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BUFFALO —
Danny Barrett was leaving the American football coaches convention in the winter of 2007 when he crossed paths with another former CFL quarterback with whom he'd briefly shaken hands when both were playing in Canada during the 1980s.
When Barrett and Turner Gill, now the head coach of the University of Buffalo Bulls, started talking at the San Antonio airport that day, they realized they had more than a few things in common.
Gill, a star at the University of Nebraska during the early 1980s, had his CFL career with the Montreal Concordes cut short after two seasons because of concussions. But he knew of Barrett and asked him to send a résumé for the Bulls' vacant quarterbacks coach position.
Today, the two former CFL pivots are bringing respectability back to a team that was once off the map in U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I football, including a game two weeks ago when it pushed fifth-ranked Missouri into the fourth quarter.
"It's been great getting to work with Turner, the expertise he has from Nebraska, and his overall plan," Barrett said. "And to play [Missouri] the way we did for 31/2 quarters says a lot about how far we've come. But we still want to make [ESPN's]
Sportscenter and be the upset of the week, and I think that's destined to happen for us."
Gill and Barrett are but two of a long list of CFL alumni who've been making waves in American college football of late.
Two weeks ago, former Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Mike Riley led one of the two biggest upsets of the college season when the Oregon State Beavers shocked Southern California, which was top-ranked at the time. That same weekend, Ole Miss offensive co-ordinator Kent Austin, who a year ago was patrolling sidelines for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, helped his team hang 31 points on Florida in another shocker.
"It just goes to show you, [CFL football] is a game that a lot of people don't know a lot about, but the value from a coaching standpoint — it teaches you to become a better coach because you're dealing with roster restrictions and three downs," Barrett said. "Those things all factor into the development."
While coaching jobs at big-time U.S. college programs are considered plum assignments, taking on the University of Buffalo was a different sort of challenge for Gill and Barrett.
Gill had been an assistant with Nebraska from 1992 to 2004 before becoming an offensive assistant with the NFL's Green Bay Packers in 2005.
When Buffalo contacted him, he overcame his initial skepticism for what he came to see as a great opportunity.
"I've been blessed that I had the opportunity reach the plateau from a college football experience, played in championship games and as a coach was involved in three national championships," said Gill, who was chosen as the Mid-American Conference coach of the year last season. "So as I took this job, I looked forward to a new opportunity and a new experience. This is somewhat the opposite of the experiences I had."
Barrett, who played college ball at Cincinnati, was coming off a seven-year stint as the head coach in Saskatchewan, where he'd turned the Roughriders from doormat to Grey Cup competitor.
Joining Buffalo might have seemed like the bottom of the mountain, but Barrett had a history in the CFL, both as a player and coach, of joining teams that were trying to learn how to win.
"Without a doubt, that was one of the things Turner and I talked about," Barrett said. "To be able to say we were part of the foundation that was laid, that's parallel to my career."
Last season, in Barrett and Gill's first season together, the Bulls won five games, equalling the program's total in its previous five seasons, and quarterback Drew Willy set several school records.
"We've taught these guys how to have expectations," Gill said. "How you go about doing it and why you do it. We're big on the hows and the whys."
With the Bulls earning respectability last season, speculation was swirling Gill would move to a bigger, higher-profile program. When he didn't get the head-coaching job at Nebraska, he signed a contract extension in Buffalo through 2012.
"Once you get to this place, it's better than you anticipate," the native of Fort Worth, Tex., said. "I say that from my experience because I didn't know anything about Buffalo. I'm enjoying it and I'm not all about trying to get to the next step."
Barrett, meanwhile, said he's in no rush to leave the Bulls, but did open the door to returning to the CFL some day.
"[In the U.S.] there's 119 Division I programs, so if the right opportunity came along [in U.S. college] or the CFL, I would certainly consider that," he said. "I do miss the CFL."
Taking the reins
Some former CFL players and coaches in U.S. NCAA Division I football:
- Danny Barrett, quarterbacks coach, Buffalo
- Turner Gill, head coach, Buffalo
- Bill Stewart, head coach, West Virginia
- Mike Riley, head coach, Oregon State
- Kent Austin, offensive co-ordinator, Ole Miss
- Paul Chryst, offensive co-ordinator, Wisconsin
- Joe Tiller, head coach, Purdue
- Steve Sarkisian, offensive co-ordinator, Southern California
- Jeff Reinebold, receivers coach, Southern Methodist
- Frank Spaziani, defensive co-ordinator, Boston College
- Bob Price, tight ends coach, Virginia
- Conredge Holloway, director of football operations, Tennessee
- Paul Randolph, defensive co-ordinator, Tulsa
- Doug Nussmeier, offensive co-ordinator, Fresno State
- Oscar Giles, defensive ends coach, Texas
- Michael Gray, defensive line coach, Oregon
