Bill Self is blinded

Bill Self feels obligated to stick up for his friend Billy Gillispie but, of course, Self didn't experience the behavior exhibited by Gillispie and is also blinded to the fact that his buddy needs to stay away from the coaching ranks from here on out both for his physical and mental health and of those under his supervision.

A prime example:

"I'm sure he's done some things as a coach that he looked back on and said, 'Whoa ... I got up against the line today. I toed the line a little bit.' But you know what? We've all done that at some point in time when we're trying to get our teams prepared to play at a high level. Ask any coach in America and he'll tell you there was a time when he said something when he was under stress or something he did under the gun where he went back and said, 'Ooohhh, I wish I would've handled that differently.'

and

"I just hate what's happened. I hate it because he's a friend and hate it because he's a colleague. I still just don't see how so many things can become public from such a short amount of time from sources that are supposedly inside the department. Basketball teams are supposed to be a family. There may be problems, you may have to work through them and there may be harsh realities.

Crossing the line (or actually swinging way past it) is Gillispie's method of operation, not something incidental. Physical and mental abuse and bullying are NEVER acceptable in ANY setting. Just who was "working through them?" Certainly not Gillispie.

The faux job offers for assistant coaching positions, the exodus of basketball program employees (let alone student-athletes), the NCAA practice time violations, having players work out despite stress fractures, layup lines for adults -- yes, Bill Self thinks (or desperately wishes to) that it's all some sort of misunderstanding.

No line of work should ever induce the expectation that unacceptable behavior and inhumane treatment is okay. Is that really want we want to be as a society?