LUBBOCK, Texas – Former Texas Tech coach Billy Gillispie continued exceeding NCAA practice-time limits even after the school reprimanded him for the same violation earlier this year.
Documents obtained Friday showed that the school began reviewing the team's summer practice times in early August, weeks before Gillispie resigned Sept. 20 for health concerns.
In its report to the NCAA, the school said Gillispie allowed the team to exceed limits by 3½ hours for skill instruction and strength and conditioning. The NCAA allows eight weeks of summer instruction, with an eight-hour weekly limit.
USA Today Sports first reported the violations Thursday.
Gillispie also committed a secondary violation when he told a player to lift weights during the break between summer and fall classes.
He did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Friday.
Additionally, the reports states Gillispie threatened not to renew two players' scholarships if the players flew home after summer workouts to be with their families. When athletic director Kirby Hocutt learned about Gillispie's threat he assured the players their scholarships were secure, the report states.
Last week, the NCAA responded to Texas Tech's report dated Oct. 3. The governing body said it was satisfied with the school's self-imposed practice reduction time that stretched over a month this fall.
In January, the school reprimanded Gillispie and assistant coach Brooks Jennings after a review found the team had exceeded practice-time limits in 2011. The school reported the secondary violation to the NCAA and penalized itself by reducing the team's practice time by about 12 hours.
While all that was filtering out, Gillispie's health was apparently growing worse.
Twice in a 10-day span this fall, 911 calls were made from Gillispie's home. The first, on Aug. 31, came hours before he was to meet with Hocutt and led to a six-day stay in a Lubbock hospital. The two men never met to discuss the allegations.
Gillispie wasn't taken to the hospital after the second call on Sept. 10. But the following day, he left for the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., where he said he got treatment for kidney problems and abnormal headaches. Doctors there told him to avoid stress for 30 days.
When he returned from Minnesota on Sept. 14, Hocutt scheduled a meeting for the next day, the recent report states. However, Hocutt got a text message from Gillispie indicating he would not meet with the athletic director per his doctor's orders, according to the report.
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