Shatel: KU image makeover? Gill fits bill

Mark it down. Turner Gill will succeed at Kansas.

At Basketball U., it's imperative that the head football coach do two things: 1. Go to bowl games. 2. Don't embarrass the school. I fully expect that Gill will win enough to go to bowls and will be great for the KU image. And make no mistake: The latter is why he's there today.

Mark Mangino's foul mouth and brow-beating approach to coaching — which was all well and good during the 12-1 and 8-5 seasons — is not the KU style. The Kansas crowd is button-down and image conscious with a dash of elitism. Mangino was a good coach, but he was not a Kansas guy. Gill has the KU image. He will be educator as well as coach, professor Gill, there to teach as well as win.

I suspect that Gill is there for another reason: his ability to communicate with today's young people. After the incidents this fall between the Jayhawk football and basketball teams, Athletic Director Lew Perkins made no bones about how little he knew about today's athletes, their lifestyles and how they communicate on social Web sites like Facebook and Twitter. He clearly wanted a coach who could reach young athletes — and control them.

He hasn't beaten Missouri or Nebraska yet, but Gill won the press conference on Monday. I have never heard him sound like that; enthusiastic, firm and in total control. He has a good start on a staff, which will make or break him there. He acts and sounds the part of a BCS-level coach.

I think that he'll recruit well enough to win. Gill will make the Beak 'ems feel good about football. And he'll attend basketball games. Oh, yes, a third thing KU football coaches must do.

• Let the comparisons begin. Bo Pelini vs. Turner Gill. Fiery vs. stoic. Defense vs. offense. Tom Osborne's Plan A vs. Tom Osborne's Plan B.

This will be a tough one for Husker fans. It already is, judging by the reaction I received since Gill was hired as Kansas head football coach on Monday. They love Bo. But Gill was once the young prince. The Nebraska fairy tale, once upon a time, had Gill in a succession line behind Osborne and Frank Solich. An evil king foiled that plan, but Nebraska's coming back. And now here's Gill, at Kansas.

Circle the date Nov. 13, 2010. That's when Gill makes his return to Memorial Stadium.

• One of the things a lot of us have wondered was if Gill ever coached at the BCS level, what offense would he run? On Monday, he said he would run some spread, but also incorporate a fullback and have two-back sets. He didn't mention the “O'' word, as in option. But I know that a lot of Husker fans will be keeping an eye on this.

If Gill and Nebraska both start recruiting running quarterbacks, that will be interesting. I know this: With Gill and offensive coordinator Chuck Long together, Kansas could become a quarterback school.

• Kansas fans not happy with Gill's hiring have an overinflated opinion of their program. Kansas has had two winning seasons in the past decade and one “big'' year. Football coaches see KU as a basketball school. Why would you leave Stanford for KU? You wouldn't.

• So Wisconsin Athletic Director Barry Alvarez, the former Husker, says that he expects the Big Ten to aggressively pursue a 12th member in 2010. Would the Big Ten want Nebraska? Don't know. NU is a fit, but how good? Nebraska isn't the “academia'' fit that the stodgy suits in the Big Ten would prefer, but NU would give the Big Ten a better chance at a second BCS (money) spot more than, say, Syracuse or Pittsburgh (forget Notre Dame — not going to happen) or Rutgers. NU's presence would also boost the Big Ten Network.

Would Nebraska want the Big Ten? Don't know. Does the Big Ten have any “egregious error'' rules?

• Perhaps the best story nobody's talking about is the Nebraska women's basketball team — ranked No. 20 and off to its best-ever start at 10-0 and getting ready to host No. 5 LSU on Sunday at the Devaney Center in what might be the biggest home game in school history. Good for them.

• Inquiring minds want to know: Why doesn't Creighton coach Dana Altman catch the same heat for his technical foul on Saturday that Bo Pelini does on any given Saturday? Good question. Here's my answer: Altman gets the pass because of the situation (you don't call a technical on a coach with 18 seconds left unless he undresses on the court) and his history. He rarely gets “Ts.'' Altman should catch heat for how disorganized his team looked down the stretch. Bad loss, but write off the Jays at your own risk. There's a lot of season left.

• The never-ending saga of Tiger Woods begs one question: When does he have time to hit the range?

Contact the writer:

444-1025, tom.shatel@owh.com

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