Before the college football season even began, I conducted a very quick, super-unscientific survey of the UB student body. Basically, I went out into the Student Union and asked like six or seven people what they thought of the school's football team. The general consensus? That the team would be better, but not good enough to get too worked up about.
Fast-forward to now, the end of the season: The Bulls have just capped off their most successful season in their new Division I history, winning a share of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) East Division championship. Eight Bulls were named to the All-MAC Football team, the most in school history.
When I asked those six or seven random students back in August what they thought of this year's team, nearly everyone mentioned the coach. Turner Gill, this year's MAC Coach of the Year, has turned the program around so quickly that he's garnering interest for high-profile coaching jobs around the country. Specifically, Nebraska.
Nebraska is where Turner Gill became Turner Gill. He finished fourth in Heisman Trophy voting in 1983. That season he quarterbacked the Cornhuskers to the National Championship Game, falling just one two-point conversion short of victory. He then went on to be an assistant coach in the program and was on the coaching staff for three championship seasons. Eric Crouch won the Heisman in 2001 while Gill was his quarterbacks coach.
Now as Buffalo's coach, he has brought a new attitude of winning and with that the expectation of being successful. There are no more moral victories for the Bulls. Even when the team hung in against Penn State early this season, it wasn't good enough for Gill.
"I'm not going to pat myself on the back or our players and say that there are good things for us losing a football game," Gill said in Happy Valley. "We're going to learn from it. We're going to move forward, and I'm going to take the positive things that happened in this football game to help us to continue to improve."
The Bulls lost that game 45-24. Before Gill came here, it would have been a success to just stay in that game and say we scored 24 points against Paterno's boys. But Gill made it clear that just hanging in wasn't good enough anymore. The team was going to be a contender in the MAC, and the goal wasn't to simply be competitive anymore.
And that attitude has rubbed off on the players. Following this season's last home game, senior Kareem Byrom was living proof of that.
"We started something big here as far as winning," Byrom said. "And having the right attitude about winning, and not necessarily worried about what the media has to say about us being a losing team. We're a winning team now."
When Gill was at Nebraska, he worked under the legendary Tom Osborne. Osborne, who is now the interim Athletic Director at Nebraska, was responsible for firing Bill Callahan, opening up their head coaching position. The Nebraska program is in a tailspin, and Osborne has reportedly been on a private jet since Sunday, interviewing potential candidates. One of them is LSU assistant Bo Pelini, who once served as the Huskers' defensive coordinator and was the interim head coach during Nebraska's Alamo Bowl victory in 2003.
Another is Gill, himself. Buffalo Athletic Director Warde Manuel has already granted Nebraska's request to talk to his coach, and Gill reportedly has already interviewed for the job.
If Gill is offered the job, it's hard to see how he could turn in down. It's where his roots are, and his close, personal relationship with Osborne will be hard to ignore. And, heck, the pay will be a lot better, too. Gill has the chance to restore glory to a program with tremendous history that he understands as well as anybody. But he also has the opportunity to continue building a legacy here at Buffalo.
He could be our Tom Osborne. Look at those "Bulls Redefined" T-shirts handed out at the Temple game last year; Gill is already the face of the program. But you can't ask Gill to pass up the opportunity of a lifetime. He's made everyone here at Buffalo believe that our team can be a winner with the right leadership and attitude. In his time here, Gill has been committed to bringing excitement about college football to the Western New York area. So far, he's been pretty successful in that regard.
Next year's squad should come into the season as a favorite to win the MAC East, not an ESPN Bottom Ten candidate. Even if Gill is not back with the team, his presence will undoubtedly be felt. What he has done for the program will not soon be forgotten. He taught his players how to succeed and instilled a winning mindset to a program renowned for losing. Nebraska will be lucky to have Gill at the helm if he's offered the job.
If you have coached your last game on the Buffalo sideline, then thank you, Coach. Thank you for helping to make our football team successful and exciting.
For the first time in years, this team was a player in November. Who knows what the future holds, but hopefully, the Bulls will be a player for many Novembers to come.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
