Buffalo’s Gill: Witnesses of UB turnaround have utmost confidence in coach

Kansas head football coach Turner Gill greets the Allen Fieldhouse crowd as he is introduced by athletic director Lew Perkins at halftime, Saturday, Dec. 18, 2009 at Allen Fieldhouse.

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KU meets Turner Gill

KU Athletic Director Lew Perkins introduced Turner Gill as the new football coach at KU Monday morning.

Buffalo, N.Y. — A few days ago, an older woman with dark hair and a New York accent was a couple of hours into her shift at the Starbucks inside the local Marriott.

It was early in the morning, a little before 9, and the woman — her name tag said “Terry” — was in the process of preparing a grande mocha when it came to her attention that two of her customers were out-of-town reporters in the area to do a story on former University at Buffalo football coach Turner Gill.

This piece of information, apparently striking a chord, caused the woman to turn her attention momentarily from the steamed milk.

“Oh, he stops in sometimes!” she said, beaming. “He’s such a nice man!”

The name “Gill” holds a certain kind of distinction in western New York these days. Take over a program as lowly as Buffalo’s was, lead it to a Mid-American Conference championship, its first bowl game in 50 years, and people tend to notice. Bring quality college football to a city that had grown accustomed to living without it, and people don’t tend to forget.

Perhaps the best way to understand the impact Gill, the recently named head coach of the Kansas University football team, has had on the city of Buffalo is to see it up-close — board a plane, rent a car, hop onto I-90 and head toward the University at Buffalo.

Spend a few days in town. Stop in at the Anchor Bar — where the country’s first buffalo wing was served — and flip through an issue of the Buffalo News, taking in the column about how, hard as the school might try, it’s going to be a near impossibility to replace Gill.

Notice the Buffalo Bulls merchandise that now hangs from the racks at Macy’s — it didn’t used to, almost anyone will tell you — and talk to people like Terry. Talk to those that knew Gill, or at least knew of him.

Talk to enough people, in fact, and it’s hard not to come away convinced that Gill — the man charged with pushing the program past a nightmare two-month stretch that saw previous KU coach Mark Mangino pushed out following an investigation into his treatment of players — is the man to lead the Jayhawks.

• • •

Talk to Dane Robinson, a senior defensive lineman from Maryland who’s built like a refrigerator and acts as the team’s unofficial spokesman.

Dugan Arnett/Journal-World Photo

New Kansas University football coach Turner Gill spent four seasons manning the sidelines of the University at Buffalo’s UB Stadium.

Meet him in the parking lot of the school’s football complex on a Wednesday morning last week, and he’ll gladly take you through the football complex. He’ll show you the locker room (where Gill, during a particularly impassioned pregame speech, put on a helmet and threatened to take the field), the meeting room (where players and coaches regularly held round-table discussions in which players were encouraged to speak their minds) and lead you out onto the team’s field (where, over the past four seasons, the team enjoyed unprecedented success). Robinson was there from the beginning, which means he can tell you about the days before Gill, when confidence was nil and football players were ashamed to wear their team gear on campus because being associated with the UB football program wasn’t exactly something to brag about.

He can also tell you how Gill took a broken football program and turned it into a family. And he’ll tell you how he did it: by building relationships with players that simulated those of fathers and sons. By telling players that, one day soon, they were going to be proud to wear their UB sweatshirts to class. By supplementing workouts and practices with team trips to the local bowling alley and laser tag arena, because football, at any level, is supposed to be fun.

He’ll tell you about the day a few years back, for instance, when Gill ordered players to be at the football complex before dawn the next day for outdoor conditioning. And how, when they dragged in the next morning, dreading the prospect of a workout in the dead of a Buffalo winter, Gill instead sat them down and showed a clip from the Ben Stiller movie “Dodgeball” (“If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball”), then led them to the nearby gymnasium to play.

Says Buffalo defensive back Josh Thomas, “He’s a coach that you don’t want to let down.”

• • •

Talk to Buffalo tight ends coach Joe Dailey and wide receivers coach/recruiting coordinator Juan Taylor, too, because at the end of the day, they probably know Gill as well as anybody.

They’ll tell you that Gill’s fingerprints are all over the program.

Like the massive trophy case in the coaches’ lounge, packed with family photos of assistant coaches. It wasn’t there before Gill arrived. Notice, too, how the coaches’ doors are always open so that anyone can pop in to discuss anything from Cover 2 formations to oldies hits.

“He immerses himself into a situation,” says Dailey, who played quarterback under Gill at Nebraska in 2003 and ’04. “He wants to meet everybody and know everyone.”

They’ll tell you that as flashy as Gill could be on the field — as a Heisman finalist quarterback at Nebraska in the early ’80s, he led one of college football’s most high-powered offenses — he’s just as humble off it.

They’ll tell you what it was like trying to recruit to Buffalo four years ago (“They didn’t know what Buffalo was,” says Taylor. “Some guys thought it was a state.”) and how, these days, they can walk into a high school in Texas and immediately see a look of recognition on the face of a recruit.

“Now,” Taylor says, patting the “UB” logo on the chest of his sweatshirt, “this is a brand. People know about Buffalo.”

• • •

While you’re there, stop by the Alumni Arena and see Paul Hutchings because he can give you the fan’s perspective.

Hutchings’ official title is campus awareness coordinator, but he can more aptly be described as one of the school’s most intense fans. Before graduating a couple of years back and taking a job with the university’s marketing department, Hutchings was regularly stationed in the front row of every UB football game, shirt off, the first “L” in a line of bare chests that spelled out “GO BULLS.”

Hutchings is one of the founders of “True Blue,” the football team’s official fan group that has ballooned since Gill took over at the school.

In 2007, for instance, it had 55 members. Today, it has 5,500.

Dugan Arnett/Journal-World Photo

New Kansas University football coach Turner Gill spent four seasons manning the sidelines of the University at Buffalo’s UB Stadium.

A former intern with the football program, Hutchings parlayed that into his current job, which, until recently, involved working closely with Gill to generate student interest in the football program.

What he quickly learned, he’ll tell you, was that no matter the demands on his time, Gill always made himself available.

“He never turned down anything I asked him to do,” said Hutchings, whose duties included organizing events in which students could interact with the coach. “No matter what it was.”

Once, he asked Gill to show up at the student union before a game and pass out some fliers. When Hutchings showed up 10 minutes early the next day, he found Gill already there, weaving his way through tables, introducing himself to students, asking about their majors and their hometowns.

Building relationships one conversation at a time.

Hutchings will also tell you that, easygoing as Gill is, he harbors a competitiveness about him, as well.

When Hutchings organized an event in which four Buffalo students were selected to take on Gill in a football-throwing accuracy competition — three throws at a target, and the most accurate got a Buffalo gift basket.

Beforehand, it was decided that Gill would intentionally throw the competition, but when the students showed up breathing smoke and fire (“They were like, ‘You’re too old,’ ‘You don’t have it anymore,’” Hutchings says), Gill grinned big and then proceeded to rifle three footballs effortlessly through the target, easily topping his competitors.

Says Hutchings, “He still gave them the gift baskets, though.”

• • •

Make sure you head over to the 1230 AM WECK studio over on Genesee Street and see Brad Riter, who for the past two years has hosted Gill’s weekly radio show.

Riter, who was born and raised in Buffalo, will invite you over after an evening show, offer you a Molson and take you back to his office, which is scattered with various pieces of Bulls memorabilia.

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Turner Gill: A new era

Turner Gill is officially the new head coach of KU football.

Riter is an unabashed Gill fan. Says you can’t comprehend the strides Buffalo made under his watch. He’s gotten to know Gill well over the course of the coach’s tenure in Buffalo, but he still marvels at Gill’s down-to-earth persona.

“The guy drives a Chevy Equinox!” says Riter, beside himself. “He literally drives the same car as my sister, who’s a Spanish teacher and a mother of two!”

Riter will tell you that Kansas is getting itself one hell of a football coach, and, because he grew up in Buffalo — because he watched the unthinkable evolution of the UB program under Gill — he’ll roll his eyes at the idea that the coach isn’t ready to take over a Big 12 football program.

“I don’t think you can understate where this program was before he took over,” says Riter. “And you can’t overstate where the program is right now.”

He smiles, takes a swig of his beer.

“He’s going to win a Big 12 championship,” he says. “He is.”

• • •

Finally, talk to Turner Gill.

Shake his hand. Look him in the eye. Hear his passion as he lays out his plan to turn Kansas into a perennial conference championship contender. Sit across from him in an office in the bowels of Allen Fieldhouse, an hour after being showered with applause after he was introduced at halftime of the men’s basketball game against Michigan.

Already, he’ll tell you, he’s been working feverishly to re-create the sense of family his teams enjoyed at Buffalo.

During his first meeting with Kansas players last week, he had each of them stand up and talk about their own families. Then he had them fill out questionnaires about themselves, which he carries in a folder and takes time to study as he’s being whisked from appointment to appointment, living room to living room, the flurry of responsibilities that come with his new position.

He knows it’s imperative to get to know his players as well as he can before the start of spring practice, which is why he opened his office for one-on-one meetings this week, talking to players about just about anything besides football.

“I don’t want the first thing I say to them to be me talking to them after they mess up a fly pattern,” he says.

Now, the inevitable questions that follow a high-profile hiring: Can the nice guy finish first? Can the family approach win championships? Can Gill and his new staff appease a Kansas fan base buoyed by the happenings of an eight-year stretch that saw the program win 20 games in two seasons and capture an Orange Bowl title?

Time will tell, of course, but on Saturday, Gill didn’t seem overly concerned.

And so, with a number of tasks still facing him and his daughter by his side, the newest face of Kansas University football rose from his seat, smiled and headed out the door, off to build a program.

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KanFan27 3 years, 5 months ago

Absolutely outstanding article. So much great information that is really not on the beaten path. I really enjoyed learning some of the little things. I loved the article and love what I hear about Gill. Everyday I get a little more happy about his hire. I cannot wait for coming months and more development with him and the program. Having him as our coach really gives me a proud feeling. I also cant say how much I loved hearing Thomas saying "He's a coach that you don't want to let down". Thats what this program needs. A coach that can inspire and make them give it everything they have. I'm really excited about the future of this team and program.

MNHawk23 3 years, 5 months ago

great article, everything i hear about him sounds outstanding

jayhawkdon 3 years, 5 months ago

Great article. Turner seems to be just what Kansas needs to step to the next level. Don't want to be premature, but could be a young Tom Osborne in waiting!!!!

oldalum 3 years, 5 months ago

Enjoyed the article very much. Really interesting stuff. Thanks.

Nutflush21 3 years, 5 months ago

What Doogie no shots at KU? No back-handed compliments for the football program? I guess you just save that for your blog because todays aritcle was excellent.

CaliHawk33 3 years, 5 months ago

thats whatsup

CaliHawk33 3 years, 5 months ago

I'm ready for KU to be made name brand football BXII Fball team like NU, OU, and TU....our revenue is right there...and theres no reason now why our team isn't now...Go HC TG! Bring us in those top quality players!!

CaliHawk33 3 years, 5 months ago

Well said Kanfan, I like the hire more and more every single day as well.

hirschtodd 3 years, 5 months ago

FINALLY! When you actually just shut up and write....you do a good job. Great article. Stick to stuff like this instead of trying to be funny.

RockCaCO3 3 years, 5 months ago

HCTG sounds like he should be able to motivate our players...

"...Gill, during a particularly impassioned pregame speech, put on a helmet and threatened to take the field"

Thats awesome.

bpjhawk 3 years, 5 months ago

I want to believe, I really do. But I think I'm starting to feel the effects of an overdose of 'sunshine pumping.'

hawkman1031 3 years, 5 months ago

Buffalo Gill

KU1979 3 years, 5 months ago

Great article. Everyone knows that these are tough days for newspapers and I appreciate the LJW spending the money to send reporters to Buffalo to do this story. Good work, and keep it up!

Oh, and Gill sounds like a winner -- can't wait for Sept. 4th!

mikendal 3 years, 5 months ago

Gill ordered his players to be at the football complex before dawn the next day for outdoor conditioning. And how, when they dragged in the next morning, dreading the prospect of a workout in the dead of a Buffalo winter, Gill instead sat them down & showed them a clip from the Ben Stiller movie "Dodgeball" ("if you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball"), then led them to the nearby gym to play.

That is hella funny! I will use Ralster's phrase: "And priceless!"

desertjhawk 3 years, 5 months ago

Dugan -

This article was fantastic. Great writing and journalism. Shared this with a bunch of friends and fellow alum.

kranny 3 years, 5 months ago

Sounds like a great man, undeniably. Unfortunately, in big time college football, if it doesn't translate to "Wins", he'll be put in the same category as Terry Allen. We will have to give him a year or two. I think we'll get 4 wins next year. After that I figure a bowl berth is the minimum expectation.

number1jayhawker 3 years, 5 months ago

Very good article Mr. Arnett. Thank you.

TRUEHEART 3 years, 5 months ago

It's nice to see the turn in the attitude and opinion in these posts. The early comments seemed to be dominated by negative criticism and opposition at the hiring of Coach Gill. I had never seen so much whining and complaining. The outcome and results will not be known until we've put a couple of seasons behind us but I like that most are now willing to get behind our new coach and support him. A lot of his success will depend on the support he gets from everyone in the Jayhawk nation.

hoosierhawk74 3 years, 5 months ago

Maxhawk, you are a fool, and your mother makes you wear a dress. What facts do you have to back up any of your trash. This is nothing more, or less, than a puff piece. Full of huggie bears and sunshine. Time will tell.

lance1jhawk 3 years, 5 months ago

Great article Dugan... It was nice to get some of the local flavor in Buffalo to really know how they felt about Coach Gill. I can't wait til sept.4th. I don't expect alot from next season, but I know great things are to come. RCJH

mvjayhawk 3 years, 5 months ago

http://www.kansascity.com/1049/story/1640792.html

another feature on Coach Gill from the KC Star today.

wolfy 3 years, 5 months ago

Rivals is reporting that T. Gill just landed a DB from Texas, presumably one of the guys who came in for yesterday's game. Anyone have more information?

jhokfan 3 years, 5 months ago

“He’s a coach that you don’t want to let down,” Sounds like the polar opposite of Mangino, a coach players were fearful of letting down. The more I read, the more I like. Have not read one disparaging comment on Turner Gill. I’m sure that will change next year after some of KU’s fans with unrealistic expectations get a taste of him.

Hoosierhawk, your comment leaves me a bit puzzled. What part of Maxhawks statement are you referring to?

mikendal 3 years, 5 months ago

mvjayhawk--

Great read--thanks for the link--all Jayhawks fans should read it!

okiedave 3 years, 5 months ago

Okay, Lew, I'm starting to like you again.

FLJHK 3 years, 5 months ago

Absolutely perfect hire. I look forward to him being at KU a long time.

Recruiting thought: There's a kid out of State Champion Plant High (Tampa) named Eric Dungy - Tony's son. Class kid, still growing as a football player (WR and DB) and is uncommitted for college. Will become an excellent player. Seems a great fit for KU and its promising future.

jjjjjhok 3 years, 5 months ago

So, T-Gill made a bad program respectable. Sounds familiar (Mangino). Here's hoping he can make a respectable program great!

He'll get no pats on the back for 6-5's and Meineke Muffler Bowl bid's here! Well, with many KU fans ...he just might!

jhokfan 3 years, 5 months ago

For 2009, I'd love to be 6-5 and going to the Meineke Muffler Bowl.

babyjay1 3 years, 5 months ago

Merry Christmas to you, too, HoosierHawk... You could try and enjoy the ride and maybe wait on all the disparaging comments until you have something real to complain about. Maybe HCTG is the real thing and you won't get your chance to complain. Rock Chalk Turner Gill :)

okiedave 3 years, 5 months ago

Read today where Oklahoma has all their 25 commitments for 2010 on board with a couple of extras in case. Actually, they had almost all of their commitments before the end of this summer. Hope HCTG can get the KU program to the point where 4 and 5 star recruits are lining up at the door to come to KU rather than trying to pursuade them that it is a good place to be for football.

KanFan27 3 years, 5 months ago

The new commitments name is Ray Mitchell. He is a 6'1 safety out of Irving Texas. He is 180 pounds, and a two star rated player. He had offers from Colorado State, Iowa State, New Mexico, Tulsa, and Wyoming. Not a high profile guy but descent. You can take a look at him at jayhawkslant.com

KanFan27 3 years, 5 months ago

jayhawkinnebr - You obviously have NOOOO idea what you are talking about. Gill has recruited in this league before, and he has done a damn good job of it. He has a lot of things working for him and he will do great things here. As for us losing some people this year well that is one of those "well duhhh" type of deals. This program is in turmoil right now what do you expect from Gill how long has he been here? Of course we are going to lose a few recruits but your not looking at the big picture. Also Gabbert did not turn out as highly rated as first thought, and his brother was not as highly rated as him. Mizzou will no greater than KU. There is no need to be negative because Gill is going to be fantastic for this program. No hard feeling to you just being honest.

huskercarpenter 3 years, 5 months ago

great to see that there are some of you chaging your opinion of t.g. one thing to remember is mangino did not leave the cupboard bare. t.g. will get things going alot faster than alot of you think he will. now if injuries start to happen that will slow things but you will not hear any excuses from him. he expects as much or more from himself as he does his coaches or his players.

i predict a conference title within 3 years. he did it at buffalo in 3, yes i know the mac isn't the big 12, but the team he took over in buffalo wouldn't have a winning record playing 9 h.s. games, they were that bad.

lance1jhawk 3 years, 5 months ago

soobawls is a Bill Self hater and now a Turner Gill hater.... He does however have a giant love affair with Gary Pinkel. Go back to your Mizzou boards idiot!

OakvilleJHawk 3 years, 5 months ago

Is there a rule that Lew must be in a minimum of every other photo???

jhokfan 3 years, 5 months ago

So how was our new coach received at AFH?

UmbertoConforti 3 years, 5 months ago

Despite the shameful way Perkins handled the situation I think he may well have chosen another winner. Good Luck Gill.

jayhawkfan96 3 years, 5 months ago

I'll admit it. I was initially skeptical. The more I've dug into the Buffalo program, and Coach Gill, the more I really like this decision. Let's just hope Bo Pelini stays at Nebraska a very long time. Because I think Coach Gill can do for our football program what Rick Barnes has done for Texas basketball. Turn it into a perennial national power at a school where the other sport is the undisputed king of the castle.

The good news is that the cupboard is much more full than it was for Mangino when he took over for TA.

jhokfan 3 years, 5 months ago

When I look at the picture of Gill waving to the crowd, in the lower left corner there are 4 guys standing. The first one has his hands in his pockets and the next three all have their arms crossed in a resting position. Lew doesn't look too happy. Must have been a luke warm reception.

MitchumMan 3 years, 5 months ago

Jayhawkslant.com

"Word is starting to leak one of the top recruiters in the country may be headed to Lawrence. See what the latest scoop on the coaching is producing."

Anybody have access to this article or know who they are talking about? I don't know who he is, but this is what Gill is all about...recruiting. i'd love to see this hire and I don''t even know the man! haha

KU 3 years, 5 months ago

MitchumMan.....That's Reggie Mitchell from the Illinois coaching staff. He has coached at KU before--from 1988 to 1996. I think most of his contacts are in what you would consider the Big 10(1) region. He's the recruiting coordinator and running backs coach at Illinois.

KU 3 years, 5 months ago

It appears Reggie Mitchell followed Glen Mason to Minnesota for a year and then was lured away by Michigan State, where he coached until 2004. Since then, he's been with the Illini.

CaliHawk33 3 years, 5 months ago

“He’s going to win a Big 12 championship,” he says. “He is.”

That is what I like to hear.

dagger108 3 years, 5 months ago

KanFan27 says - I loved hearing Thomas saying "He's a coach that you don't want to let down".

And even more so when you also read the bit about him putting the trash talking QB wannabes in their place. All the warm fuzzies are fine, but FB is still competitive, and it is great to know that Turner is still a stud.

This is gonna be fun. Rock Chalk!

cconner79 3 years, 5 months ago

I mean this is a home run hire a guy that had one winning season. Its perfect for KU sounds like the terry allen hiring to me. 20-30 overall in his four seasons, he isnt coaching in the MAC anymore. He is nice will get in touch with the players feelings, sound like he will be running a self help camp for depressed people. I will be expecting more of the same pre mangino era lots of losing. I guess lew didnt want to go out and get a proving winner like Tuberville.

duanep5ku 3 years, 5 months ago

"Wow" why all the whining on here. We have a new coach rather we like it or not, So lets give the man a chance. cconner79 I too lived through the Terry Allen years but this looks better to me on paper because Terry inherited a laughing stock program that he could not fix. Terry also failed to get the recruits he needed but let's face it they did not want to come to this program either. The difference right now MM actually on paper had a good recruiting class coming in probably one of KU"s best . I think with this coach if he holds on to MM recruits and with a softer schedule next year it would be possible to get bowl eligible in TG's first year at KU and then its up to him to grab the recruits to see if he can raise the bar to bring KU to another level but he may be better at that then any of us know yet. I agree with all the post that say the cupboard is not bare if all our current recruits stay in place,We could get enough wins next year to make a bowl. I think it might work out in the long run So lets just wait and see what happens next year

JBurtin 3 years, 5 months ago

Waaaaah, Waaaaah, Waaaaah I'm going to cry like a %$#^@ because KU didn't hire Tuberville.

Yeah, let's hire a guy that couldn't win at a major program. Worked out great for Illinois!

Seriously cconnor59, if you get any dumber we're going to have to get you a helmet.

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