With Billy Gillispie getting canned by Kentucky yesterday, you figure he would’ve just packed up quietly and headed out of Dodge. After all, this was supposed to be a bitter, miserable guy who didn’t like anything about being in Lexington (if ESPN’s Pat Forde is to be believed). Well, does this look like that guy?:

(The 6-million-dollar smile?)

Gillispie held a 30-minute press conference in a Lexington hotel in which he cracked jokes and acted like he didn’t have a care in the world. Maybe he’s just relieved to be out from under all the pressure. Perhaps he thinks that Jeanine Edwards might return his phone calls now. The most likely reason for his new sunny disposition, though, is that he seems to think that he’ll be getting $6 million to not coach the team, no questions asked — even though he never actually signed his contract. The university, shockingly, isn’t going to cooperate with that.

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Well, that was fast. After two years of schizophrenic results and the nation’s most hostile interactions with sideline reporters, Billy Gillispie is no longer coach of the Kentucky Wildcats, at least according to Louisville ABC affiliate WHAS-TV.

Assuming the report is true, the move really isn’t as much of a shock as it seems. Kentucky is the kind of school that demands instant results, and the Wildcats had to eke into the NCAA Tournament last year and missed the dance altogether in ‘09. Clearly, that’s not going to cut it. Add to that two of the more embarrassing early-season results in school history, and Gillispie was already writing a pretty dismal chapter for himself in the book of Kentucky lore.

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