Turner Gill, who led the University at Buffalo football team to respectability in just four seasons, will be named the new coach at Kansas, a source familiar with the coaching search told The Buffalo News.

Gill, who had a 20-30 record at UB, was one of three finalists for the job along with East

Carolina's Skip Holtz and Jim Harbaugh, who signed a three-year contract extension with

Stanford that was announced Saturday.

The news was first reported by Yahoo! Sports, and it has also been confirmed by the

Associated Press, ESPN.com and the Lawrence Journal-World. Kansas had not announced the move

nor had UB made an announcement.

Rumors began swirling about Gill, 47, going to Kansas once Jayhawks coach Mark Mangino came

under fire for verbal and physical abuse of his players. Mangino was forced to resign Dec. 3

and a day later, Kansas Athletic Director Lew Perkins was on the phone with UB Athletic

Director Warde Manuel asking for permission to speak with Gill.

As of Saturday evening, Gill had yet to inform the UB players of his departure. Manuel was

unavailable for comment.

Sources familiar with the process told The Buffalo News that Gill and Perkins met last

Sunday in New York City. They were both attending last Tuesday's National Football Foundation

awards dinner. Perkins is also believed to have spoken with Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt about

the job but on Tuesday afternoon Nutt took his name out of consideration.

That helped clear the lane for Gill, the man who rebuilt UB's football program.

The news of Gill's departure comes on a day when UB had several football recruits on campus

for the UB-Buffalo State men's basketball game at Alumni Arena. Several of Gill's assistant

coaches hosted the recruits as the rumors of Gill's leaving began to surface.

Gill was unavailable for comment.

He will take over a Big 12 team that lost its last seven games this season to finish 5-7.

It was just two seasons ago that Kansas was in contention for the national title and finished

12-1 and Mangino was the consensus Coach of the Year. But since then the Jayhawks were 13-12

and Mangino, whom some players alleged was verbally and physically abusive, was forced to

resign.

Kansas last won a Big Eight title in 1968 and has never won a Big 12 title. Mangino left

Kansas with a .510 winning percentage and as the first Jayhawks coach to leave with a record

over .500 since Jules V. Sikes in 1953.

Expectations will be high in Lawrence for Gill, who has shown his ability to quickly turn

around a struggling program. He was introduced in Amherst on Dec. 15, 2005, after former coach

Jim Hofher was fired near the end of a one-win season. At that time, Manuel believed he found

the right coach.

"Turner has all the tools necessary to bring great pride to our football program in the

future," he said then.

Gill responded with a motto that echoed throughout his tenure at the school, "UB: You

believe." Before Gill arrived, UB was possibly the worst program in the Football Bowl

Subdivision. UB entered the FBS in 1999 and before Gill took the job in 2005 the Bulls were

10-69.

After a 2-10 opening season, Gill led the Bulls to a 5-7 record in 2007 and a share of the

Mid-American Conference's East Division title. But 2008 was Gill's and UB's breakthrough

season.

Gill led the Bulls to an 8-6 record and to their first bowl bid in 50 years. But the

highlight came in the MAC Championship Game against heavily favored, undefeated and No. 12

ranked Ball State.

UB scored two touchdowns on fumble returns and won the game 42-24, giving the school its

first MAC championship. The Bulls entered the 2009 season favored to repeat in the MAC East

but with tailback James Starks out with a shoulder injury, the Bulls struggled through a 5-7

season. Still, Gill's name remained hot and was linked to openings at Virginia and Louisville.

He ended up taking the job at Kansas.

Gill's impact at the school goes beyond wins and losses. He significantly raised UB's

profile off the field and was seen often around Western New York giving speeches and preaching

the gospel of "You believe."

For UB fans, that success was often accompanied by awkwardness about their coach's future

as his name was constantly on the short lists of schools with coaching vacancies the past

three years. Last year, he interviewed at Auburn and Syracuse and was believed to be the No. 1

prospect at Iowa State before pulling his name out of consideration.

Two years ago, he interviewed at Nebraska, where he was a player and longtime assistant,

and he was considered at Washington State. Gill always maintained he was happy in Amherst.

After it became clear Mangino was on the hot seat at Kansas in November, Gill said, "I

think there's only a few schools where I would be interested and if they're interested in

myself I would evaluate it and go from there. I feel good about this program, and I feel good

about this recruiting class that we have here."

The Associated Press reported Mangino was making about $2.2 million when he resigned. Gill

received a contract extension almost a year ago that reportedly would have made him among the

top-paid coaches in the Mid-American Conference. The top deal then belonged to Temple's Al

Golden at a reported $575,000.

Gill's 20 wins were the most by a UB coach since Bill Dando, who coached at the school from

1977 to '89 (58-65-1).

Possible replacements include UB assistant head coach and offensive coordinator Danny

Barrett, who has head coaching experience in the Canadian Football League.

Other candidates that would be attractive to UB are Cincinnati offensive coordinator Jeff

Quinn, who will lead the undefeated Bearcats in the Sugar Bowl next month, New Orleans Saints

tight ends coach Terry Malone, Boise State offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin and Connecticut

offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Joe Moorhead.