Former Nebraska QB and coach Turner Gill tapped to lead Bulls

As a University of Nebraska quarterback, Turner Gill nearly won the Heisman Trophy. As a Cornhusker coach, he mentored a Heisman-winning QB and helped win the school's first and second national championships back-to-back.

Now, looking for yet another challenge, Gill will bring his championship pedigree to Buffalo as UB's 23rd head football coach. Gill, 43, signed a five-year contract to lead the team that has gone 8-49 in its past five years under former head coach Jim Hofher.

"I expect Turner to do what he knows to do: develop young men in progress on the winning side of the ledger," said Athletics Director Warde Manuel at the Dec. 16 press conference where Gill was introduced. "We've dominated the losing side for quite some time and I think we're all ready to move the program forward."

Gill most recently worked for the Green Bay Packers this past season as player development director and offensive assistant. Before heading to Wisconsin, Gill spent 13 years at Nebraska as an assistant coach. In his tenure with the Cornhuskers, Gill helped coach the team to its first-ever national titles in 1994 and1995. Gill also mentored Heisman Trophy finalist Tommie Frazier in 1995 and Heisman winner Eric Crouch in 2001.

Gill plans to start his reign as coach at UB by instilling a belief system in his student-athletes.

"One of the long standing symbols for this university is the UB logo," Gill said at the press conference. "The student-athletes on this football team will not only think of this university name on that logo. UB will now stand for 'U Believe.' They have to believe in themselves. They have to believe in their teammates. They have to believe in their coaches. They have to believe in the people in this institution."

Manuel said he is impressed by Gill's new motto.

"I think it's an internal piece that he wants to work with the team and I think it has a lot to say about the university and us believing in what we want to do and working hard," Manuel said. "You can believe but you have to put the effort behind it. I think it's fitting and something the team can definitely benefit from."

Chad Upshaw, junior tight end for the Bulls, said the coaching change would be very beneficial.

"No disrespect to our last coaching staff, but some of the guys could have gotten just a little bit comfortable, and something needed to happen to shake up the program and create some excitement," said Upshaw, one of more than 15 players entering their senior year in the fall under Gill. "Hopefully it will be a good jolt to the program."

According to Gill, one of his main reasons for taking the job at UB was his belief in Manuel, President John Simpson and others at the university.

"The (group of) people that I talked to over the process was the key ingredient in me coming and coaching here," Gill said in an interview with The Spectrum. "Their commitment to excellence in academics and competitiveness in the athletics side of things was very encouraging."

Before he was contacted about the head coaching position, Gill admits his knowledge of UB was very little.

"I knew where Buffalo was, but I barely knew there was a University at Buffalo," he said.

Upshaw said Gill's unfamiliarity with UB or Buffalo doesn't worry him at all.

"That doesn't make me nervous that he didn't know that we existed," Upshaw said. "I didn't know about UB until they recruited me. We're not in the mainstream and that's where we're trying to get. I'm not nervous, just anxious to get things going."

Quarterback Drew Willy, who started most of the Bulls' games in his freshman year, said he is ready to get started under Gill, who donned the pads and helmet himself as quarterback from 1981-1983. With Gill as the starting signal caller, Nebraska went 28-2 overall, never lost a conference game and landed both second and third place rankings on the way to the Orange Bowl where Gill was named the MVP.

"I am very excited that UB hired someone who has won that many games, coached so many great quarterbacks and has been dealing with quarterbacks for so long," Willy said.

Gill is currently taking the necessary steps to recruit players for the upcoming season, a feat that may be difficult with his late hire.

"(Recruiting is) going to be a difficult process but the coaches that I've hired know people all across the country and we're just going to have to tap into the high school coaches," said Gill, who ESPN.com called one of the top-ten recruiters in the country in 2000 and 2001. "It's going to be difficult, but we're going to have things in place for the next season."

Due to university policies, the exact sum of Gill's contract was undisclosed, but Manuel told The Spectrum that Gill's salary is about the Mid-American Conference average, which is approximated $250,000 annually. Hofher was paid $154,000.

Other finalists for the coaching job were Andy Moeller, offensive line coach at Michigan; Norries Wilson, former offensive coordinator at Connecticut; Mike Dunbar, offensive coordinator at Northwestern; and George DeLone, running game coordinator and offensive line coach at Mississippi.

With Gill as the head football coach, UB is the only Division-IA school in the nation that has an African-American head football coach, head basketball coach and director of athletics.