Why Billy Gillispie Is the Best Coach for Georgia Bulldogs Basketball

I've been getting into some great discussions about the pros and cons of Billy Gillispie being head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs basketball program.

I'm going to lay out why I think he is, in my opinion, the best man for the job.  And why The University of Georgia (Damon Evans) needs to act sooner rather than later on spending the money to get him here.

So here it goes: here's why Billy Gillispie should be head coach of Georgia's basketball program:

1)  Georgia Bulldogs basketball needs a 180-degree turn around.  They don't need a mediocre coach to come in and patty cake the job.  Billie Gillispie has a record of turning programs around.  After leading both UTEP and Texas A& M to postseason appearances one year after poor seasons, Gillispie became the only college basketball coach to be in charge of the NCAA program with the biggest turnaround in two consecutive seasons (source wikipedia.com).

THE BIGGEST TURNAROUND IN TWO CONSECUTIVE SEASONS (just to emphasize)

2)  Georgia Bulldogs have not be able to recruit top basketball players.  Billie Gillispie is known as an excellent recruiter who has managed to put together four straight top-25 recruiting classes. In his three seasons at A&M, the Aggies achieved three consecutive 20-win seasons for the first time (source wikipedia.com).  I can only imagine what type of talent Billie Gillispie could recruit from the ATL.

3)  Georgia Bulldogs basketball should be just as strong as Georgia football.  Sanford Stadium gets packed to the top rows with 90,000 plus screaming fans that are completely hysterical over the Dawgs (me included...!!!).  Not to mention millions more who are watching on TV, radio, the web, etc...  The only way Stegeman Colliseum is going to rock Athens like Sanford Stadium is to give fans a reason to show up.  And I believe that Billie Gillispie, especially now, would fill Stegeman up to the rafters on a nightly basis.

4)  Billy Gillispie's coaching record (source wikipedia.com):

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
UTEP (Western Athletic Conference) (2002–2004)
2002–03	UTEP	6–24	3–15	10
2003–04	UTEP	24–8	13–5	1 (t)	NCAA First Round
UTEP:		30–32	16–20
Texas A&M (Big 12 Conference) (2004–2007)
2004–05	Texas A&M	21–10	8–8	7	NIT Quarterfinals
2005–06	Texas A&M	22–9	10–6	4	NCAA Second Round
2006–07	Texas A&M	27–7	13–3	2	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
Texas A&M:		70–26	31–17
Kentucky (Southeastern Conference) (2007–2009)
2007–08	Kentucky	18–13	12–4	2 - East	NCAA First Round
2008–09	Kentucky	22–14	8–8	4 - East	NIT Quarterfinals
Kentucky:		40–27	20–12
Total:		140–85

By looking at his record, we at least know that he has the experience necessary to come in and lead Georgia's basketball program far beyond the SEC championships.

In Conclusion

Whether we bring in Billy Gillispie or not, my fear is that it is VERY quiet here in Athens regarding the replacement of Dennis Felton.  The cream of the crop from the NCAA tournament is already being scooped up by other schools, and that's making me nervous because what does that leave Georgia to chose from?

Thanks for reading, and I'm anxious to hear your thoughts...

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