University of Buffalo football coach Turner Gill has been named the head football coach at the University of Kansas. KU Director of Athletics Lew Perkins introduced Gill at a press conference Dec. 14. Read remarks from the press conference here.
“Turner Gill is a winner,” Perkins said. “His accomplishments at Buffalo speak for themselves. But more than that, everyone I talked to about him, starting with Tom Osborne, had the highest praise for Turner as a coach and as a person.”
Gill has been the head coach at Buffalo for the past four seasons. There he took over a program that had won more than two games just once in the previous seven seasons and guided it to a share of the MAC Eastern Division title in his second year (2007). The following season he led them to a league championship and the school’s first bowl appearance.
He earned MAC Coach of the Year honors in both 2007 and 2008, and was a finalist for the Bear Bryant National Coach of the Year award in 2008.
Gill handled the play-calling during Buffalo’s record-setting 2007 season, when the Bulls set school records in points (424), and his players set school single-season individual marks in passing yards, rushing yards and receiving yards.
In Gill’s four-year tenure, 17 Buffalo players earned All-MAC honors after having just six in the program’s first eight years of conference play.
As an assistant coach at Nebraska from 1992-2004, Gill was part of three national championship teams (1994, ’95 and ’97). He coached 2001 Heisman Trophy winner Eric Crouch and First-Team All-American Tommie Frazier.
He was named a finalist for the Frank Broyles Award, given annually to the nation’s top assistant coach, in 2002. ESPN.com named Gill one of the nation’s top-10 recruiters in 2000 and 2001.
As the starting quarterback at Nebraska from 1981-’83, he led the Cornhuskers to a 28-2 record and a 20-0 mark in Big Eight Conference play, three straight Big Eight Conference championships and three consecutive Orange Bowls.
Gill was a Heisman Trophy finalist in 1983 when teammate Mike Rozier claimed the honor. He was a three-time All-Big Eight selection and was named the quarterback of the Big Eight Conference All-Decade Team (1980-’89). He has been inducted into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame and the Orange Bowl Hall of Fame. He also spent three seasons in the minor league systems of the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians. Gill started his coaching career as the wide receivers coach at SMU in 1991.
Gill, a native of Fort Worth, Texas, and his wife Gayle, have two daughters, Jordan and Margaux.
Women's basketball team to deliver KU memorabilia to hospital patients
For the 17th consecutive year, the University of Kansas women’s basketball team will brighten the holidays for patients at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
Coaches and team members will visit the hospital at 1 p.m. Friday, Dec. 18, to distribute items collected during the “Crimson and Blue Holiday Project.” Head Coach Bonnie Henrickson and her staff will lead the team through the hospital.
“This is a day we all look forward to each year,” said Henrickson. “Putting smiles on the faces of the hospital patients is a great feeling. The players and our staff really enjoy interacting with the patients and their families. It is a very special day.”
During the visit, the team will give patients a variety of KU licensed products, including T-shirts, hats, calendars, playing cards, pennants and team posters.
KU’s Trademark Licensing Office collects the items donated by officially licensed vendors each year. This year, the licensees donated more than 1,300 items with a retail value of approximately $16,000, according to Paul Vander Tuig, KU’s trademark licensing director.
“The visit to LMH is always a great way to culminate the project,” Vander Tuig said. “2009 has been a difficult year for our some of our licensees and at retail, given our economy. Despite that, Kansas Athletics is pleased to be able to give something back to the community as we have in the past. And of course, the visit by Coach Henrickson and the team adds a little holiday spirit to a hospital stay.”
Ask Before You Act.
NCAA Compliance Quiz
Keep your holidays merry and bright by following the NCAA rules!
Q: During this holiday season, can I give a current student-athlete a Christmas gift?
A: NO! This is considered an extra benefit by the NCAA and can affect the student-athlete’s eligibility.
Before you ever provide something to a current student-athlete or prospect, contact the Compliance Office at 785.864.4200 or click here for more information.
