Billy Gillispie Out At Texas Tech

Billy Gillispie reportedly ran practices at Texas Tech that exceeded seven and six hours, according to emails obtained by USA Today.

Rachel George filed the report citing emails acquired through a Freedom of Information Act request. The correspondence details instances in which Gillispie put his Red Raiders basketball team through practices that lasted a total of seven hours, 15 minutes and six hours, 30 minutes, on consecutive days. The practices in question occurred on the weekend of Oct. 29-30, 2011, and were highlighted by a Texas Tech investigation.

Billy Gillispie has officially resigned as head coach of the Texas Tech basketball program, as reported on Thursday afternoon by Red Raider Sports on Twitter. According to the team’s official press release, associate head coach Chris Walker will take over the team until an interim head coach is found.

Gillispie had been accused of various forms of player mistreatment prior to the 2012 season, including installing overly long practices and playing injured players before they were fully healed. He was sent to the hospital because of high blood pressure and chest pains in early September and was recently getting treatment at the Mayo Clinic.

The Red Raiders hired Gillispie as their head coach in March 2011 following a solid coaching career at UTEP and Texas A&M. In his first and only season as Red Raiders coach, Gillispie’s team went 8-23 and saw six players transfer out of the program at the end of the season.

Texas Tech men’s basketball coach Billy Gillispie is seeking treatment for stress and high blood pressure at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. This comes after an ambulance was sent to Gillispie’s home on Monday following a 911 call, according to a report from the Associated Press.

A source told ESPN.com that while it’s still unknown when Gillispie will return to Texas Tech, he does intend to coach this season.

The case against Billy Gillispie returning for a second season at Texas Tech continues to grow.

The latest piece of evidence was entered Monday morning when sophomore forward Jordan Tolbert, the Red Raiders’ leading scorer last season, told ESPN.com that he does not want to play for Gillispie in 2012-13.

Gillispie had been in the hospital under care for high blood pressure and chest pain since Aug. 31. Now that he’s out, he’ll have plenty to deal with, as allegations of mistreatment of players and violations of NCAA limits on practice time have surfaced.

Gillispie was reportedly issued a reprimand in January after Texas Tech self-reported secondary NCAA violations pertaining to the amount of practice time the team had each week, athletic director Kirby Hocutt said Wednesday. He also said he would have a zero tolerance policy toward further violations, which recent allegations suggest may have happened.

Stories continue leaking about the train wreck that’s been Billy Gillispie’s time in Lubbock, and they are not pretty.

The former Texas A&M and Kentucky coach came back to the Big 12 in 2012, but success was elusive on the court, as the Texas Tech Red Raiders went 8-23 and 1-17 in conference.

In an online report, The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal cited a spokesman at University Medical Center who confirmed that Gillispie was in satisfactory condition and underwent an ultrasound procedure around noon. No further details were provided as to the reason behind Gillispie’s trip to the hospital.

Many of the issues raised by the players were similar to complaints heard at the University of Kentucky, where Gillispie coached for two seasons: