Kill ready, winning and able
Minnesota coach back to full health, and his team is too, at 4-0
Inquire about his health, and you’ll get a very quick reply from Jerry Kill.
“I’m doing great,” he says. “I’m feeling great.”
And that’s not all. The coach goes on, talking about the health . . . of his program.
Minnesota is 4-0. Given a fairly soft non-conference schedule, it probably shouldn’t be too surprising. And it hasn’t been a romp. But the Gophers haven’t been unbeaten through four games since 2008.
“Maybe it hasn’t been the prettiest thing in the world, but . . . each week we’ve gotten better,” Kill says. “Is 4-0 a big deal? You bet, because I think it helps your teaching process.”
But while Kill would prefer to talk about the health of his program, he also knows the last time many college football fans paid attention to it was a little more than a year ago.
The cameras then were focused not on the team but on the coach. Kill had collapsed on the sideline, in the midst of a seizure. He bristles just a bit at the topic, which he considers old news. Kill says the seizure disorder is just something he has to live with.
“It certainly hasn’t slowed any coaching down,” he says.
Neither did kidney cancer, for which Kill had surgery in January 2006, while at Southern Illinois.
“We’ve won quite a lot of football games since then,” he says, and he’s right: at Southern Illinois, Northern Illinois and now Minnesota, Kill’s record the last seven seasons is 51-31.
Kill was hospitalized after the collapse on Sept. 10, 2011, but he was at practice two days later, pledging to “go like hell ’til I go down.” He says medication has kept the seizures under control — “I haven’t missed a day of work since,” he says.
“He’s done great,” says defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys, who has coached with Kill since 1994 at five programs. “He has more energy than he’s ever had. He’s very active and very demanding, as always.”
Kill, 51, would rather focus on building the Minnesota program “brick by brick.” It’s a long-term project. The Gophers had three wins last season, Kill’s first with the team.
They surpassed that mark Saturday, when 50,805 watched Minnesota beat Syracuse 17-10. Kill called the atmosphere “electric” for the team’s first non-conference sellout at its home stadium since 2009, the year it opened.
“People around the program are starting to get excited,” senior linebacker Mike Rallis says.
He grew up a few miles away, a Gophers fan. He knows Minnesota’s last conference title came in 1967.
“It’s been a long time since Minnesota has done something truly great,” Rallis says. “You’ve got to build. I’m confident Coach Kill is taking this program in the right direction.”
Things get more difficult starting Saturday at Iowa. The Hawkeyes, coming off a stunning loss to Central Michigan, are 6½-point favorites. But since beating Iowa last season, Minnesota is 6-3.
“Their record certainly is no fluke,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz told reporters at his news conference. “They’re playing well. They’re playing with confidence. They’re playing fast.”
Says Kill: “We’re trying. I don’t know if we’re quite there yet.”
But he admits it feels great.