Billy Clyde Gillispie ( ; born November 7, 1959), also known by his initials BCG and Billy Clyde, is an American college basketball and current men's basketball coach at Tarleton State. Gillispie had previously been head coach at UTEP, Texas A&M, Kentucky, and Texas Tech. After leading both UTEP and Texas A&M to postseason appearances one year after poor seasons, Gillispie became the only college basketball coach to be in charge of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) program with the biggest turnaround in two consecutive seasons. Gillispie was known as an excellent recruiter who managed to put together four straight top-25 recruiting classes. In his three seasons at Texas A&M, the Aggies achieved three consecutive 20-win seasons for the first time in the program's history. Early years Gillispie was born November 7, 1959, in Abilene, Texas, the middle child and only boy among five children of Clyde, a cattle truck driver, and Winifred Gillispie. He grew up in Graford, Texas, a town of 494 people located about 65 miles west of Fort Worth. As a child, Gillispie worked as a paperboy, delivering copies of The Fort Worth Press. At Graford High School, Gillispie played point guard for the basketball team and was a standout athlete in his graduating class of 20 students. He attended Ranger College, playing basketball and baseball for them from 1978 to 1980, before transferring to Sam Houston State University to work as a student assistant for their basketball team under coach Bob Derryberry, a former classmate of Gillispie's father. Derryberry moved to Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University–San Marcos) the following year, and Gillispie accompanied him, spending three years as a graduate assistant. Gillispie received his degree in education from Southwest Texas State in 1983. Coaching career Early positions Gillispie spent the next few years building a coaching resume, spending two years as an assistant high school basketball coach before becoming a head coach at Copperas Cove High School in 1987. From 1987 to 1993, Gillispie held three high school head coaching positions. He was nominated for Texas Association of Basketball Coaches (TABC) high school coach of the year for his 1992–1993 season with Ellison High School in Killeen, Texas, which set school records for winning percentage and points scored and ended the season ranked 4th in the state. After a year as an assistant coach at South Plains College, in 1994, Gillispie