Here we are. The biggest possible fear for a KU fan, whether you were a fan of the Turner Gill hire or not, has come true. KU has come into their first game under the Gill era and suffered a soul crushing, demoralizing, underachieving, confounded hyperbolically bad loss to FCS (formerly Division 1-AA) opponent North Dakota St. University, 3-6.
I was a big supporter of the Turner Gill hire and still am. What Gill was able to do at Buffalo was nothing short of remarkable. He took (literally) the worst program in D-1 and brought them a conference championship and up to respectability. Buffalo is one of the least attractive places to go to play football in the country and with a football program with less than 10 years in D-1 they have little tradition and subpar facilities. All this makes what Gill was able to do, that much more impressive, which is why I like the hire.
That being said, he and the “new look” Jayhawks went out and laid an impossibly large egg against a (should’ve been) inferior opponent. Admittedly, I didn’t watch the game but have read and heard enough to know that it wasn’t pretty. But I am not here to comment on the game, that has and will be done ad nauseam until the Jayhawks can get off the schneide and win a game (current losing streak = 8 games). What I'm gonna do here is talk about the state of the Jayhawks football program and where to go from here.
Despite my fisicious headline above, the sky is, in fact, not falling. While it may seem bad now, all is not lost in Lawrence. Everyone is going to say that what they thought when Gill got hired was right, that he's not the guy, that he is not a good coach, that Mangino shouldn't have gotten fired, etc. etc. It is reasonable to be upset after this loss? Absolutely. Is it reasonable to call for Gill's job and say he's already a failure after ONE GAME? Absolutely NOT.
KU graduated some of the best players in it's history last year with Todd Reesing, Desmond Briscoe, Joe Mortenson, Daymond Patterson and others. Gill is installing a new system on offense and on defense with new coordinators and new coaches. Their athletic department is in turmoil after a bigger than anyone thought ticket selling scandal and the announcement of the retirement by their AD. Oh yeah, and Gill inherited a team that lost it's final 7 games of last season (after a 5-0 start) and is starting a true sophomore QB with very little experience. All make for a tough situation for Gill, and that's not even talking about the injury bug that hit the Jayhawks before the season started. Put all this together and it's a recipe for disaster, and disaster is just what they got.
However, this does not mean Gill is not the man for the job. I am not saying Gill IS the man for the job or that he is a great coach. What I am saying is that that judgment can't be made on one game alone. Gill deserves time to get his system entrenched, get his recruits in there, and solidify the team as his team. That takes at least 3 years in college. If this same thing happens in 2012, I will lead the charge asking for Turner Gill's job. I don't know if he is the man for the job or not but I do know that he has shown he can make something out of very little. Also, let's not forget someone by the name of Nick Saban went into to Tuscaloosa, AL and went 6-6 in his first season, including a loss to University of Louisiana - Monroe, who may not be a Division 1-AA team but they should be, and a loss to hated rival Auburn. Since then? 27-2 including a National Championship. I'm not saying Gill will win a National Championship in two years, but I am saying that the first year is not indicative of a program will turn out in the next couple years.
I say this, KU fans, keep your head, all is not lost. It seems bad now, but so did the basketball loss to Bucknell and Bradley, and look what happened. Again, I'm not saying National Championship, but I'm saying you never know, and just like it never seems worse than when you're on the bottom, it also never seems better when you're on the top. Here's to hoping that this was just a blip early on in Turner Gill's KU coaching career.
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