About 175 fans filled seats in Reed Arena Tuesday afternoon to welcome new Texas A&M men's basketball head coach Billy Gillespie. Gillispie received a standing ovation from the crowd as he walked under an arch of sabers formed by the Ross Volunteers. Sporting a new maroon blazer, Gillispie acknowledged the crowd with a wide smile and a big thumbs-up "Gig 'em" sign.

In his first year as Texas A&M athletic director, Bill Byrne has increased revenue into the Athletic Department, has begun a marketing campaign that has increased attendance at every A&M sporting event and has put A&M back on the national landscape. Before Wednesday, Byrne had also made two hires, football head coach Dennis Franchione and women's basketball head coach Gary Blair.

If your kids brought home the same lousy report cards that two-thirds of the 65 teams in the NCAA men's tournament did, they'd be grounded for months. Instead, they're all going to get new sneakers and fistfuls of cash. Now you know why some of the people who watch college sports are always mad in March.