Billy Gillispie is on the brink of blowing his last chance

Billy Gillispie is a train wreck, and I take absolutely no pleasure in saying that.

Whether it is forcing Josh Harrellson to spend halftime of a game against Vanderbilt sitting in a bathroom stall, mocking Derrick Jasper for being out with microfracture surgery to the point that Jasper feels he has to transfer, his multiple run-ins with sideline reporter Jeannine Edwards (which may have stemmed from Gillispie being rejected by Edwards in a bar), or his well-documented drinking (and driving) problem, there is nothing about this guy that makes him seem like an appealing person to be around.

But he can coach.


Billy Clyde rebuilt two programs in Texas. He turned UTEP from a 6-24 team to a 24-win NCAA Tournament team in the span of one season. That got him to Texas A&M, where he laid the groundwork for the Aggie's current success despite taking over a team that went 0-16 in the Big 12 the year before he got there.

That ability to coach -- and ability to turn around dormant programs in Texas -- is the reason the guy who epically flamed-out at Kentucky was able to land the head coaching gig at Texas Tech. From a basketball perspective, the fit doesn't get much more perfect than that. But, as I wrote back in December (*pats self on back*) when the first rumblings of Tech's interest in Gillispie came to like, "if you hire Gillispie, you're not just hiring the basketball coach. You're hiring Billy Gillispie the person as well. Do so at your own risk."

According to Sports by Brooks, the Gillispie era at Tech is off to a horrendous start. Longtime basketball secretary Leslie Hartline has quit; Gillispie's already on his third person in that position in four months. So did trainer Jon Murray, who held that position for 13 years. Most notably, however, was a situation involving assistant coach Chris Beard. Beard, who was re-hired as an assistant after losing the position when Pat Knight lost his job, quit recently after "heated altercations with the irascible and intractable Gillispie, the final of which was physically broken up by Texas Tech Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt."

Keep in mind, all three of those people survived Bob Knight's tenure in Lubbock.

Also keep in mind we've ignored the fact that he was bilked out of millions in two different Ponzi schemes.

When does Gillispie reach the point of no return?

What coach is going to want to work for him? What kid is going to want to play for him? How long until he makes headlines for a drinking-related offense? Is his drinking -- Brooks not-so-subtlely hints that he hasn't gotten control of it -- the cause of the tension he's created?

Hocutt had to have known something like this was coming. He knew that hiring Gillispie was a huge risk, but he hired him because there was a chance -- and still is -- it can pay huge dividends. Like I said, Gillispie can flat out coach, but he's broken as a person. Whether that means he's an alcoholic or just simply a miserable guy, I don't know.

What I do know is that he needs to make a change, and make a change quickly.

Because if he flames out at Tech, who is going to give him another chance?