Dusty Mills is gone. That much we know for certain. The devil’s in the details, though.
In normal cases, a player asked to leave or who requests a transfer shows grace publicly. I can understand Dusty wanting to tell his side of the story. But look at the wording Dusty used in Jerry Tipton’s article:
“He bashed on me pretty much,” Mills said. …
“It was like he had a total power trip on me,” the walk-on said. “Instead of explaining things, he decided to use intimidation. ‘You’re below me. This is how things are going to be.’ ” …
“He cut me off and just went berserk,” Mills said. “He cussed me out. Just basically said he didn’t care what I had to say. Said he was sick of me. That was a quote. He actually said he was sick of me.”
Why does Dusty want to share this kind of information with us? To make Billy look bad, of course. Dusty’s statements is a parting shot, an airing of dirty laundry. It reminds me of Rashaad Carruth fighting with Tubby through the media. That worked well for Rashaad, Tubby and the whole team that year.
This act of revenge further illustrates the disconnect — and the resulting problems from the disconnect — between our coach and the media/fanbase. Here is the entirety of Gillispie’s comments in Tipton’s article:
After UK beat Georgia Tuesday night, Gillispie said he gave Mills that chance. “They all get chances,” the UK coach said. “He (Mills) was a real good member of the team for a little bit.” Gillispie denied using profanity in meeting with Mills.
Tru at ASeaofBlue.com is quite upset by Tipton’s article, which focuses heavily on Dusty Mill’s interview concerning his release. After receiving confirmation that Tipton researched both sides of the story, Tru still sees Billy as a bully:
I’m all about supporting our coach, but the latin proverb goes, “Qui tacet consentire videtur.” He who is silent is understood to consent.
I can’t believe this is all Billy had to say, given that Tipton later states, “Gillispie invited Mills to tell reporters of the meeting, Mills said.” It seems to me that Billy didn’t expect Dusty to give vivid allegations to Mr. Tipton; otherwise Billy would have given Tipton a more through response. I wonder if Dusty threatened to go to the media about his dismissal and the coach didn’t take the threat seriously. Or either Tipton was holding back with the details of what he learned from Dusty (which is bad journalism ethics), or Billy didn’t want to address it publicly (which is bad media management).
Whatever the case, Coach should take a minute and address Dusty’s comments this week. An issue with a walk-on doesn’t go away in this day and age; especially with a fanbase that is obsessively fanatical in their devotion to the program. Not fully commenting on a raised issue only leads to speculation & distrust.
This, like the Oklahoma State rumors, is just another crazy curve in this wild winding road of a basketball season.
That’s a very interesting take on the situation. It’s true that Dusty does seem to be trying to get in a parting shot at Gillispie, and it is also surprising that Gillispie had nothing more to say on the subject.
I agree that the comments should not be left out there unresponded-to for other coaches to point to and say, “See, Gillispie abuses his players — look what he did to Mills! The guy is unstable!” Not good for recruiting and not good PR.
Come-on - Duke Coach K is one of the most flagrant “abusers” of players, if you consider foul language to be the crime. I don’t understand why this should deserve any more commentary - it’s a non-event as far as I’m concerned. Just because Dusty made a private conversation public doesn’t mean Billy should “reward” him with any more of his time. That would just encourage other players accross the nation to do the same to thier coaches.
D-Dub, I agree that the coach should get into a “he said, he said” quote battle. But the problem is that its already a PR problem, since Tipton published Dusty’s accusations in the paper. I side with wilson482’s comment on ASoB:
I can’t beleive the junk I am reading on this. I doubt that any of you played a minute of college ball. After being in the field of education for over thirty years, this sounds like a kid who says “Mom all I did was pass a note to Mary Sue and that mean old teacher kicked me out of class.” This was probably the straw that broke the camels back. Two things, first the coach is in charge. Second, Mills is a walk on. Having coached high school and played college ball I can tell you if BG felt like this was some minor thing he would have worked it out. You guys need to get over it and spend your time discussing more important things.
Jerry Tipton is a cancer.
I just wish he would go ahead and kick Carter and Porter off to so we can get a few guys in here that know how to play.