Get mad if you must. Curse. Yell. Scream if it makes you feel better.

But deep down in your soul, you knew Billy Clyde Gillispie was going to Kentucky if it called. Can you really blame him?

If you’re honest, the answer is no.

Maybe, you convinced yourself Billy Clyde wouldn’t leave because Texas A&M gave him a $500,000 raise and a contract extension. Heard they even bought some shovels, so they could finally start groundbreaking on the state-of-the-art practice facility they’ve been talking about for awhile.

The Aggies’ power brokers really did everything they could to keep the man who turned a raggedy basketball program that endured a winless Big 12 season just a couple of years ago into a club that finished 27-7 this season and came within 12 seconds of advancing to the South Region final of the NCAA Tournament.

Gillispie, though, never signed the lucrative new deal and spent a portion of last week flirting with Arkansas, which should have made you nervous.

You don’t want to hear this right now as you mourn the loss of your basketball coach. But it’s time for some tough love.

Get over it. Billy Clyde isn’t the only good coach in America.

Heck, a few years ago no one even knew his name except the Dick Vitales of the world. That’s not meant to demean his accomplishments, but merely to help you put his departure into perspective.

Be thankful he made your basketball program relevant again. Be happy you can pluck a head coach with a name this time – even if you have to pilfer a mid-major such as Gonzaga or Southern Illinois to do it.

Just don’t spend too much time having a pity party. It’s not worth it.

Billy Clyde had a bunch of good reasons to stay in College Station. He’s from Texas, he recruits the state better than most and his mom and sister live here.

Kentucky gave Billy Clyde a seven-year deal worth $2.3 million per season, which doesn’t include incentives and bonuses, to abandon the state where he grew up and the university that put him on the map. There’s no shame in that, really.

It’s the nature of big-time college basketball. You stole UT-El Paso’s coach. Now, Kentucky has swiped your coach. And in a few days, you’ll steal someone else’s coach, who will leave the kids he’s recruited in a lurch.

That, my friends, is the nature of Division I athletics.

It’s hard to blame Billy Clyde for leaving, though a couple of weeks ago I wrote about all of the reasons he should stay at A&M. You can build a national champion without ever leaving the state to recruit players because Texas high school basketball has improved so much in the last 20 years.

No doubt, he could have been an icon in College Station.

Like it or not, Kentucky is a destination spot for basketball; A&M is not. No shame in that because there aren’t many. So when Kentucky, or UCLA, or Indiana, or Duke calls, it takes a special situation and circumstance to turn down those institutions. Billy Donovan has that at Florida, so he told Kentucky no thanks. So did Rick Barnes, proving life at a football school such as Texas must not be that bad.

Billy Clyde couldn’t say no. Frankly, it’s selfish of you to ask him not to chase his dream job.

He’s 47, unmarried, singularly committed to his job, and he’s taking over one of college basketball’s great programs. So be happy for Billy Clyde. Wish him well. He gave A&M its money’s worth.

He’ll do the same for Kentucky.