Chris Walker Placed In Charge of Day-to-Day Operations of Texas Tech Basketball

#TexasTech Associate HC Chris Walker has been placed in charge of day to day decision making for men's hoops by Tech's administration.

— Chris Level (@ChrisLevel) September 12, 2012

Note that Walker has not been named interim head coach, but rather he is in charge of day-to-day operations. Now, it sounds like we have a little direction as to who is in charge of the basketball team. As posted earlier, head coach Billy Gillispie has checked himself into the Mayo Clinic, per the LAJ's Nick Kosmider:

Gillispie on Tuesday afternoon checked himself into the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., where he is being treated for stress and high blood pressure, “amongst other things,” he told the Avalanche-Journal in a text message.

Stay tuned.

[Note by Seth C, 09/12/12 4:30 AM CDT ] UPDATE: After I turned off the computer, athletic director Kirby Hocutt released a statement (see RRS or the DT) regarding Walker and the current situation:

"We hope Billy Gillispie has a full recovery, but we cannot wait forever as we have a basketball team that starts practice soon. In the meantime, Associate Head Coach Chris Walker will assume the responsibility for day-to-day operations of our men's basketball program. Coach Walker will ensure that leadership and accountability will be in place for our student athletes and staff. We have been seeking a swift resolution to this issue from the very beginning. We remain committed to communicating with Billy face-to-face regarding the issues related to the men's basketball program; however, time is of the essence."

This is the strangest thing that I've seen in a long time. The two sides to the story is that Gillispie is running from Hocutt, while the other side would be that Gillispie is really sick. I'm not sure. Two other interesting notes. The first is that the DT confirmed with the UMC that he was not checked into the hospital after calling for an ambulance on Monday night. The second is that according to ESPN's Andy Katz (this is a video) Gillispie and the team already served the reduction in practice time last year and (this is not in Katz's story) then received a letter of reprimand. Then the compliance office called in all of the players again about additional practice violations and possible mistreatment. If Gillispie was issued the zero-tolerance letter of reprimand and Gillispie knowingly committed practice violations again, then it would seem that his mistreatment of players is irrelevant. Gillispie would then, essentially, be in violation of the zero-tolerance letter of reprimand and Gillispie chose to ignore his boss.