Monday, December 21, 2009

Welcome, Coach Gill!!

I will admit that just over a week ago when I heard the news that KU had hired Turner Gill as our new head football coach, I wasn't very confident about the decision. I didn't know much of anything about Turner Gill as a person or a coach--I just knew his record at Buffalo this year was 5-7. I was hardly excited about replacing our 5-7 coach with another 5-7 coach. I know lots of other people here in Lawrence felt the same way.

Nine days later, my view on Turner Gill has completely changed, and I think every KU fan I've talked to is beyond excited about his arrival. He quickly and completely won over the KU faithful at his introductory press conference. His humble but confident demeanor was so refreshing and inspiring, and every subsequent article about his recruiting, coaching and character makes me like him even more. My friend Amy posted a link on Facebook today to a terrific article that explains how Coach Gill ended up where he is today. It's pretty long, but it's a great story. One of the most amazing and exciting things that I learned was that he was able to actually recruit players away from much bigger programs--including Kansas--just because he was so inspiring. I'm hopeful and confident that he can do the same thing here at KU!

Everything I've read so far about Turner Gill as a coach and a person is incredibly positive, and I'm so excited that he's here! I think he's exactly what our program needed and I have high hopes for the future of our program!!

2 comments:

cw said...

I agree. That article was very well done. Do you think KU could use a slow, 37 year old WR?

AmyD said...

Whoa, so I'm obviously behind on my blog reading...but I'm VERY happy that you're welcoming Gill with open arms! I think he'll be great for KU!