Turner Gill: The NEXT Big Thing and a Part of the Last Big Thing

He learned from the best, and now he's becoming one of the best.

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Tom Osborne was obviously a profound influence for Gill.

Turner Gill, who has been in the news quite a bit recently—did he get a fair shake at Auburn?—learned from the best.

Before leading Buffalo to a Mid-American Conference championship and its first ever bowl appearance this season, Gill starred at quarterback for Nebraska under legendary Tom Osborne in the 1980s, later working as an assistant when the Huskers won three national titles in 1990s.

How has knowledge from the heartland affected upstate New York?

What are the main things you learned from Coach Osborne?

Gill: It was five or so things: help people find their purpose, show people how you appreciate their hard work, show them their value in the program. Whether it's the assistant coach, the administrative assistant that helped you in recruiting, the fourth-team defensive lineman. Always show people their purpose, show them your love and show the appreciation for them. The people skills that he has are tremendous and the love that he showed for the people that worked there—that was the main thing I wanted to take with me as I became a head football coach.

How about Xs and Os? What did you learn from Coach Osborne in regards to style of play?

A little bit of the option game—we don't do as much as he did when I was playing. That's always something you need to have it in your arsenal so therefore (the opponents) have to practice on those things. To make sure they have assignment football. That's what option football does for you. It's something I always want to keep in my repertoire just because of how that scares the defensive coaches.

Joe Paterno is still winning big. Bobby Bowden is still winning. Could Osborne have the same success?

Coach Osborne has a tremendous mind. He would continue to be successful if he had stayed in the coaching profession. That's what was so unique about him. He just had a tremendous mind and strategy to be able to come up with all different types of things. He was also known to always have a couple of good trick plays up his sleeve. He's a guy that could handle the situation right now and still be successful.

What about the current situation as Nebraska?

I don't know. I guess it's going good with the way it looks for people on the outside looking in. I'm really just kind of seeing the scores of their games. They're doing well and I wish them success.

You were contacted by other programs, but just signed an extension with Buffalo. What's your take on moving to a bigger program?

Until the opportunity that feels right for my family and I, my focus is continuing to develop this program, to develop our student athletes both academically and athletically and also socially and spiritually. I understand my purpose. I've been hired to do a job and my focus is to continue to do that until further notice. Obviously God is in control of everything.

What's the right fit for you?

No. 1, the athletic director and the president having the same vision for the athletic program and football in particular, also having a very similar vision to me in terms of what we're all trying to do for young men. I want to have resources to help our young men be successful in the classroom and on the football field. Here, I try to develop the spiritual part of things. As long as people allow me to have these elements, things will be OK, but there are so many other dynamics. Even though you may have a lot of qualities, it may not be the right fit at each institution.

Would you be willing to stay at Buffalo in an attempt do the same thing as say, a Chris Petersen at Boise State?

Oh yeah. Absolutely. This is not just a one-year thing here that happened this season. Obviously last year, we got an opportunity to share the MAC East title; this year, we had a chance to win the whole thing. So we have a lot of guys coming back next year. We're starting to add a great quality of recruits that we'll continue to develop. We're trying to build a great, national program. They know about the Buffalo Bills, but we're now going to let everybody know about the Buffalo Bulls. It's an exciting time to be a Bull.

Being only one of a handful of African-American coaches in FBS, what's your take on the hiring policies?

It's a little bit disappointing. I would think there are definitely a lot of qualified African-American coaches in the Football Bowl Subdivision, and you just hope a few more get an opportunity to be a head coach at these (FBS) schools. So all we can do is continue to move forward as African-Americans and minorities to continue to show people that we're capable of doing it. They will give us opportunities as time goes. We've just got to keep moving forward. We all know that sometimes it does work in a slow manner, but opportunities will come as we continue to work.

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