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The past two weeks of the A&M basketball saga has proved one thing more than anything else. Aggies athletic director Bill Byrne is either hard-headed, self-serving, brilliant, or a little bit of all three.
Several representatives who have been tack-on with all the information they have offered me over the past two weeks broke down the A&M basketball coaching saga as follows.
Translation: I talked to Pat Foster and disgrunted A&M employees
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Here's how the puzzle pieces fit: As the Aggie basketball season was winding down, former University of Houston coach Pat Foster, a close friend of Gillispie's worked as an intermediary between the University of Arkansas and Gillispie.
The Hogs were working behind the scenes as far back as early-February, with an eye on Gillispie as Stan Heath's replacement. Heath knew of his ouster long before it came and tried to force Razorbacks AD Frank Broyles' hand, by asking for assurances that he would stay. He didn't get them.
Meanwhile, Gillispie tried to stay out of the fray as he tried to win a Big 12 title and take this team to the Final Four. He spoke with Foster only occasionally, telling his friend he was happy at A&M, but come the end of the season they would talk seriously about it again.
Gillispie's thoughts were, he didn't want to be put into a position where he would have to lie either in public or to his players.
Broyles continued to talk with Foster and felt confident they would get Gillispie, to the point that he didn't even compile a second list of potential candidates.
Gillispie spoke with Foster after the Aggies were eliminated in the Sweet 16. What he didn't realize was Byrne, aware of Arkansas' interest, refused to take calls from anyone associated with Arkansas. He was buying time in an effort to put pressure on the A&M Board of Regents to get Gillispie a new contract and begin construction in earnest on a new state of the art basketball facility.
Translation: Coach Gillispie let Arkansas know through Pat Foster that he was serious enough about the head coaching job that they fired their old coach without even coming up with a backup.
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Byrne's biggest mistake: He never told Gillispie any of this. Instead, he kept Gillispie in the dark. Gillispie learned about the details of the new contract and the Board's moves to keep him from a member of the media. Understandably, he was upset with Byrne.
Translation: Somehow, Billy Gillispie is upset that that scoundrel Byrne is trying to get him a contract raise behind his back... ok.
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When the contract was ironed out and Byrne flew to the Final Four to get Gillispie to sign the deal, Gillispie told him he planned on being the Aggies coach. At the same time, Foster was getting calls from Kentucky about that job.
Gillispie began having doubts about just how much he could trust Byrne. He planned to sign the contract even after getting a firm offer from Kentucky while on the west coast attending an awards ceremony involving point guard Acie Law.
Translation: Just in case Gillispie didn't get his coveted Kentucky job, he told Byrne that he would be the Aggies coach, while conveniently not signing the contract or going public about it... essentially humiliating Byrne. Once again, who knew Foster was the one getting calls from Kentucky? Who WOULD know that? Gillispie was already the head coach from Kentucky at the awards show, so John Lopez is just wrong here. The minute he got the offer he was on the plane to Kentucky.
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While contemplating the offer, Gillispie called several close friends in basketball to ask about the Kentucky job. He hedged when one trusted friend in professional basketball told him, "The best day of your life at Kentucky will be the day you're announced as head coach. The rest are going to be hell."
Gillispie went back and forth until deciding it would be stupid to tell the Wildcats no and Byrne already had made contact with a representative for Turgeon, tossing out contract numbers close to those offered to Gillispie. Also, a source within the A&M department told Gillispie that Byrne had made contact with a member of the Board of Regents, in an attempt to protect his own hide, making Gillispie look like he was pouting and being difficult. In fact, the exact opposite was true.
Tranlation: Going back and fowards? Please. And how mad can you be at Byrne for making contact with Turgeon, when he knew that Gillispie was already shopping himself and holding out for the Kentucky job to fall in his lap. Gillispie was told that the Kentucky job was hell, and wanted it anyways, despite wanting a "long time committment" from A&M.
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All along, Gillispie was looking for a lifetime commitment, letting the thing play out.
No. He got it and turned it down.
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Once Gillispie took the job, Byrne alienated several trusted sources in basketball -- the same ones who raved about Gillispie three years ago -- by keeping them out of the loop on this coaching search. Byrne decided all of a sudden he knew more about basketball than the same people who handed him Gillispie on a silver platter.
Most interesting: Longtime coach Rick Majerus contacted a pair of basketball people close to the A&M program, expressing great interest in the job. But when these sources tried to contact Byrne to endorse Majerus, Byrne refused to return their calls. UNLV coach Lon Kruger, through another A&M basketball source, also tried to contact Byrne. The A&M AD didn't want to hear any of that, either.
Make no mistake. The Aggies could have had Majerus or Kruger. No doubt about it.
Instead, Byrne made every call on the future of A&M basketball on his own, start-to-finish. He allowed Gillispie to leave on bad terms and refused to consult with some of the finest basketball minds in the game.
Mark Turgeon may be perfect for the Aggies. Maybe not. Either way, it's on Byrne.
TranslationByrne had been aware of Gillispie's actions and had started the coaching search early (this is already well documented). He already had his guy -- he knew who he wanted.
If you strip away all the spin, that's what that article says -- the same exact thing.
