Turner Gill
 |
|
| Sport(s) | Football |
|---|---|
| Current position | |
| Title | Head coach |
| Team | Liberty |
| Conference | Big South |
| Record | 35–25 |
| Biographical details | |
| Born |
August 13, 1962 Fort Worth, Texas |
| Playing career | |
| 1980–1983 | Nebraska |
| 1984–1985 | Montreal Concordes |
| Position(s) | Quarterback |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1989 | Nebraska (GA) |
| 1990 | North Texas (GA) |
| 1991 | SMU (WR) |
| 1992–2002 | Nebraska (QB) |
| 2003 | Nebraska (AHC) |
| 2004 | Nebraska (WR) |
| 2005 | Green Bay Packers (assistant) |
| 2006–2009 | Buffalo |
| 2010–2011 | Kansas |
| 2012–present | Liberty |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 60–74 |
| Bowls | 0–1 |
| Tournaments | 1–1 |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 1 MAC (2008) 2 MAC East Division (2007, 2008) 3 Big South Co-Champions (2012, 2013, 2014) |
|
| Awards | |
| MAC Coach of the Year (2007) | |
Turner Hillery Gill (born August 13, 1962) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head football coach at Liberty University. Gill's previous coaching job was as the head coach at University of Kansas from 2010–2011, and at the University at Buffalo before that. He was one of 11 black head coaches in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision at the time of his hiring.
Gill graduated from Arlington Heights High School in Fort Worth, Texas where he was an all-state, all-county and all-district quarterback for Coach Merlin Priddy. During his senior season, Gill was courted heavily by Nebraska, as well as arch-rival Oklahoma, and Texas. Nebraska won the spirited battle for Gill, in part because they would allow Turner to play baseball as well as football, but also because head coach Tom Osborne had managed to quell any rumors about Nebraska supposedly being reluctant to play an African-American at quarterback.
Gill arrived on campus in 1980 and saw limited action in mop-up duty as a freshman, which at the time was still relatively unusual, as freshmen had only been recently allowed under NCAA rules to participate at the varsity level.
Nebraska started the 1981 season poorly, losing two of its first three games and performing anemically on offense at times in all three. Gill had found himself third on the depth chart prior to the Huskers season opener, behind Mark Mauer and Nate Mason.
Down 3-0 to Auburn at halftime during the fourth game, with the season on the verge of slipping away, Osborne inserted Gill into the game. The Huskers pulled out a 17-3 victory, and Gill was given the starting job the following week. Behind Gill, the Huskers demolished Colorado 59-0, thus setting off an unbeaten run through the Big 8 conference, which Nebraska would win outright for the first time since 1971. However, during the season's penultimate game against Iowa State, Gill suffered what initially appeared to be an innocuous leg injury. Instead, doctors discovered nerve damage which sidelined him for the remainder of the 1981 season. Although the Huskers would beat Oklahoma without him, they were not able to overcome a stingy Clemson defense in the Orange Bowl, where a win may have given the Huskers a possible national championship.
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