, {not being a junior or senior}. Illinios actually had their MM scheduled for the 10th before UK, and it is going to be at the football field. But you know what, I haven’t seen a thing written about any of them by you. It does seem as though you have some sort of personal grudge against Coach BG, and UK also. You shouldn’t let your personal feelings out in your articles, or just come out and say why you dislike UK and Coach BG. Then maybe your articles wouldn’t seem to be written with such hatred towards UK and Coach without everyone knowing the reason. Pittiful May God bless your tormented soul.
33 D Riley // Oct 10, 2008 at 11:13 pm
Billy, Billy ,Billy
You forgot to mention that the reason Billy G. was forced to start Mark Coury for much of last season was because the “sainted one” Tubby Smith had been asleep at the wheel for much of his tenure and didnt have “Kentucky level” talent in place. He and his cast of clowns took over a program that was in its rightful place in the college basketball world and promptly drove it in the ground during the DARK decade of UK hoops.
34 The Wizard // Oct 12, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Jerry Tipton has been writing some really good articles about Kentucky and Billy G. lately.
35 Brian // Oct 13, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Is this the same Coach Pitino that ran Roderick Rhodes off before his senior year so that he could get Ron Mercer? Guess you should check your facts before calling out Billy G. GO CATS and BILLY G.
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