Counting down the worst Texas Tech coaches of the Big 12 era
No. 1: Billy Gillispie
Speaking of abusive coaches, we’ve come to the worst head coach at Texas Tech during the Big 12 era. Eight years before the Stollings controversy, we lived almost the exact same story with Billy Gillispie in the fall of 2012.
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Just prior to his second season as Texas Tech head coach, the controversial figure was accused by numerous players of abusive treatment such as forcing them to practice while injured and exceeding NCAA practice time limits. And like Stollings, he saw a mass exodus out of Lubbock during his tenure as 15 players left the program in his year-plus on the job.
But unlike Stollings, Gillispie was not fired. Rather, he resigned to seek treatment for alcoholism at the Mayo Clinic in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
On the court, Gillispie’s team was a disaster as well. In his lone season in charge, 2011-12, he oversaw the worst year in program history.
That year, his team was just 8-23 overall and 1-17 in Big 12 play. In fairness, the program he inherited from Pat Knight was in dire straights already but he did little to stem the tide.
In fact, he made matters worse with his abusive behavior and irresponsible actions. That resulted in the 2012-13 season being led by interim head coach Chris Walker. So when Tubby Smith was hired in 2013, the program had suffered through four different head coaches in four years. That’s a recipe for disaster.
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Just like Stollings, Gillispie had a history of troubling behavior including a pair of DUI arrests and erratic behavior while head coach at Kentucky. And just like with Stollings, Hocutt should have known better than to bring Gillispie to Lubbock. But in both cases he did and they sit as the two worst Texas Tech coaches of the Big 12 era because their actions lead us to believe they were the two worst humans to lead the Red Raiders in the last 25 years.