both Portland State and the University of Portland are better than OSU and Oregon. not good.

I forget who posted the article from Jason Whitlock regarding Tiger Woods, but this is one of those articles from him that makes him a worthless douchebag member of the press, and thus why he never made it on ESPN and is stuck in KC.

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/column ... 27339.html

This line to me is the clincher, and something nobody in the press corp should say after the failure that is Charlie Weis at Notre Dame

That’s what’s missing when I’ve watched the Bulls. I’ve never seen a strategic advantage. I never got a sense the Bulls did anything special on offense, defense or special teams. A year ago, Gill was in the right place when Ball State melted down and the benefactor of Charles Barkley’s tantrum when Auburn hired Gene Chizik, a white coach who got a prime SEC job after one 2-10 season at Iowa State.

The entire article is in regard to Turner Gill being hired at Kansas. I don't know if he'll make the Jayhawks more than a middle of the road Big 12 North squad, thus a bottom 1/3 Big 12 Conference Football team that finishes better than 7-5, but what he did at Buffalo is far more impressive than what this Ball State grad/Gary Pinkel and Mark Mangino loyalist will ever admit.

They went from 2-10 his first year to a bowl game by his 3rd year. and from 1997 to 2007 they never won more than 5 games. Buffalo is/was a nothing MAC program, and a quarterback coach from Nebraska turned them into a bowl team/national story within a few years.

I am still blown away by this hiring. Personally, I was not sad to see him leave ISU, as he had kept the team in mediocrity.

Any announcement on yet on whether Chuck Martin will follow Kelly to ND? Grand Valley had another great year with Martin leading them, despite losing in the DII title game.

probot i don't know why you've got such a hard on for whitlock. you should harness this negative energy & hate tweets to stop a hack like joe podsnanski, not j-fatz. bottom line: gill's relatively unproven and ku didn't get the coaches they were initially wooing - sources say harbaugh & turberville quietly declined offers. i like gill, but i think he's a lazy hire. he didn't exactly turn around the program at buffalo, and one sub-par bowl win against whitlock's alma mater doesn't exactly make you bear bryant (or the person who washed his balls). jayhawk fans have the right to be concerned about this dubious selection - and as much as it bothers you, this includes overweight black men. i think him firing you up if anything makes him a somewhat effective jounalist. i don't know why you're worried about editorials when you should be studying film for the big game.

Dude. I don't even know where to begin with this post.

I happen to 100% agree with the article and Whitlock's take on the hire. The point of him talking about the Ball State game is that if Ball St. doesn't epically collapse and completely shit the bed in that game then Gill isn't the coach at Kansas today. I'm not saying the guy can't coach or recruit but if they don't win that game, which essentially put him on the map, what about his resume is so stellar? They've been a middle of the pack MAC team that got into the Championship game by virtue of a 5-3 record in a bad division. Is this the resume that gets you a job at a BCS school that is 2 years removed from the Orange Bowl? Going 5-3 in the MAC is something to hang your hat on?

As for the his "strategic advantage" comments, why are you bringing up Charlie Weis? Weis was the one who said they'd have a "strategic advantage in every game" they play. Whitlock is just calling out the that he doesn't see it in Buffalo's play. Your hard on for Notre Dame's fall from grace is almost making me want them to turn it around next year with Kelly because like it or not, college football is better when ND is good.


I just agree with Whitlock in that the jury is WAY out on this hire. He was a hot commodity last year with that fluke win but to go after now just makes me scratch my head a little. I mean, I can understand the Nick Saban's, Urban Meyers, and Brian Kellys. They've won at every level and made their way up through the ranks. Buffalo was Gill's first head coaching gig and the result are mixed IMO. He very well could do well, lots of coaches have come out of the MAC, but to call Whitlock a worthless douchebag because of this article is ridiculous. I think it's completely fair.

Also, Barkley may have well sparked a lot of debate about Gill but he wasn't the reason he didn't get hired at Auburn.

The reason he didn't get hired was because of his staff requests. All reports say that he wowed all the people in the process but when he started naming the people all across the country that he wanted to bring in, there wasn't a single coach or assistant with any ties to the SEC. They asked him about it and he said he planned to not have any from the South.

Thank you for coming Coach, we'll validate your parking.

I think these takes are a bit more in line with my thinking.

They are both from CFN's Instant Analysis piece on the hiring of Turner Gill

Richard Cirminiello

Whether or not a coach winds up being a success will often depend on the fit. From afar, Auburn and Turner Gill never looked like a good one when that rumor was bandied around last December. Kansas, however, looks like a real nice match for the coach and his new employer.

In four seasons with Buffalo, Gill proved his coaching mettle by going 20-30 and winning the 2008 MAC championship. I know what you’re thinking, 20-30? Don’t be fooled. Those 20 victories came at a school that had won just five times in the four years before he arrived. Five games. He also guided the Bulls to their first bowl game, earning the nickname Turnaround Turner.

Now, Auburn was sniffing around Upstate New York after Tommy Tuberville was let go last year, but why would Gill have wanted to step into that hornet’s nest? A new region of the country, a slew of more experienced coaches to contend with, and a date with Alabama and Nick Saban every November. While Gill might have been the right man for the job, coaching at Buffalo for one more season ended up being his best possible move. You see, by staying put, he now gets a chance to go home...sort of.

Lawrence is only about three hours south of Lincoln, where Gill was an iconic figure as a quarterback for the Huskers. In fact, he still has an ardent following in the area, which will surely help during the recruiting process. Wear a Buffalo Bull cap or jersey in certain parts of the region, and you’ll quickly notice folks tripping over themselves to help you. He’s that beloved for his career as a player and a coach at Nebraska. And in the aftermath of the Jayhawks’ messy divorce with Mark Mangino, who was accused of abusive behavior, Gill’s temperament is exactly what the program needs at this time. He’s a walk-softly-but-carry-a-big-stick kind of guy, a father figure to some, who’ll instill a family atmosphere at Kansas. He’s tough, disciplined, and passionate about the game, yet doesn’t feel the need to be, well, a bull in a china closet. In short, he’s exactly what the Jayhawks need at this stage of their evolution.

Kudos to Kansas’ Lew Perkins, one of the country’s best athletic directors, who didn’t need Gill to be coming off his best season to know that the guy can coach at a high level. The Jayhawks have their man, and Gill has a chance to be a star again in Big 12 country.


Matt Zemek

1) This is an even better hire for Kansas than Brian Kelly is for Notre Dame. First of all, the KU program – on the heels of the ugly and stormy tenure of Mark Mangino – has managed to attain a coach who knows how to relate to young men in a positive, holistic and deeply meaningful way. The bond between Gill and his University of Buffalo players – seen most visibly in a tearful postgame scene at the 2008 MAC Championship Game in Detroit – offers a strong testimony to Gill’s character as a man, a leader, and a football teacher. He’ll wash away the negativity brought about by Mangino’s acerbic, acidic and abrasive methods.

Secondly, Gill knows how to recruit the Big 12 and is uniquely situated to make Kansas competitive with a certain program in Lincoln, Nebraska… the preeminent program in the Big 12 North Division.


My final take:
I'm not saying Gill is going to be a success, in fact my gut feeling is that he'll never win more than 6 games a year at KU, but they are bringing him in to right the ship and make it a clean program. If they win more than two games, including a Big 12 game next year they will be ahead of where Mangino had them in his first season. Mangino had an o fer in conference his first season and was 23-41 in the Big 12 during his career, so while BCS bowl appearance and four bowl trips were nice, he's not quite the legend he's being made out to be by some commentators. Also FWIW, if Nebraska would have had a shitty offense during the Callahan that ranked near the bottom of the country like the Defense did, Turner Gill would have been hired to be the head coach of Nebraska in late 2007.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/h ... ker15.html

Thanks, Jake!

I was thinking the same thing this morning, Derris, but didn't have the time to articulate it.

I know this is impossible for you Prom, and let's face it, "fan" is the prefix for "fanatic", but you gotta step away from the homerism sometimes. It severely clouds your judgment

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP)—Mississippi State defensive coordinator Carl Torbush is leaving to take the same job at Kansas.

The move was announced Monday by new Jayhawks coach Turner Gill.

The Bulldogs are coming off a 5-7 season in which they went 3-5 in the Southeastern Conference.

Torbush was a head coach at Louisiana Tech and North Carolina and defensive coordinator at Alabama, Ole Miss and Texas A&M. He joined Mississippi State a year ago.

Gill also said former San Diego State head coach Chuck Long will be Kansas’ offensive coordinator. Long was also an Offensive Coordinator at Oklahoma from 2002-2005.




So far that's a pretty good staff. Both Long and Torbush were terrible head coaches, but have been excellent coordinators. Torbush was with a decent 2001 Alabama team, and had a nice run with Mack Brown at UNC.

UGA apparently tried to sign Bud Foster away from Virginia Tech but they threw some money at him to stay.

I have mixed feelings about this: Sure, Foster is a great defensive coach and VT always shows up to play on D, but I don't like the idea of going after someone who is older (50) and entrenched ay a successful program. Where's the upside for Bud?

The competition level and team speed would be a challenge for him, plus I'm guessing he'd see an increase in salary. 50 isn't unbelievably old, and he might be looking for more connections to gain a quality head coaching job within a couple seasons.
He's either content with finishing his career in Blacksburg or quickly moving onto bigger and better things ASAP.

I guess ol Jigga was wrong about Kirbo Smart. They were hollerin on FBaum today that he has told Saint Saban he staying.

The upside for Bud is that he got himself a fat raise and a contract extension. Which presents the double edged sword of the UGA job being a high profile gig that will garner big time talent (good) but can also be used by the good coaches as a bargaining chip for re-negotiations (bad).

Dude can coach some fucking ball though and I'm encouraged by this level of coach being pursued. He's probably been the most consistent in the business for over a decade now and really, if he had wanted to leave he could've a long time ago. I'm sure he's had tons of offers.

I don't disagree with Mark Bradley here:

I was gonna post that last night. He's right, though: We need a hitta.

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/ncf/n ... id=4743719

TJ you can blame my Huskers for the loss of Kelly.

"Who knows what would have happened if Nebraska wins that game," Kelly said on "The Afternoon Saloon" on ESPN 1000. "I might not be here at Notre Dame because we don't know if they would have waited for me, because I was going to play in the national championship game."

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4743807

Is Jim Leavitt of South Florida a Mangino/Woody Hayes disciple?

Per the Deadspin article on this, Magino & Leavitt were on Bill Snyder's staff at K-State in early/mid 90s, so I definitely think the two picked up the habit around the same time. Might not be linked to Woody, though -- unless Snyder is on Hayes's coaching tree.

OK, if you say so.

I think you guys grossly underrated how bad Buffalo was before Gill got there, and grossly overrate how good of a job Kansas is.

Buffalo was easily one of the top-5 worst programs in all of CFB when Gill arrived.

Kansas is a b-ball school where f-ball will always be second fiddle like Kentucky. And they sucked before fatass got there. Not sure why any coach with a few options would want to go to that situation.

Good hire in my opinion.

Why wouldn't Kirby Smart leave Bama? Am I missing something.

To be a the DFC at another SEC school? Why would he? in 3 years he'll be an HC at an SEC school, or at UW, or someplace similar.

I haven't known a single Saban DC go to a HC position without having to be a DC at another school first. I thought the general consensus was that it's really Saban's defense. Also, Kirby is a defensive back coach just like Saban, and he's been w/ Saban since LSU. How do you know this guy really isn't just a jock strap holder?

I think there's a lot a motivation to prove he can do it on his own.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4746710

At Cincy, the new boss is the same as the old boss

Cincinnati is tapping into the Central Michigan pipeline again.

Chippewas coach Butch Jones will be named the next Cincinnati coach, three people briefed on the decision told ESPN.com's Joe Schad on Tuesday. Jones will succeed Brian Kelly, who was hired by Notre Dame after leading the Bearcats to a 12-0 record this season.

Kelly coached Central Michigan from 2004-06 before being hired by Cincinnati.

Jones is 26-13 in three seasons with Central Michigan. He led the Chippewas to an 11-2 mark and a berth in the GMAC Bowl this season.

Bearcats offensive coordinator Jeff Quinn has been preparing Cincinnati for the Allstate Sugar Bowl appearance against Florida. Quinn, who was an assistant at Central Michigan with Kelly, had expressed interest in retaining the top job.

It's unclear whether Jones would coach Cincinnati in its bowl game Jan. 1. The Chippewas will play Troy in the GMAC Bowl on Jan. 6.

Jones' offensive philosophy -- he kept Kelly's spread offense at Central Michigan -- and his familiarity with the Big East worked in his favor. He was an offensive coordinator at Central Michigan before moving to West Virginia as an assistant to Rich Rodriguez in 2005-06. When Kelly left for Cincinnati, he got his job at Central Michigan.

While Jones was at West Virginia, the Mountaineers had one of the nation's top offenses. That worked in his favor -- next season, Cincinnati will return the nucleus of an offense that is one of the nation's best. Cincinnati is looking to keep its wide-open offensive philosophy.

Quinn coached Central Michigan to a 31-14 win over Middle Tennessee State in the Motor City Bowl in 2006 after Kelly left for Cincinnati.