LAWRENCE, Kan. — He lists Jesus and Tom Osborne as his biggest mentors, and if you ask just about anyone from Turner Gill’s old stomping grounds up the plains, both of those men could walk on water. But this isn’t about Nebraska anymore. It’s about leaving and moving forward. Gill is walking into his new office at the University of Kansas, and it’s spacious and beautiful aside from the fact that it overlooks a football field currently covered in snow and ice. The locals claim it’s usually not like this in late February. He peels off a thick overcoat and sits next to the window.
At this point, Gill doesn’t really care. He has a stack of surveys to contend with first. He gave one to each of his new players, asking everything from the deep, probing question of whom they trust the most to the minutiae of their favorite dessert. Gill wants to know all these things, and not just because of the past and the fact that he’s replacing a coach who met his demise after allegations that he was abusive and insensitive. No, Turner Gill is just wired this way. He’s the guy who made his starting quarterback in Buffalo well up with tears once during a conversation about life and passion and the future. Seems Gill just wanted to know where the young man’s heart was, and found out that day.
Now he’s at Kansas, a three-hour jaunt from his beloved alma mater, and he says that nothing, outside of the fancy office and the nameplate, will change. He’s a people person, and he learned that from Osborne. He’s persistent, which is something that came in handy during his four years reviving a moribund program at the University at Buffalo.
So Gill stares out at this snowy field and a season that seems so far away, and he’s asked what his biggest hurdle will be in his first year at Kansas, a proud basketball school that is trying to move on from the Mark Mangino mess. He doesn’t hesitate.
“Earning their trust,” he says. “And only time is going to do that.” More from ESPN.com
