Kansas football: 5 worst coaching hires in Jayhawks history

No. 4: Turner Gill (2010-2011)

Kansas football coaching record: 5-19 (.208)

Turner Gill began the string of terrible hires for Kansas. He had some big shoes to fill (literally) after replacing Mark Mangino. As a recruiter, he was alright, but it didn’t foreshadow a bright future for KU when Gill’s team lost 6-3 to an FCS school in his first game as head coach.

If you didn’t know he played offense at Nebraska in the early 2000s, it was easy to tell when you watched one of his defenses. The 2011 Kansas team allowed 43.8 points per game, including 66 to Georgia Tech and 70 to Oklahoma State. What made it even worse was that he adopted some of Mangino’s defensive recruits, so he simply could not develop any of his players.

He was a slightly better coach than other names on this list, and perhaps with another season under his belt, we could have seen the Jayhawks make considerable progress. However, he was in charge during the demise of Kansas football, which made it one of the most undesirable positions in the NCAA. Needless to say, he was a much better quarterback than he was as a head coach.