Asked what a Texan who played at Nebraska would take the head coach job at UB, Turner Gill told me at the time that he prayed on it. A man of deep faith, Gill bounced back from two rocky years at Kansas by taking the head job at Liberty, a faith-based university with a recent history of football success.
It's a perfect fit on Gill, who from my understanding could take another job and still receive the bulk of his $6 million buyout from Kansas. Liberty went 47-20 and 26-5 in the Big South under Danny Rocco, the new coach at Richmond. So Gill's not starting from the depths, as he did at UB. It's a chance for him to reestablish his credentials and, if he does, find new opportunities.
Gill wasn't given enough time to do the job at Kansas -- not even close -- although it was alarming the degree to which the Jayhawks were routinely shallacked. All that said, Gill always struck me as someone best suited to the underlying levels of college football. He can recruit. He builds relationships with his players. He's committed to family. And, truth is, little of that matters in Automatic Qualifierville.
--Bob DiCesare
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College football | University at Buffalo
