Under Different Circumstances

Had circumstances been a bit different last spring, Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie could have been on a different sideline for today’s Kentucky-Arkansas game.

Gillispie dodged the subject on Thursday when asked about Arkansas’ pursuit of him to be Stan Heath’s replacement, saying nothing that happened last spring will affect today’s 1:06 p.m. CBS-televised clash.

But, if Tubby Smith had not blazed a trail from Lexington, Ky., to Minnesota quite as quickly, Gillispie could have been hired as the Hogs’ head coach before the Wildcats had a vacancy.
Since October of 2006, Gillispie had been rumored to be next in line at Arkansas should Heath be fired.

And had Gillispie taken the Arkansas job, would Arkansas head coach John Pelphrey have gotten a call back home from Kentucky?

Very possibly.

Before going with Gillispie, Kentucky evidently spoke with and got a no from Florida head coach Billy Donovan. And evidently, that no came with a high recommendation for his protégé Pelphrey, whom assisted Donovan at Marshall and Florida before taking over South Alabama’s program.

As fans who often put the cart before the horse, Arkansas’ loyalists began worrying about Kentucky poaching Pelphrey away if he does lead the Razorbacks back to national prominence before the press conference that announced him as the Hogs’ head coach had ended.

Pelphrey said going back to Kentucky to coach would only result in ruining his legacy as a player there.

The consolation for Hog fans if Kentucky does attempt to hire Pelphrey away someday is that he would have elevated Arkansas’ program from where it has been mired since the turn of the century.

Filed under: Arkansas Basketball by Terry Wood. Posted on: February 22, 2008 at 11:30 am