People need to chill about Turner Gill

By Bart Doan  |   Wednesday, December 17, 2008  |  Comments( 4 )

Auburn Tigers
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‘Tis the season of Turner Gill, apparently. For every coaching fire, there is a hire that leaves confusion, anger and brash opinions painfully devoid of facts. At the risk of receiving hate mail from Charles Barkley, it must be noted that Buffalo's Turner Gill should not have been hired at Auburn, contrary to what every politically correct columnist across the country will tell you. But the reason is more black and white than you think, and it has nothing at all to do with color.

When evaluating coaches to decide who is worth footing the bill on to bring in for an interview, one thing has been glaringly overlooked in this situation -- actual football coaching. Granted, winning the MAC with forever downtrodden Buffalo is an achievement that merits at least a passing glance at a resume, but that is all. Turner’s tenure in Western New York right now is that of a band with one decent album after a few tries. The jury is still out on whether the sequel to his apparently platinum effort will be nearly the same quality. UB -- which inked Gill to a long-term extension Tuesday -- clearly thinks so.

Does anyone remember when Gill was in consideration for the Nebraska job last winter? There were moans and groans that under no circumstances should a guy with a career record of 7-17 be considered for what was to be a yeoman’s rebuilding effort of one of the top 10 programs in the country. Gill was tabbed as inexperienced, too young, and with no proven track record for success. All of the sudden, though, he’s a national story and a college football-wide martyr for not getting the Auburn job. Realize that going into a game against Ball State for the conference title, his team had the fourth-best record in the conference and had won all of seven games. Aside from the aforementioned Cardinals, who were ranked 12th and undefeated at the time, Buffalo did not win a single game against another team with a plus-.500 record. In fact, in Gill’s three years as head coach, they never had.

Lastly, why is it that when Les Miles wins a title, it’s with Nick Saban’s players? When Charlie Weis loses, it’s with Tyrone Willingham’s players? But when Turner Gill wins with NFL prospect and senior QB Drew Willy from the previous regime, it’s all about his coaching? Both Buffalo’s leading passer and rusher were leftovers, not guys Gill recruited to the Bulls. The point is, people pick and choose arguments and leave the reality in the back closet behind that sweater you haven’t worn in seven years, hoping no one decides to go picking through the back until well after spring cleaning. There are bigger travesties in the Auburn coaching search than Turner Gill not getting a shot. Mike Leach has a resume longer than the I-95 by comparison. Ball State's Brady Hoke was five years deep in building a program that was one year away from losing its FBS status when he took over. The guy Auburn fired, Tommy Tuberville, had an unbeaten season and 8.5 wins per year on average as a head coach there. Somehow, the guy who got the assumed raw deal is Gill in this operation?

Gill is certainly a fine up-and-coming coach who one day might be the biggest mistake Nebraska and Auburn ever made. For right now, though, he’s had one solid year out of three in terms of record. He has much to learn, much more to win and much to gain from not getting an invite to The Plains. You could easily argue that the hiring of Gene Chizik doesn’t make a canyon full of sense. Then again, you could have said the same about Gill. Don’t be foolish and let Barkley make you think anything different. A career record of 15-22 doesn’t change no matter who you are.
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About Bart Doan

Bart has been with Realfootball365.com for about six months and thoroughly enjoys writing for the site. He has been featured for his writings on college football in The Sporting News, The Indianapolis Star, Sports Illustrated, and on CBS Sportsline.com. When he's not drowning himself in the...
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