Volume 124 Issue 67
kansan.com
Monday, November 28, 2011
TWO AND DONE GILL IS GONE
Players praise coach as Zenger gives him the boot
Senior linebacker Steven Johnson speaks after a meeting with Turner Gill Sunday.
MIKE GUNNOE/KANSAN
MIKE VERNON
mvernon@kansan.com
Goodwill wasn't enough to overcome two lackluster seasons, as coach Turner Gill was fired Sunday afternoon by Kansas Athletic Director Sheahon Zenger.
After meeting with players Sunday night, Gill left out the back of the Anderson Family Football Complex in a car driven by his wife, with his daughter in the back seat. Following his meeting with Gill, sophomore quarterback Jordan Webb left the football complex in tears and only had kind words to say about his coach.
"We all know he loves us like he's our father," Webb said. "We're his sons."
Gill went 5-19 in his two years at Kansas and was 1-16 in Big 12 play.
"I have concluded that new leadership is necessary to place us on the path toward competing for championships in the Big 12 Conference," Zenger said in a statement. "I come to this conclusion reluctantly, because I have the utmost respect for Turner Gill as a quality individual who wants only the best for the young men he coaches."
Kansas Athletics owes Gill $6 million for the remaining three years on his contract. All four strength coaches for Kansas football have also been relieved of their duties, according to KU Athletics.
Recruiting coordinator and running backs coach Reggie Mitchell has been named interim head coach. Mitchell is in his second year as the running backs coach and recruiting coordinator for Kansas. He previously coached at Kansas from 1988-1996 under former coach Glen Mason. Mitchell returned to Kansas after five seasons with Illinois.
The announcement came fewer than 24 hours after the Jayhawks' season ending 24-10 loss to Missouri.
After the game, Kansas players and coaches alike defended Gill and his time at Kansas. Senior center Jeremiah Hatch had a statement for those who believe that Gill deserved to be fired after just two seasons.
"They probably don't know anything about football!" Hatch said following the game. "The guy is a good man and he wants to win, off the field and on the field."
Former Kansas Athletic Director Lew Perkins hired Gill in December of 2009 to replace former coach Mark Mangino. Perkins hired Gill from Buffalo, where Gill went 20-30 in his four seasons with the Bulls. Gill first took over a program at Buffalo that rivals.com called one of the three or four worst Football Bowl Subdivision programs in the nation. After going 7-17 in his first two seasons at Buffalo, Gill's team went 8-6 and won the Mid-America Conference championship. In his final year,
Buffalo went 5-7.
Even though Gill couldn't match the success he had at Buffalo in his two seasons at Kansas, Gill's final message to the media following the Missouri game showed his belief in the program, as though he expected to be coaching the team next season.
"I think we can be competitive next year," Gill said. "I think we have some players in here, we're going to put together good things, continue to improve, and we'll be ready to roll next year."
Even Gill's defensive coordinator, Vic Shealy, who oversaw the worst defense in college football this season, suggested that Gill simply needed more time. Shealy has worked for two college hall of fame coaches in Grant Taff at Baylor and Fisher DeBerry at Air Force, and Sheaid said that Gill is cut out of the same mold as both coaches.
"I believe Turner Gill is a tremendous head football coach, we just need time to develop and recruit," Shealv said.
Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little concluded Kansas Athletics' release with a statement regarding Gill and his time at Kansas.
But time has simply run out for Gill
"We are striving for excellence across KU's academic and research missions, and that drive extends to all of our athletic programs."
Gray-Little said in a statement. "In consulting with Athletics Director Zenger, I agree that in order to achieve the excellence we seek in Kansas Football it is time to make a leadership change. Turner Gill is a man of integrity and we appreciate his service to our community."
— Edited by Mandy Matney
THE KANSAN ED-BOARD TAKES ITS STAND PAGE 5
CAMPUS
Players react to Gill's firing
Webb
"We all know he loves us like he's our own father. We're his sons." — sophomore quarterback Jordan Webb
Brown
"I think it's unfair. Got to give him an equal opportunity. Everybody out here loves coach Gill. I'm kind of speechless about everything that's going on right now. He let us know that he cares, that he loves us, to keep our heads high, and keep fighting. I sure he thinks the same thing, two years, you only have so much time to rebuild off something. That's clearly not enough time, I don't think at all."
- junior cornerback
Greg Brown
Opurum
"He comes to a school that's struggling and in two years, they get rid of him. I don't really feel like he got an opportunity to prove what he's capable of and I think it really speaks on the university as a whole. A team doesn't go 5-19 because of one person, but because he's the head man, he's going to take the blame for it. While it is looked at as coach Gill's fault being the head coach, it's really a reflection on us as players and the failures that we had and just not being able to succeed. I really take that to the heart."
junior defensive end
Toben Opurum
Pick
"Now you don't know who you're playing for. I guess that's part of life and part of business."
— junior wide receiver Kale Pick
Willis
"At the end of the day, we can't lose each other. We lost a great coach, but in our minds, we've got to stick together."
sophomore linebacker Darius Willis
COMMENTARY
Anthony Redwood, former chairman of the Kansas Athletics board, called the decision "unprincipled" and "unjustified" and resigned out of protest.
That man was Bob Valesente, who coached 22 games in his two years at the helm for the Jayhawks (1986-87). Valesente failed to get a single Big 8 conference victory, but his fire sparked outrage among some of the powers that-were at the University.
Gill's canning unfair, but coach will survive on squeaky-clean image
Only one Kansas football coach since 1928 got less of a chance than Turner
Gill.
His defensive coordinator abruptly resigned before the season after being diagnosed with cancer.
On the heels of a season that
Gill received only 24 games to prove his worth, and while his firing is perhaps even more unfair than Valesent's, it's hard to imagine it will spark the same kind of outrage. And when the Gill era is remembered, that distinct inability to light a fire — under his players or his coaches, the media or the fans, his supporters or his detractors — will ultimately be his legacy
"Apparently we lack the courage at this institution to plan a course of action and stick with it," Redwood said at the time of the firing, according to an Associated Press story.
will be remembered for giving up points, the number of points in favor of keeping Gill are just as plentiful.
CLASSIFIEDS 13
CROSSWORD 4
Index
SPORTS 14
SUDOKU 4
CRYPTOQUIPS 4
OPINION 5
He made national headlines for taking lowly Buffalo to a MAC Championship in 2008, but that was only after he suffered two losing seasons in his first two years. Two successful in-conference counterparts, Kansas State coach Bill Snyder and Missouri coach Gary Pinkel, also started their tenures at their current programs with back-to-back losing seasons.
His team's most promising players are almost all his own recruits. In fact, his predecessor left the cupboard so bare on defense that Gill had to convert a running back to defensive end and a wide receiver to safety just to fill holes.
Yet, even with all of that in mind, it's hard to get worked up about Gill's canning. His cookie-cutter speeches and robotic demeanor hardly created a cult of personality in Lawrence. And judging by the feeble attendance in Saturday's game against Missouri
He took over a program that was a national embarrassment for the actions of its previous authoritarian head coach. He had to manage the distraction of an athletic department entrenched in debt and a ticket scandal. And according to Gill's contract, that in-debt athletic department is on the hook for the $6 million still owed to Gill.
Next stop: Penn State?
If nothing else, Turner Gill will always fit that profile.
Don't forget
at Arrowhead Stadium, one could argue his firing on Sunday was the most anticipated Kansas football event of the weekend.
As the saying goes, nice guys finish last. But make no mistake. Gill will land on his feet. There are always schools out there in damage control mode, looking for an upbeat, squeaky-clean face for their football program.
All contents, unless stated otherwise. © 2011 The University Daily Kansan
Edited by Joel Petterson
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