Do you think firing Turner Gill as head KU football coach was the right move? / LJWorld.com

Asked at Massachusetts Street on November 27, 2011

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“Yes. He hasn’t done a great job recruiting. … He hasn’t done a lot right. He took us back to where Mangino started.”

— Josh Lemke, student, Lawrence

“Yes. I think it’s about time.”

— Scooter Mebarake, student, Lawrence

“They should have given him another chance, but I’m not surprised.”

— Ginger Hamm, retired, Lawrence

“No. He needed more time. They should’ve given him one more year.”

— Emory Hamm, retired, Lawrence

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drnater 2 years ago

Obviously this Josh Lemke cat has no clue what he's talking about. He did a great job of recruiting. That was the best thing he did while he coached for us. lmao

2 years ago

Except all the recruits were making decisions to not come to KU. Now they surely will not.

vuduchyld 2 years ago

Clearly, it was the right move. Thank you, Sheahon Zenger!

geekin_topekan 2 years ago

This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.

GUMnNUTS 2 years ago

This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.

Turner Gill is laughing all the way to the bank. Where else could a lackluster coach make $5 Million per year? Lew put it KU before leaving. It was his way of saying "So long" hope you miss me, here is something to remember me by.

courtsider 2 years ago

Coach Gill, I hope you will get a better chance than two years, starting someplace else. We have a basketball coach who has not made it to the NCAA in EIGHT years. Why the different standards? Money in gate receipts...

grisgris 2 years ago

Unless you are a complete chauvinist, you must realize there is more than one basketball team at KU.

gsxr600 2 years ago

I've learned something today.

nml 2 years ago

KU mens basketball won the NCAA in 2008.

youngjayhawk 2 years ago

KU Womens BBall is what courtsider means.

CLARKKENT 2 years ago

SO WHAT??? WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH THE GILL FIRING??

jayhawks71 2 years ago

Really, you're going to compare a .208 win percentage to a .500 win percentage? Henrickson was 29 & 29 after two seasons. She's fielded a winning team in 5 of her 7 seasons. If a Gill-led Jayhawks team was 12 & 12 or had one winning season (just asking for 1 game over .500), he would still have a job at KU. THAT's the difference. Oh and this is her 8th season.

tharral 2 years ago

I think its BULL! Gill had nothing when he came here and now he's slowly getting what we need as far as players.He lost his Def.cord. after one year, and when you get right down to it,"NOBODY" can bring a team back in only two years! He should have been given more time. I feel for the next WINNER they bring in,he'll be gone after two years also.Mark my word!

oldvet 2 years ago

Mangino took the Jayhawks to a bowl game in his second year with the leftovers from Terry Allen...

ljwhirled 2 years ago

Seriously, who cares? We don't have anything more important to worry about than KU football?

For $10M, the University could provide fiber-optic gigabit broadband to every single student in the City of Lawrence.

Instead, they piss the money down the drain on a football coach.

This is supposed to be amateur athletics. Hire the local LHS coach for $100K/Year. If we lose, who cares? If we win, who cares?

Do this kids have fun? Yep.
Do most of them get degrees? Yep.
Do they get laid every Saturday? Yep.

Stupid, stupid waste of resources.

sundancewierdo 2 years ago

The athletic department is a business. The university uses athletics to draw students. "Game day is so much fun here and we have a really great engineering program. Don't you want to be a Jayhawk?" It's good for the community and local economy to have competitive athletic programs. I don't know about you, but I bet local businesses love it when people come and spend money because it's game day. Why all the conference shake-ups? Money, and no other sport is more profitable than football. It's important, get over it.

drnater 2 years ago

Basketball is actually more profitable. It profits the ncaa more than any other sport.

nomansland 2 years ago

Can't believe there are still Gill apologists on here. Good grief, the guy won only 1 Big 12 game in 2 seasons against CU by a thin margin in the 4th quarter. It would cost more in lost donor and ticket sales to keep this train wreck around! Enough is enough!

beatnik 2 years ago

thank you boosters, i appreciate it

2 years ago

Absolutely! His job was to win football games. He couldn't do that so 'See ya later!'

frazzled 2 years ago

Football is not that important. KU needs to spend money on academics, not athletics.

2 years ago

This money isn't coming from the University of Kansas so that opinion is a moot point.

ljwhirled 2 years ago

You're telling me that these same boosters wouldn't write checks for other expenses.

I call B.S. on that. If the University boosters were pressed as hard on academics as they were on sports, this same money would be available for academics.

When you have a limited pie, every piece that is handed out is one less piece for the everyone else.

This $6M piece of pie definitely makes $6M unavailable to be solicited for academics.

The university needs to change its priorities.

sundancewierdo 2 years ago

Kansas Athletics is actually a business, and makes their own money. http://www.manta.com/c/mm2zmh2/kansas-athletics-incorporated

cheerio 2 years ago

Must be nice to run a business with free labor. Oh, I guess it's not free, they give them room, board and an education. That seems to be an even wash for the revenue that's made.

pace 2 years ago

Now, some buddy will step in and reap Gill's work. Too soon, but timely for someone. Sick of the corruption in college sports.

sundancewierdo 2 years ago

you take a mediocre team and turn them into damn near last in FBS, I'd say that makes you fired. tied for 115th in defense, and 102nd in offense = not competitive

blindrabbit 2 years ago

ljwhirled: Agree too much emphasis on sports at the collegiate level, but, I'll bet KU sports brings in more money to KU than KU academics does to the sports program. If you don't think that the KU Endowment realizes this, I suggest you make a call to them. Regardless of the role of academics, the role of sports to major colleges is a hugh drawing card to loyality and endowment funding. Maybe should not mix apples and oranges when it comes to this.

jhawkfan58 2 years ago

Gill is a good man. I appreciate his character and integrity. I personally like the guy. However, when you get to the last game of his second year of coaching and the team doesn't know how to line up to run plays and is still receiving penalties for too many men on the field this shows a lack of discipline. It also shows major coaching issues. It has nothing to do with whether he can recruit or whether things are going to be better next year. This stuff continues to happen in every game. He is not fixing the basics. This is top down coaching. It's not getting better. It's better to cut ties and move forward. We can't afford to continue to do this to our program.

gw1044 2 years ago

while i think gill was a great guy and all, there indeed comes a time when lackluster performances must be accounted for. But in that same vein, what about that volleyball coach of ours who has only won 3 games in the big 12 this year, 7 last year, with the same results-no post season tournament appearance. we've got to hold more than football accountable if ku athletics is to be all that we profess.

catfishturkeyhunter 2 years ago

Turner Gill's firing changes nothing. KU football sucks, always has and always will. You would think people would be used to that idea by now.

rockchalker52 2 years ago

You are the decider & you can do what you want, but the removal of the posts referring to two of pictured commenters is not warranted. The post was not disrespectful or insulting. It was funny. I'll bet you dollars to donuts that, if you ask the subjects of the posts, they would also laugh. Lighten up, Francis. This time it was harmless.

labmonkey 2 years ago

TOB-

Perhaps now, we will get a real football coach instead of a fake one.

Randall Uhrich 2 years ago

Duh?!?

Richard Heckler 2 years ago

I would rather see Sam Brownback fired...

Flap Doodle 2 years ago

"Elections have consequences." (from a source)

rockchalker52 2 years ago

"Jesus is the only real coach. And He works for free."

I was gonna say you get what you pay for, but that hasn't been the case lately. Does the Big Jeez know any plays besides the Hail Mary?

JayCat_67 2 years ago

Denver seems to be doing quite well with it.

juma 2 years ago

NO! He should have been made to finish his obscene salary. The best punishment would be having to look the fool for the next three years. WTF is college kickball anyway, but a fools game. He should have had to face the pressure. What I wouldn't do for $$$10 million.

ThePilgrim 2 years ago

In the minor leagues (baseball, hockey, etc), not getting your name on the jersey means that you ain't gonna be around too long. Take the names off the jerseys off a football team and yeah they'll play like a team - a mediocre team of no-names. Gill was having more luck being an inspirational speaker in the area. Every time you turn around he was in Topeka or KC speaking at some local function, billed as an "inspirational speaker". Well now he can do it fulltime, on the U's dime.

jayhawklawrence 2 years ago

I have mixed feelings about this.

I trust the AD to be able to evaluate what was actually happening with this team and make a decision that needed to be made. On the other hand, I worry about the future of college athletics when it becomes more and more dominated by money and politics.

The desire to have a winning team should not mean sacrificing kids simply for our own entertainment. I think the attraction to Turner Gill as a man of character was probably a good thing. I hope we don't throw that notion out the window just so we can have a winner and satisfy some rich alumni egos.

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