TARKANIAN ON KENTUCKY COACH: ‘I FEAR FOR HIS LIFE’
Former UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian is worried about the welfare of his friend, embattled Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie.
"I fear for his life," Tarkanian said Monday during a radio interview.
"I tried to talk him out of taking the job," Tarkanian told Fox affiliate KBAD-AM 920 on the eve of the UNLV-Kentucky matchup in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament in Lexington.
Gillispie is under fire in the basketball-crazy state after the Wildcats, 20-13, missed the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1999. They are playing the NIT for the first time since 1979.
The problem, said Tarkanian, is that UK fans "think it's their birthright to be in the Final Four."
Gillispie, who reportedly was paid $2.6 million this season, has a 38–26 overall record in his two season in Lexington, 20–12 in the SEC.
-- NORM CLARKE, Vegas Confidential
