Early positions 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. From 1987 to 1993, Gillispie held three high school head coaching positions. He was nominated for Texas Association of Basketball Coaches (TABC) high school coach of the year for his 1992–1993 season with
Ellison High School in
Killeen, Texas, which set school records for winning percentage and points scored and ended the season ranked 4th in the state. After a year as an assistant coach at
South Plains College, in 1994, Gillispie moved to
Division I college basketball as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at
Baylor University under head coach
Harry Miller. Miller and Gillispie had coached against each other in the same high school district as late as two years earlier, with Miller at
Temple High School. The Baylor Bears' 1996 recruiting class was ranked as high as number six in the nation. After three years at Baylor, Gillispie moved to the
University of Tulsa to be an assistant coach under
Bill Self. Tulsa reached the elite 8 in the 2000 season. When Self moved to the
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Gillispie followed, working as an assistant there for the next two years. During those two seasons, Fighting Illini won back-to-back
Big Ten Conference titles for the first time in 50 years, advancing to the Elite Eight in the 2001 NCAA Tournament and to the Sweet 16 in the 2002 NCAA Tournament. With Gillispie's assistance, Illinois landed a top 10 recruiting class in 2002. Although the Miners were predicted to finish ninth in the
Western Athletic Conference (WAC) for the 2003–04 season, UTEP instead captured their first conference title in 12 years. The team finished 24–8 and received a bid to the
2004 NCAA tournament. The 18-win improvement was the best in Division I basketball that season, and one of the best in Division I history. As a result of their success, the Miners built a huge home following, ranking first in the NCAA in increased attendance. After his second season with the Miners, Gillispie was named Texas coach of the Year by the TABC and was a finalist for National Coach of the Year honors. and desired a new head coach with the ability to "recruit the heck out of Texas". The Aggies finished the regular season with a 21–8 record, including a 10–6 conference record and a fourth-place finish in the Big 12, the best finish and most wins for Texas A&M since the formation of the conference in 1996. For the first time since 1987, Texas A&M received a bid to the
NCAA tournament. As a twelfth-seeded team, the Aggies upset the
Big East Conference champion
Syracuse Orange in the first round of the tournament but then lost in the second round to eventual Final Four participant, the
LSU Tigers, by the score of 58–57 on a three-pointer that LSU made in the final seconds of the game. Following the season, Gillispie was named the Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year by several major newspapers and was named the Texas College Coach of the Year by the TABC. The 2006–07 post-season, the Aggies advanced to the
Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA tourney. Their post-season hopes ended with a one-point loss (65–64) to the
Memphis Tigers at the
Alamodome in
San Antonio on March 22, 2007.
Kentucky Hiring On April 5, 2007,
University of Kentucky athletic director
Mitch Barnhart was given permission by
Texas A&M to speak with Gillispie about the program's basketball coach opening, vacated by
Tubby Smith. On April 6, 2007, the announcement was made that Gillispie had accepted the position. He drew criticism for the way he left Texas A&M by having alerted the Aggie players of his decision to take the Kentucky job via text message, while en route to the introductory press conference in Lexington. On April 6, 2007, Gillispie was formally announced as the new head coach of the
University of Kentucky by UK athletic director
Mitch Barnhart. He fielded questions from the media during a press conference held at UK's new practice facility, the
Joe Craft Center. He 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. "I'm very, very grateful and honored to be here, but we have a lot of work to do." Gillispie became only the sixth head coach in the last 76 years at the school. Gillispie signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Kentucky on April 6, 2007 which outlined his salary and benefits. The memo also stated that contract negotiations would be concluded with "every reasonable effort" within 60 days. Gillispie and the university never signed a formal contract.
Recruiting 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. Avery, a member of the class of 2012, gave the University of Kentucky its earliest basketball commitment in the history of the program. The commitment also earned national scrutiny for Coach Gillispie and the university, but there were no violations of the NCAA recruiting rules. During his tenure at Kentucky, Gillispie snagged numerous high-profile recruits. These included three 5-star recruits according to
Scout.com (
Patrick Patterson,
Daniel Orton &
Dominique Ferguson) and five 4-star recruits (
Alex Legion,
DeAndre Liggins,
Darius Miller,
Kevin Galloway and
Jon Hood). Legion later transferred to Illinois early in the 2007–08 season.
2007–2008 Wildcat fans packed Rupp Arena for Big Blue Madness (the first practice of the season and the program's major publicity event) to catch a glimpse of their new coach in action. In his first few months he signed two high-profile recruits,
Patrick Patterson and Alex Legion. Patterson had previously been recruited by the
Duke Blue Devils,
Florida Gators, and Kentucky Wildcats (by former coach Tubby Smith) before signing with Gillispie. Alex Legion would transfer 6 games into his first season at Kentucky. Gillispie's first season got off to a rocky start, being routed 84–68 by unranked
Gardner Webb in Rupp Arena in the second game of the season. This loss dropped the Wildcats from the AP Top 25 poll, where they did not return for the remainder of the season. The Wildcats improved their record during conference play, achieving a 12–4 record and on March 11, Gillispie was named Co-Southeastern Conference coach of the year along with
Bruce Pearl of the Tennessee Volunteers.
2008–2009 On November 14, 2008, Gillispie's Kentucky team opened the 2008–09 season with another loss at home, this time to the
Virginia Military Institute (VMI) Keydets, by a score of 111–103. However, on November 30, 2008, Gillispie led Kentucky to a 54–43 come from behind victory over the
West Virginia Mountaineers to win the Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Invitational championship. Although his Wildcats had trailed for the entire game, Billy made halftime adjustments that stymied coach Bobby Huggins' Mountaineers, eventually allowing Kentucky to overcome a 14-point deficit well into the second half – holding the Mountaineers to only 17-second-half points. Although neither team was ranked, the win was considered an upset victory for Coach Gillispie and his Wildcats after the VMI loss and was the first in-season tournament championship win for the University of Kentucky since winning the Great Alaska Shootout in late 1996. After a 5–0 start in the SEC conference schedule, however, Gillispie's team dropped three straight games to the
Ole Miss Rebels,
South Carolina Gamecocks and
Mississippi State Bulldogs, with the latter two losses coming at home. Some Kentucky fans vociferously booed Gillispie during the Mississippi State game. Kentucky rebounded against the Florida Gators with a 68–65 victory at home.
Jodie Meeks hit a contested fade-away three-pointer with less than 5 seconds left to give Kentucky the lead.
Nick Calathes had an opportunity to tie the game after being fouled with 0.6 seconds left by
Kevin Galloway, but missed all three free throws (the last intentional) to seal the Wildcats' win. Kentucky also had two lopsided victories over SEC East regular season champion Tennessee. Although Gillispie continued to take the blame for the Wildcats' woes, he was also a victim of some of his youthful and inexperienced recruits' underperformance and the lack of consistent play at the point guard position. Gillispie continued to publicly encourage his players and praise their work ethic despite the team's inconsistent play during the 2008–09 season. Such encouragement manifested itself in Gillispie's public statements about his players after close losses. Kentucky missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1991, and received a 4th seed in the
NIT, defeating UNLV and Creighton in the opening and second rounds before losing to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the quarterfinals. Kentucky finished the year with an 8–8 record in conference and 22–14 overall. The record tied for the second-most losses ever in the program's history.
Firing Gillispie was fired as the Wildcats' head coach on March 27, 2009. Athletic director Mitch Barnhart told Gillispie that his firing was not related to on-court performance, but was due to a general feeling that Gillispie was "not a good fit" for UK. According to Barnhart, the "incompatibility" between Gillispie and UK specifically manifested itself in Gillispie's failure to sign a formal contract two years after his hiring. As mentioned above, Gillispie had coached for two years on a "Memorandum of Understanding," not a contract; UK initially considered it the equivalent of a series of one-year contracts. UK had offered Gillispie a seven-year contract, but Gillispie had never signed it.
Lawsuit and settlement On May 27, 2009, Gillispie filed a
lawsuit against the University of Kentucky Athletic Association for breach of contract and fraud stemming from the firing. The suit was filed in Gillispie's home state of Texas, in the
United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. In the countersuit, UK sought a judge's order that Gillispie's memorandum of understanding was not a formal contract. Under the agreement, Gillispie got $2.98 million while UK paid over $265,000 in mediation costs. On February 11, 2012, Gillispie won his first Big 12 game as the coach of the Red Raiders, who beat the
Oklahoma Sooners, 65–47. He finished the 2011 season 8–23. In October 2011, Gillispie exceeded the 20-hour practice limit set by the
NCAA. Both Gillispie and assistant coach
Bubba Jennings were reprimanded by Texas Tech in January 2012. The secondary violation was reported to the NCAA, and the organization approved the self-imposed penalty of a 12-hour, 20-minute reduction in practice time. The violation was not reported to the public until September 2012, when allegations of misconduct surfaced in the media.
Allegations of player mistreatment Before the start of the 2012–13 basketball season, allegations surfaced from former and current players accusing Gillispie of mistreatment. Fifteen players departed prematurely in the year after Gillispie arrived, a very high number for a college basketball program in a major conference. Also leaving were two strength coaches and two directors of basketball operations; some 30 persons overall. The allegations include forcing injured players to practice, keeping players
Ty Nurse and
Dejan Kravic in doubt about their scholarship status, and reneging on promises to potential new coaching staff hires. Shortly after the allegations were initially reported and he was due to meet with athletic director
Kirby Hocutt about the allegations, Gillispie was hospitalized for six days with heart-attack like symptoms and high blood pressure after calling
EMS. He left the hospital on September 6. Another call to EMS was made September 10, but did not require hospitalization. On September 11, Gillispie took an indefinite medical leave, and checked himself into the
Mayo Clinic. He was treated there for 'kidney problems' and 'abnormal headaches', and told to live in a stress-free environment for 30 days.
Departure On September 20, 2012, Gillispie resigned as head coach at Texas Tech, citing health concerns. His contract was honored through the end of the 2012 calendar year. On December 7, 2016, Gillispie announced his immediate retirement from coaching, citing severe health issues related to his blood pressure. In May 2017, however, Gillispie returned to the sidelines at Ranger.
Tarleton State On March 30, 2020, 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. ==Personal life==