Alan Cutler = Hero; I Do My Own Name Throwing Or Lack Thereof

Alan Cutler is my new hero.

From what I've been reading on various blogs concerning Kentucky, Cutler has been ripped by some for, and maybe by the national media as well, for displaying the debacle as we've come to witness which is the footage of Cutler chasing down Gillispie for a simple reaction to his firing.

The question that should be asked is why Gillispie decided he should run from, and a I laugh hysterically, a guy (Cutler) who kept up with him? Gillispie half jogged actually (he really is out of shape), and used a cell phone to play up why couldn't talk to Cutler. Class act that Gillispie, I tell you.

I'm fumed to think that other people think that Cutler should lose his job over this. It's ridiculous. If there's one thing anyone in Lexington should know, it's that news concerning UK basketball and its coaches are paramount. It matters. Gillispie should have understood that. He said he did. He didn't care. Cutler was doing his job. As far as I'm concerned Cutler is entitled on behalf of the Lexington community to chase his punk body. I'm glad he did.

Coaching Rumors

I don't get the list of coaches everyone is throwing out there for the UK job. Names like Calipari, Izzo, Barnes - guys that have already established themselves with other universities. Is this really what we want? Is this really what you want Mitch?

When UK was about to hire Gillispie a couple years ago, I said here at this blog that I'd like to see Pat Riley coach here. He should. People shrugged at me because I thought that.

There's only two guys I'd like to see coach UK because their seasoned obviously and because they are proven and are connected to UK in an intimate way.

Pat Riley
Rick Pitino

Anyone else is like playing Russian Roulette.

Here's my thing about the coaching position at UK: if you're going to call it a sophisticated search for the coaching position for the Men's basketball team at UK then make it a sophisticated search for the head coaching position for the Men's basketball team.

Throwing names out there of coaches who have already established themselves and quite frankly are questionable as to whether they love UK enough is alarming to me. And it's too easy. It's too easy to make a list of the top head coaches in college basketball. I mean while we're at it (and I'm pointing to the other blogs out there who have proven to be the definitive answer to all things UK) let's just throw names out there like Roy Williams and Coach K. I've even heard someone say they put former Indiana coach Bobby Knight on their list. That's just stupid.

If Mitch Barnhart wants to honestly make a serious coaching search for the next head coach for UK's Men's basketball team then he should put forth a broader search throughout the nation including those coaches no one's even heard of. It's pertinent to the integrity of the process. Otherwise we'll always get these washed-out lists thrown out from people who are supposed to be experts but don't really care at all about doing a real search. I mean guys like Calipari, Pitino, Knight, Coach K, Williams, even Gillispie - they all started somewhere.

Let me ask you this Mitch, was Pitino as established when UK hired him or was UK looking at his overall potential because he was the RIGHT FIT all in one?

That's who Kentucky needs to go after, and I don't know who that guy is because odds are, if we don't go after Pitino or Riley, our next head coach who's going to bring back national fear of playing against is not going to come from a generated popularity poll of coaches who have already established themselves with other universities.

The thing is, the list of coaches that have been thrown out there as possible successors to Gillispie, the majority of names have already established an intimate relationship and success at other universities who are popular right now. Does UK really want to make another Gillispie mistake?

It's clear to me that UK should search diligently and take its time, not just going on a popularity poll. And that, Big Blue Nation, SHOULD take some time. Let's hope it does.