Big 12 football: Turner Gill exuberant

Kansas basketball coach Bill Self, left, and football coach Turner Gill smile as they leave a news conference in Allen Fieldhouse Tuesday, June 15, 2010, in Lawrence, Kan. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner) ORG XMIT: KSOW101

“Good morning!,” Turner Gill exclaimed to open Big 12 Media Days on Wednesday. “I’ve got a smile on my face.”

He didn’t have to tell us. The new Kansas coach (and former Nebraska quarterback) was effervescent in address the conference press corps. “I just got my family moved from Buffalo, N.Y., to Kansas,” Gill said. “I’m ready to go.”

Gill’s happy face extended all the way to suspension of reality. When asked what was going through his mind in June, when conference realignment threatened to leave the Jayhawks without a decent option for a league home, Gill said, “I didn’t get caught up in that. I was focusing on the season.”

Gill faces a difficult first year at Kansas. The Jayhawks are picked fourth in the Big 12 North and have Georgia Tech (home) and Southern Miss (road) in the non-conference. KU does have a little weaker conference schedule, playing Baylor, OSU and Texas A&M.