Gill updATE

[kramer]

I know he's not offically Nu now, but won't he always be.

 

Thomas Drewes, incoming freshman, knows all about his new coach, ongoing college football legend.

 

Who wouldn't know about the quarterback of one of the greatest offenses of all time? Turner Gill was a Heisman finalist, 28-2 as a starter, the Vince Young of his day.

 

 

Turner Gill joins Buffalo after serving as director of player development for the Green Bay Packers. (Getty Images)

... of his day ...

 

That's the key, because reference points are important when the coach's on-field accomplishments are older than most of his players.

 

Oh yeah, Drewes, a linebacker who signed with the University of Buffalo in December, knows all about his new coach.

 

He has cable.

 

"I saw an ESPN Classic game on TV," Drewes said, "against Miami. That was huge, who he played against, who he had playing with him."

 

Before plasma and flat screens and Blackberrys and text messaging, Gill played out the end of his career in real time on New Year's Day 1984. That night Gill guided Nebraska in the heart-breaking loss to Miami, the game that kicked off the Hurricanes dynasty and ended the quarterback's college career.

 

Even by Nebraska's steam-rolling standards, established before and after, Gill was an all-time great. Slippery, smart, savvy. And perhaps a victim of the digital age, when his first head-coaching job involves luring 21st century recruits to what is arguably the worst program in America.

 

It's obvious not everyone will be Buffalo Gill's.

 

If you're a recruiting-head, you've surfed the 'Net till you've drowned, scouring top 100 lists, keeping track of the latest commits. This is the other end of the recruiting trail.

 

Buffalo is ranked somewhere in the 80s by the major recruiting services. It has only 16 scholarships to offer in a program that has won two of its past 17 games, over Central Michigan and Kent State.

 

Drewes might be typical of the talent available. At one point he was a Big Ten-caliber linebacker out of Pennsylvania, but he injured both shoulders in high school and had to attend prep school to improve his stock.

 

"Kids today, it's hard for them to respect anything," said Bill Chaplick, Drewes' coach at Milford Academy in New Berlin, N.Y. "But they respect guys that played."

 

That's part of the reason Gill and Buffalo hooked up last month. Buffalo was, well, desperate, and Gill was available. The two are lucky to have each other.

 

Since jumping up to I-A in 1999, Buffalo is 10-69. Former coach Jim Hofher was fired last year after the school's third one-victory season since '99.

 

Meanwhile, the college football legend was looking for his first head-coaching job. Perhaps Gill was too happy, too comfortable under Tom Osborne and Frank Solich to seriously pursue anything outside of Nebraska.

 

Gill did interview at his alma mater, Sam Houston State, New Mexico State and Missouri over the years. There were no takers.

 

Maybe it's because Gill has never been a coordinator. Maybe the fit wasn't right. But the Bulls just hired the guy who, after 13 years as a Nebraska assistant, just spent a year as director of player development for the Green Bay Packers.

 

"They (players) don't know me, but the parents do," Gill said. "Hopefully they can eventually can research and know who I am and what I am as a person."

 

Gill hit the ground flying this week with an itinerary that rivals a U2 tour. It started Sunday in New York. By the end of the week, he will have hit Cleveland, Detroit, Dallas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Chicago and Omaha.

 

In the middle of the barnstorming tour, recruiting coordinator Allen Mogridge called to relay a change of plans. Gill would have to leave San Francisco in the middle of the day to fly to L.A. A potential baby Bull was interested.

 

"Hey baby," Gill responded, "the whistle is blowing. It's game time."

 

So far, game time has netted a handful of prep school players. Gill supposedly stole a high school player that Michigan State liked. If true, that's huge news. Buffalo is used to beating out the likes of Hofstra for recruits.

 

"I can't imagine coaching these players without being a player," said Chaplick, who was a three-year letterman at center for Boston College. In his seven seasons, Chaplick says he has delivered 92 players to I-A schools.

 

"I'll feed him as many players as I can."

 

During this same week Gill is spanning the country, Buffalo AD Warde Manuel is in Florida hustling money from boosters. The former lineman and associate AD at Michigan is hooking his career to the new coach.

 

"We are tied at the hip," said Manuel, who was hired in July.

 

Manuel still looks like he could lay a shoulder into somebody, which is part of his appeal. This isn't a gray-haired program, but it could use a new weight room.

 

And more fans. UB Stadium is a fine facility (29,000 capacity) but was barely half full in 2004, the last year NCAA stats are available. That put Buffalo eighth-worst nationally in attendance.

 

"We are, by far, head and shoulders there academically," Mogridge said. "You sell a kid on, 'We're not there yet, but we're learning our way.' You've got to find guys who believe."

 

It always comes back to the f-word for these downtrodden programs: Faith. It's funny that current Southern California president Steve Sample was the CEO at Buffalo when he decided to sign off on the ascension to I-A.

 

Talk about yin and yang. USC is winning national championships. Buffalo is winning one game a year.

 

The program's key players now are in their 30s and 40s. Manuel played under Bo Schembechler. Gill played under Osborne. Mogridge was a tight end under Mack Brown at North Carolina. Co-defensive coordinator Jimmy Williams played for Nebraska and in the NFL. Quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt was a veteran NFL backup.

 

More advantages: Buffalo is in the MAC, a fluid mid-major conference where a conference title is never that far away. Gill won't say it, but his best bet might be to squeeze a seven- or eight-win season out of Buffalo in the next two or three years and skip to a place where he can reasonably recruit.

 

"I knew it was a tough situation," he said.

 

The Buffalo administration is counting on this from the PlayStation generation of recruits: Kids might not remember Gill, but they remember the quarterback greats he coached at Nebraska -- Heisman winner Eric Crouch and Tommie Frazier.

 

"Kids were going home for Christmas when they learned who their coach was going to be," Manual said. "Suddenly parents are talking about it, 'Do you know who your coach is?'"

 

Anonymity goes both ways. The best Buffalo team won the Lambert Trophy, as the No. 1 team in the East. That was 1958. The school then dropped football for a time in 1971. It has produced Wolf Blitzer (CNN) and Gerry Philbin (Jets defensive end in the 1970 Super Bowl) but little else that would make you flip on the Motorola as a football fan.

 

Some of what the recruits don't know, they don't need to. Tom Osborne's coaching tree is not exactly blooming. Tony Samuel was fired at New Mexico State last year. Nebraska AD Steve Pederson determined Frank Solich wasn't the answer despite a sterling record (58-19). Solich now is at Ohio, embarrassed by a DWI conviction.

 

Former Osborne assistant Kevin Steele was a head coach at Baylor, a similarly hopeless situation. He worked in the NFL for a time and is now with Florida State.

 

Gill was one of only two coaches retained when Bill Callahan came in. After one season in 2003, it became evident to observers that as receivers coach in a West Coast offense, the fit for Gill wasn't good.

 

Oddly enough, it looks like the master of Nebraska's I-option will run the West Coast offense in Buffalo.

 

Gill is jazzed that faculty rep Charles Fourtner is in tune with athletics-being-the-front-porch-of-the-university thing. Buffalo Bills president Tom Donohoe gave the job a thumbs up.

 

On the day he was hired, Gill himself crooked his thumb and forefinger to form a "U".

 

"UB will stand for 'U Believe,' he said. "They have to believe in themselves."

 

"He brought that up, the underdog role," Drewes said. "I like being on an underdog team."

 

For now, he doesn't have a choice."

[NamelessHusker]

Buffalo is ranked somewhere in the 80s by the major recruiting services. It has only 16 scholarships to offer in a program that has won two of its past 17 games, over Central Michigan and Kent State.

 

 

I expect Gill to do a better job next year. Can't really consider this a proper evaluation of talent when you are giving scholarships to players who you need to fill up your roster with. Gill will likely hit Florida next year hard and offer guys who fall in the 2-3 star catagory because everything else will be eaten up by Florida International, Florida Atlantic, and Florida A&M and other smaller fish schools like duke and kentucky.

[Eric the Red]

Does anyone know the offense he will put in?

[huskerhonk]

It said in the article that he is going to run the west-coast.

[hack]

"the Buffalo Gills." i love it!

[Eric the Red]

I thought he might run a version of Barney Cotton's offense, but to each his own.

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

I thought he might run a version of Barney Cotton's offense, but to each his own.

Screw Barney Cotton! After Iowa State defeated Nebraska two seasons ago and he told his team that they were the "Real Big Red" he declared war.

[Benard]

I think he's silly if he runs wco but thats his choice. I think he's in for a big struggle at buffalo.

[NU fan in Denver]

All Gill needs to do in Buffalo is win a couple of games a year and show improvement in the program that annually wins 1 or 2 games a year. Then it can be off to the next job with a higher caliber team. If he can turn the program around and go 4-8, 5-7, 6-6 then I think he will definately have more offers in the future.

[Blackshirtsguru]

I think he's silly if he runs wco but thats his choice. I think he's in for a big struggle at buffalo.

Hey Benard....In case you haven't noticed or don't get out of your basement much...Most all college teams are running some form of a WCO!

[StuckinChicago]

Actually most college offenses are running the spread offense, but in your defense, the ones winning the title for the most part (USC, Auburn, LSU, Miami) Are running pro style offenses. Lone expeption is Vince Young *cough* I mean Texas.