When Turner Gill took over as head coach after the 2005 season, the football team had been mired in a four-year slump that saw them win a total of five games from the beginning of the 2002 season to the end of 2005, after which former coach Jim Hofher was fired.
While Gill does not like to talk about the program's past, it's clear that one of Gill's early jobs was to instill a winning confidence back into a squad that was unaccustomed to victory.
"Showing them examples of why they can be successful showing them plays.... I talk to each individual player and I show them when they've done something successful," Gill said. "Now they've done it. And once you've done it then you shouldn't have any doubt that you can't do it."
Junior quarterback Drew Willy agrees, that Gill helped teach the players how to win again, and gave them the confidence to believe that they could win.
"When he first came in here he had the attitude that 'we will win here.'...I just like that attitude that he has it in his head that we will win here," Gill said. "You want to play for a guy like that who wants to win like coach Gill does. No one likes to lose obviously, but when you see the past experiences with all the wins he had at Nebraska and all the great players that he coached, you really buy into a guy that's had tremendous experience as a player and a coach."
Gill took over an offense that averaged only 10 points per game the previous season, and in his first year as head coach the Bulls offense averaged 18 points per game.
The defense gave up 35 points per game; three nationally ranked teams scored many of these points. Auburn, Boston College, and Wisconsin outscored Buffalo 144-10. Meanwhile the Bulls scored 174 points last season in the Mid-American Conference, the most they scored in conference play since 2001.
These improvements added with Gill's positive attitude have led Willy and his teammates to believe that they can win.
"People are really confident now on our team," Gill said. "Where as when I first got here people were hoping to win, now I think people are expecting to win."
This year Gill is hoping for more offense now that he has taken over as offensive coordinator. Gill was an offensive assistant coach at Nebraska under both coach Tom Osborne and Frank Solich. Gill hopes that his experience at Nebraska and having one year under his belt as a head coach will help change the fortunes of the Bulls.
"Being experienced right now and going through different things talking to different people about situations, through experience you learn," Gill said. "I kind of have a different role this year as coordinator, calling the (offensive) plays...I'm more involved, probably not able to oversee things as much, I'm a little bit more focused on the game calling on game day."
The biggest difference from the home opener last season against Temple to the home opener this season, is that according to Gill the team has better chemistry, and there are strong relationships between the coaches and the players.
"I think just building relationships, spending time with each other," Gill said. "Coaches to coaches, players to players. They know who we are what we're all about what we're trying to get done, and offensively and defensively we set a tone, we set an expectation."
While Willy could not be happier with the coaching staff and the new team attitude, the nerves of learning the system and meeting a brand new coaching staff took time to overcome. Willy had one concern in the beginning.
"Trusting a new set of coaches," Willy said. "The guys that recruited you aren't here anymore, and you have to get used to some new ones. At first people were a little skeptical but we've really enjoyed the new coaches."
After hanging tough against Penn State, optimism reigns supreme for the blue and white, and Gill believes one of these biggest moments was defeating Temple 38-3.
"We played from start to finish, every phase of the game we played well. You don't get to many opportunities where you have a whole game where you play well," Gill said.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
