In the world of college football, much is made of the coach who can take a small struggling program, and bring it sudden success. Every team is looking for their next Bob Devaney, Jim Tressel, or Brian Kelly. Kelly, who recently got the Notre Dame head job; began his FBS coaching career with the Central Michigan Chippewas. After three seasons of consistent improvement he moved the BCS school Cincinnati and the rest is history.

What Kelly did was certainly impressive, but it wasn’t even close to what current Buffalo Bull, and former Nebraska Cornhusker Turner Gill has managed. From 1999 when Buffalo made the jump to the FBS (or Division 1-A as it was known then) level, until Turner arrived on campus in 2006, the Bulls were considered the worst team in the sport. In those seven seasons, the Bulls went an astoundingly bad 10-70. But even that doesn’t tell the whole story. Even before Buffalo made the jump, this was a bad football program. From 1987, through 2007 the Bulls had more double digit loss seasons (six) than winning seasons (one).

Even Turner’s first year was hardly one that would portend a turn around, until you looked closer. His first squad went 2-10, yet another double digit loss season in a long line of dismal years, but still there was proof that already the culture in Buffalo was changing. Buffalo scored more points than it ever had since joining the FBS, and outscored every other team in the MAC Eastern division. Gill’s squad also knocked off a team with a winning record for the first time in their FBS history. Think about that for a minute. In seven years of FBS play, the team had never beaten someone with a winning record! The level of bad this program was at when Gill arrived simply cannot be oversold.

In his second year, Buffalo began truly improving, posting more wins in a single season than they had accomplished since 1986. More importantly, the Bulls had proven they could compete in the MAC conference, going 5-3 against conference foes. The MAC certainly understood what Gill had done in just two seasons, as they named him coach of the year. Do you know many other conference coaches who qualify for that award with losing records?

Last season was the Coup d’état for Gill and Buffalo as they finally posted their first winning season since joining the big boys and won the MAC Eastern division title. In the Conference Championship game, the heavy underdog Bulls knocked off the 12-0 Ball State Cardinals 42-24 and Turner was taking just his third Buffalo team to their first bowl game. Finally Gill got some national attention and interviewed for at least two high profile jobs. Still, for reasons passing understanding, there are those who still doubt what Gill has done. Syracuse hired an offensive coordinator who had never had a head coaching job, and Auburn hired a head coach who had sported a 5-19 record at Iowa State.

At first glance, Buffalo’s 2009 season might appear to be a step backwards. Once again, a closer look tells a different tale. The year started out with Gill losing his star running back James Starks for the year, before the season had even begun. This loss simply cannot be waved away. In 2008, Starks ran for 1,333 yards and 16 touchdowns. He also caught 52 passes for 361 yards and another score. If you can name another team in the country who lost someone of that impact and improved on their record from a year ago, I’ll give you a shiny nickel. When you combine that with the team already trying to replace a quarterback who had 25 touchdown passes to just six interceptions, and it’s a wonder the Bulls even won five games.

And yet despite these holes in the offense, the Buffalo Bulls might have been one of the best teams in the MAC had they gotten just a little bit of luck. Of their seven losses, only two were by a margin greater than seven points. A 27 point loss to Pittsburgh and a 14 point loss to another MAC upstart in Temple. A three point loss to Western Michigan, a one point loss to Bowling Green, and a three point loss to Ohio clinched a losing season in Gill’s third year, but even after being guaranteed no bowl bids, the Bulls finished strong, winning their final two games.

Once again, Gill has been rumored to be talking to schools about their openings. Most recently he was seen talking the University of Kansas about their head job, but once again Gill appears to be the odd man out, as reports have Stanford’s head coach Jim Harbaugh in contract negotiations with the Jayhawks. Make no mistake about it, should Gill be on the outside looking in once again this offseason, the clock on his career will begin to tick. Even if he can return the Bulls to their winning ways in his fourth year, a school like Buffalo is not long for football success. Sooner or later the Bulls will become an afterthought, and Gill will become, at least to the media, an invisible man.

Note:  Turner Gill has just been named the head coach at the University of Kansas.  While I'dlike to claim that this article spurred the KU athletic department to action, it's probably just a quirk of fate that I wrote this article a mere hours before he got a new job.

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Whats this afterthought nonsense????
written by CTBullsfan , December 13, 2009

Firstly let me wish coach Gill the best of luck. UB had him for four years and got a conference championship and a bowl game. If you told me that before they hired him, I'd tell you I would take that deal aany day.

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"Even if he can return the Bulls to their winning ways in his fourth year, a school like Buffalo is not long for football success. Sooner or later the Bulls will become an afterthought."

Why do you say that? You think Ohio U or CMU is any any better position to field successful teams year after year in the MAC?

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