LFSN Game On Feature with Coach Gill
9/23/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
During the summer, LFSN Game On was able to spend some time with Flames Head Football Coach Turner Gill, getting to know Liberty's fourth year head coach more in depth.
Gill is currently in his fourth season as Liberty's head coach. The Flames win over No. 8/7 Montana last Saturday was Gill's 25th at Liberty and 50th of his 10-year coaching career.
Gill was hired as Liberty's eighth head football coach on Dec. 14, 2011. The former Nebraska standout quarterback and head coach at Buffalo and Kansas has taken Liberty to new heights despite facing some of the most daunting schedules in Liberty's program history.
Gill has led Liberty to three straight conference titles, giving the program seven titles in the last eight years. He also guided Liberty into uncharted waters in 2014, as he led the program to its first-ever trip to the NCAA FCS Playoffs.
Gill was rewarded for his coaching prowess in 2014 when he was named the Bobby Ross Coach of the Year Award winner. The honor is annually bestowed upon the top Division I coach in the Commonwealth of Virginia (both FBS and FCS coaches).
Gill was also selected the top Division I coach in Virginia by the Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID), the first for any head football coach in program history.
In his last eight seasons as head coach at three different programs, Gill has led his teams to a first-place conference finish at year's end five times (2007, 2008, 2012, 2013 and 2014).
During his collegiate playing career at Nebraska (1980-83), Gill guided the Nebraska to a 28-2 record and an unblemished 20-0 record in conference play. He led Nebraska to three-straight Orange Bowl appearances, spotlighted by a win over LSU on Jan. 1, 1983.
Gill was a three-time Big Eight all-conference selection, earned second-team All-America honors and was a Heisman Trophy award finalist, where he finished fourth in the voting in 1983.
Gill was honored as the quarterback selection to the Big Eight Conference All-Decade Team (1980-89) and has been inducted into both the Nebraska Football and Orange Bowl Halls of Fame.
Gill was a gifted athlete who also played collegiate baseball for one season at Nebraska and earned All-Big Eight honors at shortstop. Out of high school, Gill was a second round draft pick in the 1980 MLB Draft by the Chicago White Sox as a shortstop.
