IRVING, Texas -- Kansas coach Turner Gill has always fashioned himself as a molder of men. Specifically those of the 18 to 22-year-old variety, he said Wednesday morning at Big 12 media days. So no one should be surprised that the coach had his players fill out an eight-to-10 question survey filled with non-football questions.

If his players knew much about him, they wouldn't have been surprised when he had them stand in front of their teammates and read their answers to questions such as who influenced them most in their lives.

"Everybody has a story, and that was the point of doing it all," Gill said. "To understand that everybody has a story and we're a lot closer than you think. Even though I might be from 'XYZ town' or 'XYZ state' or I may be white or I may be black or I'm this position or that position; but we really have a lot more in common."

Gill is about winning, and he did it at Buffalo when many of his contemporaries and friends cautioned him not to take the job. But he's also about relationships, and makes it clear that each influences the other.

"I really believe that as men -- and particularly young men -- we've got to know how to communicate. We've got to know how to talk," he said. "I believe in getting our players and coaches to talk to each other in deeper details more than just the X's and O's of football."