Earlier today, I wrote about the weekend's batch of former players, family members and coaches who had come to embattled Texas Tech coach Billy Gillispie's defense, following last week's messy news of a player revolt and a score of stories about Gillispie's alleged mistreatment of players.
It is no surprise there is still more of the story to digest, as ESPN.com's Andy Katz reported this afternoon. Andy spoke with Red Raiders leading scorer Jordan Tolbert, who flatly said he did not want to play for Gillispie if the coach returned in 2012-13:
"I don't," Tolbert said by phone. "I don't. Maybe I would for the assistants. I haven't put that much thought into it. There is a big sense of urgency. I don't want to play for him if he comes back."
"We just don't know," Tolbert said. "We're waiting to find out like everyone else. I haven't seen or talked to him in two or three weeks. [...] We still can be good. But we do need a coach."
After nearly a week of back-and-forth, we've gotten perilously close to exhausting our abilities to describe this story, let alone argue and inveigh one way or another. It seems like a long shot that Gillispie will be retained, despite the outpouring of support; it also seems likely that a very rude, very driven, very brusque, arguably slightly imbalanced individual is probably not quite as bad as some current players' reports of his behavior made him seem.
But I'm done trying to figure this thing out, at least until we hear from Tech AD Kirby Hocutt.
What a mess. Honestly, that's all I've got. What. A. Mess.
