The Rome report

Two years. That is the amount of time the University of Kentucky gave Billy Gillispie to turn around the struggling Wildcat basketball program.

Maybe it is just me, but two years does not sound like enough time to turn a program around.

When Kentucky hired Gillispie from Texas A&M, everyone was happy. Kentucky’s fans, the alumni and the athletic department were happy with the hire but now everything has changed.

Kentucky let go of Gillispie last week and the fans immediately hit the radio airwaves, saying Gillispie messed up the job of a lifetime.

In case you do not know, Kentucky has the most wins in the history of college basketball. The program has won seven championships. Because of this past success, Wildcats fans expect Kentucky to win 30-plus games and make the Final Four every season.

Let me tell you something Kentucky fans: Your program is not that good right now.

It kills me that some fans of collegiate programs think it is a right for their team to compete every year.

Nebraska football is like this, even though they have not competed for a Big 12 championship in years.

Now we are seeing how delusional the Kentucky fans are.

I am not saying that Gillispie set the college basketball world on fire while he was at Kentucky. He went 40-27 in his two seasons and the Wildcats missed the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1991.

But the team did improve this season from last season. In Gillespie’s first season as coach Kentucky finished 18-13; this season the Wildcats finished 22-14.

Gillispie took over a struggling program when he replaced Tubby Smith. Gillispie needed more time to get the results the fans and the athletic depa
rtment wanted.

Kentucky fans need to realize they are rebuilding. It is OK. Even the best of programs have to rebuild after a long period of success. Programs like North Carolina and UCLA have had to do this. Florida is in the same process. The Gators won back-to-back championships in 2006 and 2007 and have missed the NCAA tournament the past two years.

The expectations need to come down at Kentucky. They are so high that it will be hard for any coach who comes in to attain them-especially since the Wildcats are still reloading talent into the program.

Coaches like Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, Florida’s Billy Donovan, Memphis’ John Calipari and Villanova’s Jay Wright are said to be high on Kentucky’s list of replacements.

Would those guys be willing to leave great jobs where they have it made and go to Kentucky? I do not think so.

Izzo and Donovan have already won championships at their schools and can do whatever they want. Calipari and Wright have their schools knocking on the door every season. There is no reason for them to leave and go to Kentucky where nothing short of a championship will do.

If Kentucky fans want to get back to winning championships, they need to get over themselves and accept the fact that their program is not that good right now. If they want to bring in a good coach, they need to realize that coaches like Izzo, Donovan, Calipari and Wright are not leaving their programs to come to Kentucky and get fired after a couple of seasons.