Dec 1, 2008 - 2:12 PM
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It has been a troubling season for African-American coaches in the Football Bowl Subdivision, as their ranks have been sliced in half following the departures of Washington's Tyrone Willingham, Kansas State's Ron Prince and Mississippi State's Sylvester Croom.
There are now just three black coaches out of 119 programs in the FBS - Buffalo's Turner Gill, Miami's Randy Shannon and Houston's Kevin Sumlin.
Still, there could be hope for a minority upgrade as Gill might be the next hot coaching commodity based on the job he is doing at Buffalo, which meets No. 13 Ball State on Friday in the Mid-American Conference championship game.
The three departing coaches were in difficult, if not impossible, situations.
Willingham ran the Washington program into the ground, Prince followed a legend (Bill Snyder) at Kansas State and Croom had to compete against the likes of LSU, Florida and Alabama in the Southeastern Conference.
The highly-respected Gill, a former standout quarterback at Nebraska, opted to take a different route, beginning his head-coaching career at a non-BCS school.
While Buffalo might have been considered the Siberia of college football jobs when Gill arrived in 2006 with his championship pedigree, he has done nothing to damage his already solid reputation.
A part of three national championship teams as the quarterbacks coach at his alma mater from 1992-2003, Gill has been credited for his communications skills, following the lead set by his mentor, Tom Osborne.
"You never know exactly all the details of what you're getting into, but I had an idea we were starting from scratch and had to build a program," Gill told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review in September. "I was looking for something different because I had been in traditional programs and wanted to start something."
The 46-year-old Gill would seem like a logical choice to fill the vacancy at Syracuse since the school is just a few hours down the road. Last year, he was briefly linked to the Nebraska job before the Cornhuskers tabbed Bo Pelini.
While off the radar for most college football fans, Buffalo is experiencing a special season.
Not only are the Bulls playing in their first MAC championship, they are doing so on the 50th anniversary of their only bowl invitation in school history.
In 1958, Buffalo was invited to play in the Tangerine Bowl in Orlando, Florida. There was one problem, however.
The school district in which the contest was to be played didn't condone integration. Buffalo could play in the game, but only if its two black players - Willie Evans and Mike Wilson - stayed home.
The team refused, turning down the invitation - and that decision is regarded as one the school's proudest moments.
Five decades later, it's no small irony that the Buffalo program is being guided by a black man. The Bulls also have a black athletic director in Warde Manuel.
Buffalo is a heavy underdog against undefeated Ball State (12-0) and enters the clash with only a 7-5 record, which doesn't seem like much.
However, the Bulls only made the jump to Division I-A (now the FBS) in 1999 and won just 10 games in the seven seasons before Gill's arrival.
Gill went 2-10 in his first season, then improved to 5-7 last year, including a 5-3 mark in the MAC.
This season has a been a thrill a minute, with the Bulls involved in six games that came down to the last play, including three in overtime.
"I'm proud of our players, this season has been outstanding," Gill said after the Bulls clinched the MAC East title with a 40-34 double-overtime win at Bowling Green on November 21. "I have been involved in championship football teams, but I have never been exposed to a season like this."
In typical fashion, the Bulls won that game with the greatest comeback in school history, rallying from a 20-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
The Bulls wouldn't want it any other way.
