Texas Tech’s Billy Gillispie ordered to avoid stress for 30 days; Gillispie says he’s had kidney issues

Billy Gillispie said doctors have ordered him to avoid any stress for 30 days in an effort to bring the Texas Tech basketball coach’s blood pressure down.

In a text message sent to the Associated Press on Monday, Gillispie confirmed he’d been treated for kidney problems and abnormal headaches last week at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

The school had no comment on Gillispie, who is currently on indefinite sick leave as Texas Tech gets set to begin practicing Oct. 12.

Gillispie spent four days at the Rochester, Minn., medical facility. That followed an earlier six-day stay at Lubbock’s University Medical Center that began Aug. 31, the day Gillispie was to meet with Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt to discuss allegations of mistreatment of players.

A group of players met with Hocutt on Aug. 29.

Ambulances were sent to Gillispie’s home twice in a 10-day span. The 52-year-old, entering his second season with the Red Raiders, was taken to the hospital after he called 911 early on Aug. 31, hours before he and Hocutt were to meet. It was not immediately clear who called 911 the evening of Sept. 11, but Gillispie was not taken to the hospital.

Hocutt told Gillispie last week that the coach was no longer to make day-to-day decisions for the basketball program or to engage with it at all so he can focus on his health. Associate head coach Chris Walker is in charge.

The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal first reported Gillispie was to avoid stress for 30 days.

Texas Tech went 8-23 last year, winning just one game in Big 12 play.

Gillispie had been out of coaching for two years when he came to Lubbock. He previously was head coach at Kentucky, Texas A&M and UTEP. Kentucky fired him in 2009 after the Wildcats went 40-27 in his two seasons and missed the NCAA tournament for the first time in 17 years.