Turner Gill Is No Terry Allen

Yeah, I know I said the fantasy story lines for this week’s Chiefs-Chargers game was coming today…and maybe it still will. But right now, I’m a little too frustrated to think that logically. Turner Gill has to go…like now. He’s damaging a program that was already pretty damn low. Gill’s been so bad, that he’s actually tarnishing the legacy of Terry Allen. How is that even possible? All I hear is about how Turner Gill is just like Terry Allen, too nice a guy, too bad a coach. I’m not here to defend Terry Allen but..well…yes I am. Terry Allen was nowhere near as bad as Turner Gill.
First and foremost, Terry Allen was a more successful coach when he got to Kansas. 75-26 at Northern Iowa is much more impressive than 20-30 at Buffalo. Gill had ONE winning season when he was hired to coach Kansas. Allen had never had a losing season. Sure Buffalo was a historically bad program before Gill got there, and No. Iowa is a Division 1-AA school… but how in the world do you hire a coach that’s 10 games under .500 at a MAC school!?!?!? At least with Allen there was some hope that his 1-AA success would translate to the next level. With Gill there’s never been any hope at all.
Second, Kansas was much more competitive under Allen than they have been under Gill. As if 5-15 (1-12 in the BIG 12) isn’t bad enough, Gill’s Jayhawks have been embarrassed in just about every way imaginable and it started on Day One:
- 6-3 loss to North Dakota State (Allen never lost to a Div1-AA school and was 9-3 all time against schools that weren’t from BCS conferences)
- Ten of their fifteen losses have come by 28 points or more (Allen had 12 losses of 28 points or more…in FOUR AND HALF YEARS!)
- The Jayhawks have given up 353 points through 8 games (Allen’s teams gave up more than 353 in an entire season twice…359 in 2000 and 354 in 1999)
It’s not just the failures that indict Gill. It’s his (minor) successes as well. The five wins for the Jayhawks so far?
28-25 over Georgia Tech (6-7)
42-16 over New Mexico State (2-10)
52-45 over Colorado (5-7)
42-24 over 1AA McNeese St
45-42 over Northern Illinois
Pretty unimpressive right? Now, Allen won more than 5 games over his first 20 games (8 to be exact) but I was afraid some people would give Glen Mason too much credit for that (I’m sure Mason was diligently recruiting while he tried to plan his escape route, but anyway). So, let’s look at Allen’s last 20 games…the games that got him fired. He was 7-13, and here are his wins:
31-28 over Iowa State (4-7)
23-20 over UAB (7-4)
42-0 over Southern Illinois (3-8)
38-17 over Missouri (3-8)
23-15 over Colorado (3-8)
24-10 over 1AA Missouri State
34-31 over Texas Tech (7-5)
Not exactly awe-inspiring but measurably better than Gill right? I mean he beat Missouri (3 times in 4 1/2 years), he beat a bowl team, he beat a team from the south...and that was the worst stretch of Allen’s career at Kansas!
Listen, I’m not calling on the Jayhawks to bring back Terry Allen. He was not a good football coach. He never had a winning record, never made a bowl game, and frankly hasn’t done much at Missouri State since leaving. I am calling on the fans, media, etc. to stop comparing Gill to Terry Allen. Because as bad as Terry Allen was, Turner Gill might be the worst coach in Big 12 (World?) history.