Being a head coach at the collegiate level seems to be an extremely stressful career. It chews up and spits out people. The article says Saigon is a place where "People and their intentions come whole and leave broken." That seems like a good summary of the collegiate head coaching world.
I don't want to take away anything from the tragedy, but I never believed in what could have been with him. To my eyes, he very clearly did not have the Xs and Os to put together a proper game plan. I wonder whether at some level he realized this and that contributed to the drinking and ultimate downfall.
Gillispie did have it at least at the UTEP and A&M level but still couldn't keep the demons away.