Update (11/20 11:19EST): Per Rodney McKissic of the Buffalo News:It's November, so that means the rumor mill is spinning away. Now we hear that UB coach Turner Gill is interested in the opening at Western Kentucky. But a source close to Gill told the Buffalo News that Gill does not have any interest in the job.McKissic echoes what many, including me, have been saying about the WKU job. They don't pay enough, its not a high profile enough gig to be worth a move, and there are better jobs on the horizon. So this whole thing has come down to a he said-he said between McKissic's Source and Baumgardner's source. McKissic usually seems to have a good pulse on UB so I am inclined to believe him.
The article in the news goes a bit further by pointing out the fact that there is a decent chance KU will be looking for a coach, this would be a job that might be 'the one'. Unlike Mangino, Gill has a reputation for a strong relationship with his players which may play huge with the selection committee.
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And so it begins. My guess would be that we will see fewer 'Turner Gill is going to $SCHOOL' rumors pop up this year (5-7 or 4-8 will do that) but the first lead balloon has been floated. This one started when "The Bowling green daily news wku sports blog" posted this:A source close to current Buffalo head coach Turner Gill told the Daily News this morning that Gill has interest in the open position for head football coach at Western Kentucky. -- BGDNWSB
It got picked up on a few bulletin boards. Logically there is no way that WKU is a sensible move for Gill because:
- WKU actually is paying their current coach about 160K less than Gill is slated to make in 2009.
- The Sun Belt Conference is ranked below the MAC in terms of football prowess by most outlets
- A move now would delay, by at least a few years, any potential move to a BCS conference
Still the rumor weed nailed the James Starks injury several days before the Buffalo News had the whole scoop so I was still a little worried, until today. It seems that if Gill was interested he is no longer interested.
The same source that told the Daily News on Wednesday that current Buffalo coach Turner Gill was interested in the Western Kentucky football job said today that Gill and company haven’t heard back on anything from the Western Kentucky athletic department regarding an inquiry put in by Gill’s camp about the job.
The source said that if representatives for Gill haven’t heard back from WKU by this afternoon – they would likely remove Gill’s name from consideration. -- BGDNWSB
I honestly doubt that Gill would contact them one week and ignore their calls the next. I also think it would be seriously unprofessional of WKU or Gill to pursue any form of negotiations, no matter how informal, without an OK From Manual (Gill is on a four year rolling contract). Perhaps somebody wanted to make the WKU job look more high profile than it is by picking a name that would catch attention and floating it out there.
Unless WKU is run by snidely whiplash I don't think they would be going after Gill without permission and I doubt Gill would slap Manual by going behind his back, that's just not something to expect from a man like Gill.