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Come Fan with UsTuesday, August 4, 2026

Texas Tech Coach Billy Gillispie Draws Complaints From Players

Texas Tech head basketball coach Billy Gillispie finds his name in the media once again after players complain about his coaching style.

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Texas Tech Red Raiders head basketball coach Billy Gillispie is once again at the center of a firestorm regarding his coaching style and tactics. An undisclosed number of his current players were interviewed by the university's compliance department regarding the number of practice hours they were putting in, according to an ESPN.com report.

The compliance meeting unearthed other issues, which led to a subsequent conversation between the players, athletic director Koby Hocutt and associate athletics director, Blayne Beal, who issued a statement confirming that the meetings had taken place:

“We are aware and are looking into concerns within the leadership of our men’s basketball program. Student-athlete well-being is our top priority and a matter that we take extremely seriously at Texas Tech. Texas Tech is devoting its full resources to look into this matter.”

One of the issues raised by the players were similar to complaints heard at the University of Kentucky when Gillespie coached there for two seasons:

The player said that Gillispie is a “good coach, teacher and mentor, but he’s not the most personable person, not the coach you can go and talk to. He breaks you down. But he doesn’t build you back up. It’s hard to play for him when that happens every day. You feel like you’re getting torn down and you can’t get back up.”

For more on Texas Tech, be sure to check out their SB Nation blog, Double-T Nation.

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