Listen now to two separate STV Radio interviews with Turner Gill. Oct. 4 Audio | Oct. 11 Audio

Heart of a Coach
August/September 2008

Turner Gill
Head Football Coach, University at Buffalo

Chosen Attribute: Faith

Dictionary definition: “Confidence or trust in a person or thing.”

My definition: “Being sure that things which have not yet been seen will occur according to God’s plan through His Son, Jesus Christ.”

Who or what helps strengthen my faith: “I have prayer time and devotions with my wife and coaches, as well as with friends and mentors. I also listen to sermons on tape and Christian radio.”

Favorite Scripture that encourages me in my faith: Hebrews 11:1 (NASB) – “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Why I chose this passage: “This verse brings home the idea that we are to trust Christ completely and have confidence because of His assurances.”

How I apply faith in my life: “I had grown quite comfortable in my life and coaching job at the University of Nebraska. I always thought I wanted my family to have stability and security, so I closed doors to other opportunities in order to accomplish that. I was trying to control  things rather than giving them over to God.

“Finally, God put it on my heart to just have faith that He would do what was best for my family and me. I felt His urging to take a leap of faith and leave Nebraska without another job waiting for me. I remembered His assurances, and I knew I needed to have complete faith in Him.

“God took me step-by-step through a journey of faith and allowed me to share my coaching vision with many people. I ended up with the Green Bay Packers but, after 10 months, was given another opportunity to show Him that I would follow where He would lead.

“I had always had a vision to become a head coach. The opportunity that was presented, however, wasn’t the one I had dreamed about, so I initially turned down the interview. But God changed my mind. Later, after my wife and I left my second interview with the University at Buffalo, we both knew this was where God wanted us.”
 

"Our vision from God has been to build a program based on faith."

How I apply faith in coaching: “When I learned about Buffalo, I realized that their school abbreviation was UB. It hit me right away that I would be going to a struggling team that probably lacked faith, and I tagged the term ‘U Believe’ as our foundation. The team has bought into it, not because the staff was selling it, but because it was based on the truth.

“Our vision from God has been to build a program based on faith. The very foundation for this is relationship-building. These relationships are staff-to-staff, staff-to-student-athlete, student-athlete-to-staff and student-athlete-to-student-athlete. Our goal is that, through faith and these relationships, we will all develop life skills and strategies to deal with everyday life challenges.”

About the Coach
Coaching Highlights:
•2007 Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year
•Led Buffalo to the 2007 MAC East Division regular season co-championship
•Part of the ’94, ’95 and ’97 National Championship teams at the University of Nebraska as the quarterbacks coach

Playing Highlights:
•1989 Nebraska Football Hall of Fame inductee
•1983 Heisman Trophy finalist and Orange Bowl MVP
•Big Eight Conference All-Decade Team (1980s)
•12th winningest quarterback in NCAA Div. I history

Personal:
A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Gill and his wife, Gayle, have two daughters, Jordan and Margaux. He has served as a speaker at FCA events and has seen the ministry in action. Says Gill: “FCA provides phenomenal resources to increase spiritual growth by teaching how to become more intimate with Jesus Christ.”

--For more stories about faith and sport, visit www.sharingthevictory.com, the official magazine of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. To subscribe to STV, click here.

Photo courtesy Paul Hokanson/UB Athletics