That You Can’t Rip On All Coaches’

Andy Williams wants you to know about his coach.

He wants you to know that there is at least one college basketball coach in America who prefers playing over job openings, who has put down deep roots, who seems to live by a code of honor that doesn’t include the words “unless something better comes along.”

He wants you to know about Bob Gillespie, who has been Ripon College’s head coach the last 22 years.

Williams emailed me after reading my column Monday, a column that dealt with Bill Self’s boogie-woogie from Illinois to Kansas and the disillusionment that seems to come with getting attached to any coach these days.

“There are still decent coaches out there who don’t do it for the money or the glory, just for the love of the game and their kids,” he wrote.

Williams, a junior guard from Mundelein (Ill.) would know Last summer (2001) Gillespie called his players to tell them he was leaving Ripon for the University of Utah. Utah coach Rick Majerus, one of Gillespie’s good friends, had come bearing a gift: His top assistant, Dick Hunsaker, had left to start a Division I program at Utah Valley State College. Would Gillespie like to take Hunsaker’s place?

The response of most small-school coaches to such an offer is fairly standard: Would you like me to saw off my right arm and give it to you now or would you rather wait until I get an attractive carrying case for it?

Hmmm, let’s see. Division III Ripon, 85 miles northwest of Milwaukee, or Top 25 program Utah? A school of 1,000 students that plays the likes of Beloit College or a school that plays a big-time schedule? A Division III salary or a Division I salary?

Gillespie accepted the job. Then he started calling his players. And the more of his players he called, the more his heart started elbowing him in the ribs and asking him what he possibly could be thinking.

“After talking to all of us, he realized what was more important and how much he was loved and would be missed,” Williams wrote. “After taking the job in Utah, he then had to call up Mr. Majerus and tell him he couldn’t, he loved his players too much.”

I called Gillespie on Tuesday to inquire how much of this was true. To those of us in the big city, this sort of sappy tale is usually found in the Young Reader section of the library. It’s Chip Hilton stuff. We deal with the Bill Selfs of the world around here. We’ve developed emotional barriers that could stop a freight train.

“When push came to shove, I just felt like what we have going here at the Division III level, the relationships I have with my former players and my current players was too good to leave,” Gillespie said.

And there was something else at work, something unique and wonderful. Gillespie’s father, Gordie, is Ripon’s baseball coach. He is 77. Bob serves as Gordie’s third-base coach. Gordie serves as one of Bob’s basketball assistants. Bob didn’t want to miss a day of that.

Gordie won five state championships in 35 years as a football coach at Joliet (Ill.) Catholic and coached baseball at Lewis University for 24 years and the College of St. Francis for 19 years. He apparently taught his son the value of staying in one place longer than the average weather front.

“He has been with me for eight years now,” Bob Gillespie said. “Those eight years have probably been as rewarding a time as I’ve ever had. There were a lot of reasons for me to stay at Ripon. I know in my heart and soul that I did the right thing.”

Bob Gillespie is 54, and the job offers likely won’t be coming his way anymore. The Utah offer was his best chance to get into Division I ball and probably his last chance. That’s OK.

He watched Utah beat Brigham Young in January without Majerus, who missed the game to speak at the funeral of former Ute Andre Miller’s stepfather Assistant Kerry Rupp took Majerus’ place. Gillespie watched the

Andy Williams ’04 didn’t like what he read in the Chicago Tribune in late April. Sports columnist Rick Morrissey had just taken a major NCAA Division I coach to task for leaving one school for another after such a short time.

Williams, of Lindenhurst, Ill., wanted Morrissey to know that not all coaches were like that — and he did something about it. Williams e-mailed Morrissey to tell him about Bob Gillespie. Little did Andy know that Morrissey would take an interest in the comments and turn them into a story for his “In the Wake of the News” column which ran down an entire side of the front page of the April 23 sports section.

When I e-mailed Andy to seek a copy of his e-mail to Morrissey, I thanked him for honoring Coach Gillespie and Ripon College. In response, Andy wrote, “Thank you so much for the kind words, but I’m just a product of my environment. We are surrounded with wonderful, caring people every day. Ripon deserves to be recognized.”

Loren J. Boone, Editor

game on TV and knew that if he had taken the Utah job, he would have been the one filling in for Majerus.

He admits to a brief twinge of regret. But not much more. He and Majerus remain close. And he has everything he wants now, even if it doesn’t look like much to other coaches.

“The Division III game is just as important to our kids as the game is to Utah,” he said. “When I thought about it, I just thought maybe I could have more of an impact on kids’ lives here as a head coach and athletic director than I could at Utah. And I think this is the purest form of athletics in America today. Our kids are playing because they love to play.”

Williams, who played at Carmel High School (in Illinois), showed Gillespie the email he sent me Monday. He wanted to make sure it was OK with his coach.

“I was a little bit choked up that he would take the time to write that,” Gillespie said. “Obviously my relationship with him is important to him. That really made me feel good.”

He should feel good that he realized there is more to basketball than the next job. He should feel good that he realized it in time.

“Self is going to Kansas, and he says it’s his dream job,” Gillespie said. “Didn’t he say that about Illinois?

“I know one thing. I’m at Ripon for the long haul.”

A coach who doesn’t want to climb the ladder, and I believe him. Crazy, I know.

Rick Morrissey

April 23, 2003

Copyright © 2003, The Chicago Tribune

Reprinted with Permission from The Chicago Tribune