Hurray for James Dickey

In 2004, James Dickey was on Eddie Sutton’s Oklahoma State basketball staff and was on the list for consideration at Texas A&M, which sought a head coach. A&M instead hired Billy Gillispie, and no one can say that didn’t work out.

A&M had only one winning season the previous 11 years, but in College Station, Gillispie produced an immediate winner. A&M went to the NIT his first year, then went to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments. The Aggies lost to LSU in the 2006 second round on a buzzer beater, then lost to Memphis in the 2007 Sweet 16 by one point.

Gillispie moved on to Kentucky, and A&M basketball remains solid today under Mark Turgeon.

James Dickey, assistant college basketball coach at Oklahoma State University (OSU), makes a statement at a news conference in Stillwater, Okla., Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2006, following a telephone statement by head basketball coach Eddie Sutton, who acknowledged that he drank alcohol after taking medication for chronic back pain shortly before he was involved in a car accident last Friday. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

In the past few days, the University of Houston searched for a basketball coach. Again, James Dickey’s name was on the list. So was Gillispie’s. Gillispie had been fired after two miserable seasons at Kentucky.