Kansas has hired Turner Gill as head football coach to replace Mark Mangino, who resigned December 3. Gill is the sixth African-American hire in Division I in the last month.

He was the third minority coach recently hired at a Bowl Championship Series conference, following Mike London at Virginia and Charlie Strong at Louisville.

Gill has been head coach at Buffalo for the past four seasons. In 2008, he led the team to a league championship and the school’s first bowl appearance. He was the Mid-American Conference coach of the year in 2007 and 2008.

A graduate of Nebraska, Gill held several assistant coach positions at his alma mater before a one-year stint as player development director for the Green Bay Packers in 2005. As the Cornhuskers’ starting quarterback from 1981-83, Gill led Nebraska to a 28-2 record and three consecutive Orange Bowl appearances. He was a Heisman Trophy finalist in 1983 and was an accomplished baseball player, spending several seasons in the minor-league systems of the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians.

Minority football coaches at NCAA institutions
As of December 16; historically black colleges and universities excluded