Turner Gill, Kansas Jayhawks Setting a New Trend

Could the alleged slip of Mark Mangino's finger across an infinitesimally small space between actually touching and not touching someone (as well as the alleged, repeated slip of his tongue) have been the source of an uproar in college football last season?

Were accusations coming out against South Florida Coach Jim Leavitt and Texas Tech Coach Mike Leach all part of a legitimate trend that originated in Lawrence?

Frankly, I'm glad I don't have to uncover the answer to such an impossible question, and I don't care to dig into what did and didn't actually happen from any perspective.

What's done is done.  It's time for players and coaches alike to move on and ensure that such a trend never begins again.  In fact, it's time for schools to try starting a new trend.

Just like the University of Kansas has.

Kansas has gone to great lengths to prevent any future incidents of this type.  Any other school that cares about its football program should do so as well.

First of all, Kansas wasted little time snagging the steadiest coaching hand available to help an unstable program in turmoil.  Kansas' Associate Athletic Director Jim Marchiony graciously gave me a few minutes of his time Tuesday afternoon to assure me of such.

Marchiony affirmed that the athletic department's first and foremost priority in a coach was someone who met high standards of excellence on and off the field.

When Mangino was hired, my mentor Max Utsler assures me, his short fuse was no secret.  However, his price was right, and he had the fire a dead program needed.

This time, KU needed to go in a different direction: a Turner Gill direction.

Gill has immediately become the public face of the program and continues to earn the support of fans and alumni.  Even today, he continues to campaign for the life of the once-crumbling project known as the Gridiron Club.

Most importantly, the coaching team he has put together is nothing short of spectacular.  Marchiony gave the highest praise to Gill's staff members, each of whom reflects Gill's individual-first values as well as his gridiron success.

Texas Tech and South Florida seem to have made similar hires when comparing personalities to that of Gill.  Tommy Tuberville (Texas Tech) and Skip Holtz (South Florida) seem like steady, consistent men on and off of the turf.

Secondly, my good friend and KU walk-on running back Ryan Burton told me that the process didn't stop there.  He informed me that athlete counseling was more heavily promoted and accessible than ever throughout the situation. 

Burton also talked about the door to Gill's office.  It's always open, and behind it waits a man who simply wants to help and treats every player, from freshman walk-on to senior stud, as equals.

The freshman assured me that it is Gill's goal to know and cater to the needs of every single young man in a Kansas uniform as a player and a person.

I can't say I know the same about Tuberville and Holtz, but I have a feeling that such respect for each and every member of their respective programs will resonate well throughout their athletic departments' priority lists.

To finish, I would like to say two things.

First of all, congratulations, Kansas.  Very little more could be done to rectify the mess that was last season.  If Turner Gill is as half as amazing as advertised, then every Jayhawk fan around—myself included—is in for a real treat.

Congratulations also to South Florida and Texas Tech.  I'm not well-informed on their situations, but any school would deserve props for overcoming this type of problem.

Secondly—and most importantly—other schools should follow suit in whatever ways they can.

Mark Mangino, Mike Leach, and Jim Leavitt prove that resurrecting a program does not grant immunity.

All schools should learn from Kansas, Texas Tech, and South Florida and find effective ways to prevent any such issues in the future.

Perhaps seminars on boundaries and respect should be mandatory of all college coaches.  Maybe athletic departments could use overseers to keep a more constant watch on their coaching staffs.

I've heard rumors of some universities who frequently have athletics department representatives pop into practices, halftime locker rooms, and meetings unannounced as part of ongoing coach evaluations.

What if a solution was as simple as each player giving a confidential, face-to-face evaluation directly to the athletics department?  Schools should be doing it anyway, but allegations from years past that appeared during Kansas' investigation may imply that no such one-on-ones exist.

On an extreme note, a few of my colleagues have even speculated on the idea of including player-abuse situations when constructing coaching contracts.

It seems silly, but two years ago, Kansas reconstructed Mangino's contract.  Two months ago, the university paid him $3 million just to leave.

Then again, I hope I'm behind the curve on this particular issue. 

Player-abuse allegations were the biggest singular piece of news in college football last season.  The situation can't have gone unnoticed by any school in the United States.

I would be thoroughly surprised if most major colleges with any pride in their athletic programs aren't already taking steps to better ensure the well-being of their student athletes.

For the same reasons, I don't believe college football fans will ever see anything to the magnitude of what they witnessed in the fall of 2009.

Call me naive, but I think a positive trend is already being set in place.