Reactions after D-Day in the Bluegrass
posted by David Cloninger, 3/28/2009 10:06:00 AM
The rain is gone."
---------- JOHNNY NASH
But not over at the baseball field.
Got up, enjoyed my waffle and double order of hash browns (bringing to mind a former Gamecock baseball great, the famed Adam "Hash Browns" Poe), and read the Lexington Herald-Leader. It's an old habit of checking out newspapers to see what they're doing.
Naturally, the rag is full of stories about Billy Gillispie. They had a full-page timeline of his time at Kentucky, stories on his players, players' parents, etc., but the most intriguing thing was a full sports section front featuring 15 candidates for the job.
Each was graded by writer Mark Story (could he be anything else but a writer with that name?) with a thumbs-up and a thumbs-down. South Carolina's Darrin Horn was on the list.
Here's what it said.
Thumbs-up: "Having grown up in Lexington, Horn, too, "gets" Kentucky basketball. His first South Carolina team beat UK twice head-to-head. He is only one year removed from leading Western Kentucky to the Sweet 16. He, too, prefers fast-paced hoops (78.2 ppg this year)."
Thumbs-down: "Because he didn't play at UK, he is not as well known among Cats fans as (Travis) Ford or John Pelphrey. In six seasons as head coach, has only one NCAA trip. This year's South Carolina team cost itself an NCAA bid by tailing off (lost three of final four games)."
So it's like I've been saying. I believe Horn's name will be on the list, but very far down it. He's simply not a sexy enough name at this time to get a job like Kentucky's.
The other candidates in Story's story (yes!) were Mike Anderson, Rick Barnes, John Calipari, Jeff Capel, Jamie Dixon, Billy Donovan (who released a statement on Friday seemingly removing his name from consideration), Mark Few, Ford, Tom Izzo, Thad Matta, Sean Miller, Bruce Pearl, Pelphrey and Jay Wright.
I bet they go after Calipari first and then Izzo. Izzo is a guy that I think may be the one after the dust settles. Although I'd like to see Capel get a really high-profile gig and get to talk to him again, I agree with Story -- I doubt UK would hire a Duke guy to lead its basketball team ("Here's the pass to Laettner. He shoots ... YES!")
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"I can see clearly now,
The rain is gone."
---------- JOHNNY NASH
But not over at the baseball field.
Got up, enjoyed my waffle and double order of hash browns (bringing to mind a former Gamecock baseball great, the famed Adam "Hash Browns" Poe), and read the Lexington Herald-Leader. It's an old habit of checking out newspapers to see what they're doing.
Naturally, the rag is full of stories about Billy Gillispie. They had a full-page timeline of his time at Kentucky, stories on his players, players' parents, etc., but the most intriguing thing was a full sports section front featuring 15 candidates for the job.
Each was graded by writer Mark Story (could he be anything else but a writer with that name?) with a thumbs-up and a thumbs-down. South Carolina's Darrin Horn was on the list.
Here's what it said.
Thumbs-up: "Having grown up in Lexington, Horn, too, "gets" Kentucky basketball. His first South Carolina team beat UK twice head-to-head. He is only one year removed from leading Western Kentucky to the Sweet 16. He, too, prefers fast-paced hoops (78.2 ppg this year)."
Thumbs-down: "Because he didn't play at UK, he is not as well known among Cats fans as (Travis) Ford or John Pelphrey. In six seasons as head coach, has only one NCAA trip. This year's South Carolina team cost itself an NCAA bid by tailing off (lost three of final four games)."
So it's like I've been saying. I believe Horn's name will be on the list, but very far down it. He's simply not a sexy enough name at this time to get a job like Kentucky's.
The other candidates in Story's story (yes!) were Mike Anderson, Rick Barnes, John Calipari, Jeff Capel, Jamie Dixon, Billy Donovan (who released a statement on Friday seemingly removing his name from consideration), Mark Few, Ford, Tom Izzo, Thad Matta, Sean Miller, Bruce Pearl, Pelphrey and Jay Wright.
I bet they go after Calipari first and then Izzo. Izzo is a guy that I think may be the one after the dust settles. Although I'd like to see Capel get a really high-profile gig and get to talk to him again, I agree with Story -- I doubt UK would hire a Duke guy to lead its basketball team ("Here's the pass to Laettner. He shoots ... YES!")
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David Cloninger. David is a full-time staff writer for GamecockCentral, and covers Gamecock football, men's basketball, baseball and recruiting. He may be reached by email at david(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.