Former coach Billy Gillispie charged with DUI

Former Kentucky basketball coach Billy Gillispie was arrested on a driving under the influence charge early Thursday and was released from a central Kentucky jail.

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Police dispatcher Todd Sparrow said Lawrenceburg police arrested Gillispie on the DUI charge and took him to jail in neighboring Franklin County.

Gillispie's lawyer, Darran Winslow of Louisville, said Gillispie was released on his own recognizance, but declined further comment.

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Gillispie had a cell phone to his ear in the back of a vehicle Thursday morning as he left the jail with his lawyer and another man.

WLEX-TV in Lexington reported that Gillispie was pulled over in a white Mercedes with Texas tags around 2:45 a.m. Thursday after someone reported seeing the car driving erratically.

Gillispie was replaced by Memphis coach John Calipari this year after a rocky two-year tenure in which the Wildcats went 40-27.

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The arrest comes five months after Gillispie was dismissed, and the fallout has been messy.

Gillispie sued the university in federal court in Texas, alleging that the school's athletics department owes him $6 million for firing him two years into a seven-year agreement. The university says he never signed a formal contract and the school doesn't owe the money.

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Despite the firing, Gillispie has retained a high profile in Kentucky and was a fixture at Keeneland Race Course during its spring meet, standing in the paddock before races and talking to fans.

The arrest marks at least the third time Gillispie has been cited for driving under the influence. In 1999, Gillispie was arrested on two charges: driving while intoxicated and improper use of a lane in Tulsa, Okla., where he was an assistant coach under Bill Self.

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The other charges were dismissed.

In 2003, in his first year as head coach at the University of Texas-El Paso, he was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. The charges eventually were dismissed after a specially appointed prosecutor decided that there was not enough evidence to suggest that Gillispie was drunk. The coach, then 43, maintained his innocence through that process.

Gillispie addressed his mistakes during his introductory press conference at Kentucky in April 2007, saying he wasn't "proud of some of things that I've done."



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Terra/ AP