'We can and we will be successful'

With opening kickoff only days away, Buffalo's new head football coach, Turner Gill, is preparing to make his debut. Gill has previously spent the last two decades of his football career with storied teams including the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Green Bay Packers.

While with the Cornhuskers he was the 1985 Heisman trophy runner up and an assistant coach under Tom Osborne. Gill has become accustomed to winning and his immediate goal for the Bulls is for them to gain those same winning standards.

"The expectations are to raise the mentality around here," Gill said. "The mentality is expecting to be successful here. Is that going to happen in one year? Probably not, but there is expectation for it to happen now. This is not a deal where we're trying to say let's wait and see what happens in one year, two years, three years or five years. I want them better, and I want the coaches I have here to be better. So the biggest thing here is to change the mentality and change the expectation of this program. We can and we will be successful."

Before agreeing to take on the challenge of resurrecting a football program that won only one game last season, Gill admits he had his reservations.

"Initially yes (I had reservations)," Gill said. "But after I got to know more about the university, to know more about the people involved with the program and administration, like President John Simpson, Warde Manuel, and other people within the program, I got more knowledge and a better understanding of where they're at and where they've been. More importantly a better understanding of where they're going to be in the future and what they're trying to get done from an athletic standpoint. After getting to know people and spending time, then no, I did not have any reservations."

The experience of coaching and playing for Osborne has given Gill a playbook of not just how to treat his players, but of how to treat everyone that he encounters.

"He always had self control, he always had great poise, he always knew how to handle people, and I hope that I have this," Gill said. "He did a great job of handling young men, being a mentor to them. Also he had a way to connect with people who were not only football players, but also secretaries, janitors, fourth team running back, first team defensive linemen. He had a unique way to tell people their value and their worth, not only as a football player, but in life."

As an assistant coach Gill was considered one of the top assistant coaches in the nation. He was ranked one the top 10 recruiters in the country by ESPN.com in both 2000 and 2001. In 2002 Gill was a finalist for the Frank Broyles Award as the top assistant coach in the nation. Gill again credits Osborne for not only helping him get to where he is at now, but for helping him get to where he has been.

" He taught me a lot about how to handle people, taught me a lot about how to handle football, taught to me a lot about how to handle adversity, and taught me how to handle success," Gill said. "That's the one person for sure who helped me become who I am today, not as a football player, but as a person."

Bulls starting quarterback, Drew Willy, believes that Gill has been able to use Osborne's tutelage well as he made the team stronger on and off the field.

"He's more of a relationship coach, he tries to really get to know his players and get in their heads and see what their thinking about certain things that are happening in their life," Willy said. "He's also a great 'x's and o's' coach, he helps everyone out in the film room, and he's really trying to build a bond between our team out there."

Though Gill has taken on extra administration duties as a head coach, his favorite part of his job is still working with his players.

"The bottom line is that I love being around the young men," Gill said. "That's my passion, helping young men from 18-22 years old learn about football, but also about life."