University of North Texas Athletics
Green Gang: Gillispie And Jones Go In Two Different Directions
2/24/2010 12:00:00 AM | Return to Play
By Steven Bartolotta, February 24, 2010, 9:33 a.m.
As we sit just a day away from one of the biggest regular season games in recent Super Pit history, I was struck by something Saturday afternoon. For all of the people watchers out there, former Kentucky head coach Billy Gillispie was in the house on Saturday watching North Texas and UALR. There was a great piece in the Star-Telegram about him found here, that basically chronicles his rise and fall in the coaching ranks and his desire to get back in.
What struck me was how the paths of Johnny Jones and Gillispie have differed and why they never should have. Stay with me here. Gillispie got his first head coaching job in 2002 at UTEP, Jones in 2001 at North Texas.
Now due to varying levels of success, Gillispie was off to the Aggies a few years later. At A&M, Gillispie turned a dormant program into a success overnight. Suddenly Aggie basketball mattered again. At that same time, Jones revived the equally dormant North Texas program and made it relevant again.
Now here's the interesting part to me. Gillispie, a born and bred Texan, could have stayed at A&M and had the floor named after him in 20 years when he's done winning. Instead he went for the big blue money and prestige of Kentucky. Why? He had it made at Texas A&M, no pressure, no expectations anymore; he had built something out of nothing. Why did he want to leave that instead of stay and enjoy the ride? Money? Power? Prestige?
That's a question nobody but Gillispie and the millions of other coaches who will leave for perceived better jobs in the coaching ranks.
That brings me back to Jones. North Texas isn't a powerhouse. It's a mid-major program that for too long swirled around the toilet for no good reason. Jones came in, had a plan, stuck by it, was given the time to do it, and the success is there. So why hasn't he left for a perceived "better job"?
I'll tell you why, for Jones there aren't many "better jobs" out there right now. He loves the area, the school, and most of all, the program that he's built. He wants to stay and reap the success of the hard work that he and his staff has done.
He's enjoying his success instead of trying to capitalize on it. How refreshing is that to see in coaching these days? In the mercenary world of coaching, situations like this are rare unless you live on Tobacco Road.
Have there been other opportunities for Jones? No doubt, it's the nature of college basketball and sports for that matter.
My whole point, Gillispie could have stayed at A&M and had the same empire that Jones has built at North Texas.
As Robert Frost once said "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference"
For Jones that has been words to live by and one day soon for Gillispie that will be words for him to live by.
