Gillispie's calculating, obsessed ... in a good way, for UK

Who's smarter than Billy Gillispie?

Or more calculated.

Or more cold-blooded.

Or more Big Blue-blooded, even?

When it comes to winning, Billy Gillispie and UK are on the same page. (US Presswire)

The man who drinks Dr Pepper for breakfast had Texas A&M for lunch. He used Arkansas to get a huge raise from Aggies boosters last week, agreed in principle to the deal but never actually signed the contract. Good thing. Because now Gillispie has jumped the first flight to Kentucky -- or the third, technically, assuming the first two flights were reserved for Florida's Billy Donovan and Texas' Rick Barnes -- to become the Wildcats' next coach despite issuing the following quotes to the Dallas Morning News seven days ago:

"Once you have an agreement, you have an agreement," Gillispie said.

Later, he added, "I only have interest in Texas A&M."

So total honesty isn't Gillispie's strong point, which is fine, really. He's a basketball coach, plain and simple, not unlike most other basketball coaches. He's willing to do whatever he must to further his career. So though Gillispie might not be a terribly principled man, he has long been a terribly successful man. And the reality is Kentucky needs the latter more than the former right now, meaning athletic director Mitch Barnhart has made a tremendous hire.

One of Tubby Smith's famous creeds -- according to those in basketball circles -- is that he doesn't "deal with" AAU coaches, and if you're wondering what happened to Smith's career, the conversation begins and ends right there. But in Gillispie, Kentucky has found a coach who doesn't mind dealing with AAU coaches or anybody in general. Hell, he'll even hire them if that's what it takes.

Gillispie hired Al Johnson at Texas A&M. You don't know Al Johnson, but he just happens to have previously worked with two of the more prominent AAU programs in the region -- the Athletes First in Oklahoma and Mustangs in Dallas. Gillispie hired Barry Davis at Texas A&M. You don't know Barry Davis, but he just happens to have a nephew named Bryan Davis -- an elite Class of 2006 prospect who ultimately signed with the Aggies.

In fairness, Johnson and Davis were reasonable hires.

Both are college graduates with previous coaching experience.

But if you think either would've had a job at Texas A&M without their connection to potential recruits, then you probably also believe Smith really left Kentucky for Minnesota because he wanted a new challenge. In other words, pleeeeease. And though this might come off as a critical column about Gillispie, that's genuinely not the point. The point is everything that makes people skeptical of his motives is the reason he'll be a huge success at Kentucky.