1. Billy Clyde Gillispie, known by his initials BCG and Billy Clyde, is an American college basketball and current men's basketball coach at Tarleton State.
39 Facts About Billy Gillispie
1. 2.
Billy Gillispie was known as an excellent recruiter who managed to put together four straight top-25 recruiting classes.
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Billy Gillispie was born November 7,1959, in Abilene, Texas, the middle child and only boy among five children of Clyde, a cattle truck driver, and Winifred Billy Gillispie.
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Billy Gillispie grew up in Graford, Texas, a town of 494 people located about 65 miles west of Fort Worth.
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At Graford High School, Billy Gillispie played point guard for the basketball team and was a standout athlete in his graduating class of 20 students.
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Billy Gillispie attended Ranger College, playing basketball and baseball for them from 1978 to 1980, before transferring to Sam Houston State University to work as a student assistant for their basketball team under coach Bob Derryberry, a former classmate of Gillispie's father.
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Derryberry moved to Southwest Texas State University the following year, and Billy Gillispie accompanied him, spending three years as a graduate assistant.
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Billy Gillispie received his degree in education from Southwest Texas State in 1983.
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Billy Gillispie spent the next few years building a coaching resume, spending two years as an assistant high school basketball coach before becoming a head coach at Copperas Cove High School in 1987.
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From 1987 to 1993, Billy Gillispie held three high school head coaching positions.
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Miller and Billy Gillispie had coached against each other in the same high school district as late as two years earlier, with Miller at Temple High School.
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Billy Gillispie was hired as the head coach of the men's basketball team at the University of Texas at El Paso in 2002.
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Billy Gillispie asked for a budget large enough to allow them to play confidence-building non-conference schedules, rarely venturing out of Reed Arena in the first two seasons.
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Billy Gillispie fielded questions from the media during a press conference held at UK's new practice facility, the Joe Craft Center.
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Billy Gillispie expressed his excitement and joy to have been given the honor and the opportunity to coach what former Kentucky Wildcats head coach Rick Pitino referred to as the "Roman Empire" of college basketball.
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Billy Gillispie signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Kentucky on April 6,2007 which outlined his salary and benefits.
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Between April 29 and May 7,2008, Billy Gillispie made recruiting waves by snagging commitments from five players spread over five different classes, most notably the commitment on May 1 of Thousand Oaks, California 8th-grader Michael Avery.
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Billy Gillispie was fired as the Wildcats' head coach on March 27,2009.
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On May 27,2009, Billy Gillispie filed a lawsuit against the University of Kentucky Athletic Association for breach of contract and fraud stemming from the firing.
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On October 13,2009, UK and Billy Gillispie agreed to settle the dispute.
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On March 20,2011, Billy Gillispie was named the 14th head coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders.
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Billy Gillispie was introduced at a press conference on March 23,2011, at the United Spirit Arena.
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In October 2011, Billy Gillispie exceeded the 20-hour practice limit set by the NCAA.
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Fifteen players departed prematurely in the year after Billy Gillispie arrived, a very high number for a college basketball program in a major conference.
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Shortly after the allegations were initially reported and he was due to meet with athletic director Kirby Hocutt about the allegations, Billy Gillispie was hospitalized for six days with heart-attack like symptoms and high blood pressure after calling EMS.
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On September 20,2012, Billy Gillispie resigned as head coach at Texas Tech, citing health concerns.
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Billy Gillispie's contract was honored through the end of the 2012 calendar year.
28.
On December 7,2016, Billy Gillispie announced his immediate retirement from coaching, citing severe health issues related to his blood pressure.
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In May 2017 Billy Gillispie returned to the sidelines at Ranger.
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On March 30,2020, Billy Gillispie was named the head coach at Tarleton State, and will guide the team during its transition from Division II to Division I in the Western Athletic Conference.
31.
Billy Gillispie was married to the former Misty Meyer from 1985 until their divorce in 1993.
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Billy Gillispie stated that his eight-year marriage ended because he could not find a balance between work and home.
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Billy Gillispie then refused a blood test and a breathalyzer on the scene and was arrested and taken to the Franklin County jail.
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However, on November 2,2009, Billy Gillispie changed his plea to guilty under a plea agreement.
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Billy Gillispie was fined $1,028 and must complete an alcohol and drug education course before his Kentucky driver's license can be renewed.
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Billy Gillispie has had two prior DUI arrests, the first in 1999 when he was arrested for driving while intoxicated and improper use of a lane in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
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Billy Gillispie eventually pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of reckless driving.
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Billy Gillispie was arrested again in 2003 in his first year at the University of Texas at El Paso on suspicion of drunken driving, although it was later dismissed based on a lack of evidence.
39.
In September 2009, it was reported that Billy Gillispie had entered an alcohol rehabilitation program and had checked himself into the John Lucas After Care Program in Houston.