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The Cowboys need a coach. Names like Billy Gillispie, formerly of Kentucky and Dave Rice, an assistant at BYU have been tossed around, and Fred Langley still exists as a possibility for the Cowboys. 

Mike Morris: 

The consensus wish list pick for the next head coach of Wyoming Cowboy basketball seems to be Billy “Don’t Call Me Dizzy” Gillispie, and with plenty of good reason.

Gillispie was responsible for the single most dramatic single-season program turnaround in NCAA history when he revived a 6-24 UTEP team, who would have been whooped by the national senior citizen home all-star team, and, in the span of one calendar, had the Miners playing in the 2004 NCAA tournament with a 24-8 record.

Gillispie became a national phenomenon overnight, and his stock only rose when he took over at Texas A&M and led the Aggies to their greatest basketball success in years.

In 2006-07, Gillispie coached an Aggie army - led by Acie “layin’ down the” Law - to a 27-7 overall record and a run to the sweet sixteen of the NCAA Tournament.

It was enough to catch the eye of a dormant Kentucky program, and one of the nation’s meccas of college basketball took a chance and hired Gillispie as head coach. Things never panned out on the country’s highest stage, and, after a pedestrian 40-27 mark over two seasons, Gillispie was canned as Kentucky’s main man.

However, Wyoming is not a mecca of college basketball, and expectations wouldn’t be at the stratospheric heights that they were at Kentucky. Gillispie is unquestionably the type of big-name prospect capable of impacting recruiting and changing the entire landscape of a program.

He comes with a number of question marks, however. Personal character certainly registers a few blips on the radar, as Gillispie has a pair of DUI arrests under his record, and allegations of recruiting violations have tailed him throughout his career. 

Also, it’s definitely pertinent to ponder whether or not Gillispie wants to call his Wyoming prom date onto the dance floor for one song and then skip town at the end of the night. 

Gillispie bounced on UTEP after two seasons and left A&M after three. What’s to keep him in Laramie of all places? 

Even if Wyoming can afford to bring in Gillispie, these are questions that the Wyoming faithful need to keep in mind when weighing Big Game Billy against other potential options such as BYU assistant Dave Rice and former Wyoming head coach (and Florida assistant) Larry Shyatt. 

Zach Greubel:

The Cowboys need to go no further than the house of Larry Brown for their coaching search. Wait, you don’t think Jerry Sloan would want to come back to coaching this early do you? I’m sure Bob Knight wouldn’t mind giving up his seat next to Brent Musburger for a seat on the Wyoming bench. 

In the real world, the biggest name I’ve heard come up in regards to Wyoming’s head coaching position is former Kentucky head coach Billy Gillispie. Of course, the chances of Gillispie taking the reins of Wyoming basketball are probably pretty slim, but, still, it has at least some merit.

Whoever Wyoming chooses to hire for their next head coach, just let it be someone who’s had success in Division I basketball. Unless they’re from the Southwestern Athletic Conference or some conference like that.

Tom Hesse: 

Billy Gillispie is a great thought, but I just don’t see it happening. I’m sure Gillispie would be happy to find another project to overhaul like he did with UTEP and A&M, but I don’t know if Wyoming could afford him. Things didn’t end well at Kentucky, and if Wyoming hired him, I would volunteer to pick him up at the airport. But I just don’t see it happening. The Cowboys need to go assistant coach. I’ve always been a fan of looking to assistants for hiring jobs. They’re young. They’re ambitious and they have something to prove. That’s a nice combination for a program that has a long way to go. I like the idea of Dave Rice; although I doubt he’ll be the guy Wyoming lands. Assistants tend to be more willing to take on a job even if it needs a lot of work because it proves their coaching merit. They don’t like to hang around very long but at least they care.