College basketball coaches make lots of money, so, like other people who make lots of money, they buy really nice houses for themselves. That's all good. There might be a Jim Calhoun-related populist argument about whether state-employed coaches should make so much money in the first place, but for the sake of this blog post, let's ignore that, and just discuss what we set out to, which is HOLY CRAP BILLY GILLISPIE'S HOUSE IS SICK.

Gillispie instantly liked the 12,000-square-foot house that features a masculine flair. He loved the volume ceilings, including 10-foot-high ceilings on the lower level. "Eight-foot ceilings really wouldn't work for 7-footers," Smith [Gillispie's realtor] said. Smith, who said the coach had considered building a house from the ground up, told him she didn't know what else he would want in a house. "It has 18-inch crown molding, tray ceilings and six to nine different types of granite countertops," she said.

I don't know what any of those things are. (Moldings? Tray ceilings? Why do you need so many different types of granite? What's wrong with one granite?) I can, however, look at the photos of Gillispie's house and know that it is a southern-suburban McMansion in the most blatant 21st Century American tradition. Wooo! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

That said, an intimate profile of Gillispie's posh living situation is pretty tone deaf of Billy. Why? First is the economy. When Jim Calhoun is catching national heat for being insensitive about his salary, it's probably not a good time to show off how many horses you have in your backyard. Second is Gillispie's ever-rising seat temperature. Kentucky is currently in danger of not making the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1991, and if newspaper commenters are representative of the UK fan base at large (and dear God, let's hope newspaper commenters aren't representative of anybody), Big Blue Nation wants Gillispie to put his house on the market:

This is embarrassing!!! BG's multi-million$ house being showcased for the whole country to see - Maybe UK should pay coaches after the season is complete! If so BG would be in the trailer park! Please get us a new coach!

It goes on like that for a while. So Billy, for next time, a little PR advice: When the newspaper people want to come do a big feature on your house, give them the wrong address.

(Thanks to Alex for the tip.)

Related: SEC Basketball, College Basketball Media