Well, that didn't take long.
About the time Turner Gill's hiring as the head football coach at Kansas became official Sunday, a new Web site — fireturnergill.com — was established.
Welcome back to the big time, Turner. An immediate and anonymous Internet sliming is one of today's rites of passage.
It seems the genius responsible for the site doesn't remember you being a championship quarterback at Nebraska in the early 1980s. Or coaching Huskers named Tommie Frazier, Scott Frost and Eric Crouch. Or being the assistant head coach at Nebraska before eventually landing at Buffalo.
All this clown is focused on is your 20-30 record in four years at Buffalo.
“This was a lazy attempt at a national head coaching search,'' the site rails. “If this administration wants to become a national program, make a national hire!
“You can't predict the future, but anyone can see this train wreck coming.''
Since this is Kansas, maybe a basketball analogy will help this guy understand.
In 2008, Turner Gill led Buffalo to the Mid-American Conference football title. That's the equivalent of the Washington Generals taking a best-of-seven series from the Harlem Globetrotters.
Buffalo had gone 10-69 — that's not a misprint — in the seven seasons before Gill was hired.
Gill, in his third year, led Buffalo to an 8-6 record and broke a 50-year bowl drought at a school that has a proud academic history, but seemed confused at times over whether footballs are actually pumped or stuffed.
That's all the proof you need that Gill, 47, can coach a little.
But that's not even close to the best part of the deal for the Jayhawks. Here's what Kansas can celebrate:
It just hired one of the finest people on the planet.
I've had the privilege to know Turner Gill for 28 years, and I've never seen him fail to inspire, enlighten and energize the people around him.
This proud Christian man exudes grace, class and humility, and has produced winning results in the lives of young and old with his power of positive thinking.
Does that mean he'll be a championship football coach at Kansas?
Nope.
Doesn't mean he won't, either. He could be exactly what Kansas needs at this point to take the next step in building sustainable football success.
Mark Mangino, like him or not, was what KU needed in 2002. He brought toughness and discipline and competitiveness to a program in disarray. But even while going 12-1 and winning the Orange Bowl in 2007, his methods and message had grown tiresome and troubling.
Enter Gill.
KU doesn't go back to square one. Gill will build on the foundation in place, but with major changes in substance and style.
Players will be encouraged and promoted, not browbeaten and guilted into playing hurt. Assistant coaches will be expected to contribute to the plan and teach with passion, which creates strong loyalty and singular purpose.
And, yes, Gill is more than tough enough when needed.
Go back with me to 1981, late in Gill's sophomore season at Nebraska. He suffered a deep bruise on his right calf against Iowa State. He limped off the field, but came back and played until the game was under control.
Later that night, pain in his leg and a loss of feeling in his toes led doctors to operate to relieve pressure on the nerve that controls movement of his foot.
Gill, who missed the Oklahoma game and the Orange Bowl against Clemson, soon lost all sensation in his ankle and foot. His “drop foot'' condition didn't get any better for two months.
Nobody said it out loud, but questions arose over whether Gill would ever play again. The adversity tested him physically, mentally and most of all spiritually.
The nerve slowly began to regenerate, and by the start of the 1982 season, he was back at full speed.
A series of concussions ended Gill's pro football career after two strong seasons in Canada. A low batting average ended his baseball career after three minor league seasons with Detroit and Cleveland.
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne, now the athletic director, offered Gill a chance to get into coaching as a volunteer at NU in 1990.
“He showed me I could coach and still teach people other things besides X's and O's,'' Gill told me in a 2002 interview. “Working with young people turned me more to coaching than anything.''
After a stop at SMU, Gill returned to Nebraska in 1992 as Osborne's first quarterback coach in 17 years.
Early in his career, I recall the occasional talks with Gill about the time demands on coaches and his worries about balancing work while married and raising two young daughters.
But he dug into the business, and others began to notice his work. In 1999, when Oklahoma hired Bob Stoops, he wanted Gill as the Sooners' offensive coordinator.
“I definitely thought about that,'' Gill said at the time. “My wife and I talked about it and prayed about it and prayed some more about it.''
He stayed then, but Gill's time at Nebraska ended after the 2004 season when he got caught in the Steve Pederson-Bill Callahan toxic waste pit.
After a year in the NFL with the Green Bay Packers, Gill got back to what he loves most — working with young people — by taking on the biggest coaching challenge in Division I-A: Buffalo.
I'll never forget the postgame TV interview the night Buffalo beat Ball State to win the MAC championship. I almost started crying before Turner did as he fought back tears while expressing pride in his gutty band of underdogs.
“I talked about being champions,'' he said, with a cracking voice, “and they did it.''
There are no guarantees that scene will be replayed with Gill wearing a KU hat.
But could it happen? If you're a Jayhawk fan, you better believe because I know Turner Gill believes.
Contact the writer:
444-1024, lee.barfknecht@owh.com
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