Bloody Sunday: For Kansas, two years of Turner Gill is two too many

Nobody ever remembers this sort of thing in retrospect, so the let the record show: When Kansas snapped up Turner Gill in December 2009, it was initially considered a pretty great hire. At that point, Gill was only a year removed from a stunning conference championship run at Buffalo ? still Buffalo's only winning season since moving up to I-A/FBS status in 1999 ?�and was such a popular favorite for the Auburn job in late 2008 that the Tigers' decision to hire Gene Chizik instead produced mass depression and a charge of racism from Charles Barkley. Turner Gill was a hot commodity.

Two years later, it's a bizarre twist of fate that the same ghastly record Chizik produced at Iowa State before landing the Auburn gig ? 5-19 over two seasons ?�has now led to Gill's demise at a fellow Big 12 bottom dweller. In the latter case, here's guessing the contract offers from SEC powers with the next Cam Newton on their recruiting boards aren't going to be forthcoming.

Just how bad do you have to be to get fired at Kansas after just two years with no major off-the-field issues? Gill's tenure seemed almost like an experiment designed to find out. Under his watch, the Jayhawks were 1-16 in Big 12 games, the one win coming in an incredible fourth quarter comeback against Colorado last November. (Buff coach Dan Hawkins was shown the door two days later.) Saturday's 24-10 loss to Missouri was Kansas' tenth in a row after a 2-0 start, with six of the losses coming by at least 30 points.

For the second year in a row, the Jayhawks rank last or next-to-last in the Big 12 in rushing offense, rushing defense, passing offense, passing defense, pass efficiency defense, total offense, scoring offense, scoring defense, third down offense, third down defense, sacks and sacks allowed. The 2011 edition also finished last in the conference in total defense. In fact, the Kansas defense allowed more yards and more points per game this season than any defense in the nation.

This from a program that had earned five bowl bids in eight years under Gill's predecessor, Mark Mangino (including the 2008 Orange Bowl, capping the best season in school history), who was ditched mainly for being a hotheaded jerk. Gill was the anti-Mangino in pretty much every fiber of his being, a square-jawed ex-star quarterback whose first major act as Jayhawk head coach was to ban swearing ? obviously a raison d'etre under the Mangino regime ? and require some token community service. Even by Kansas standards, though, the results on the field were terrible ?�Mangino won as many games in the season that got him fired as Gill did over two seasons ?�and whoever replaces him is going to be facing an even steeper climb than the one Gill inherited two years ago.

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Matt Hinton is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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