In a telephone interview with Sports Headliners on Monday night Jerry Kill predicted the Golden Gophers will have a great football team in 2016. Kill also said he doesn’t regret resigning last fall as the University of Minnesota’s football coach and has no intention of being a head coach again. He is undecided about future career plans but isn’t interested in becoming the University’s athletic director.
Kill spoke from Detroit after the Gophers won the Quick Lane Bowl 21-14—the program’s first postseason victory since 2004. Kill, Minnesota’s honorary captain for the game, watched from the sidelines with his former players and assistant coaches.
“It pretty much closes out my career with the Gophers, being on the sideline, getting the first bowl win with the guys, and the seniors,” Kill said. “It was a good moment.”
The victory over Central Michigan pushed Minnesota’s final record to 6-7 and stopped a streak of seven consecutive bowl losses. It was an uplifting end to a tumultuous year that saw Kill abruptly resign in late October for health reasons while his team worked its way through an abnormal number of injuries and a schedule that matched the Gophers against six teams who won nine games or more in 2015.
Kill’s first season as Gophers coach was 2011 and he predicted early on it would take time to rebuild a program that had won only 11 of its last 14 games and become a Big Ten bottom feeder. “I always said six and seven (years into the program) will be good, as long as the kids work hard,” Kill told Sports Headliners.
The schedule next season doesn’t include 2015 national powers Michigan, Ohio State and TCU. The mix of a favorable schedule, along with more talented, experienced and healthier Gophers players, has Kill feeling optimistic. “They’ll have a great team,” he said.
Kill’s successor, Tracy Claeys, will have many returnees but none more important than quarterback Mitch Leidner who was the Quick Lane Bowl MVP. A senior in 2016, Leidner has become Minnesota’s best quarterback since Adam Weber in 2010 and he has silenced some critics. Criticism directed at Leidner last season and in 2014 was sometimes mean-spirited and a source of frustration for Kill.
“He’ll have a great year (2016),” Kill said. “Everybody has questioned him since the day I stuck by him. He keeps getting better and better. He’s a tough sucker.”
Kill was a godsend for the Gophers’ football program. His 2013 and 2014 teams each won eight games. The 2014 group was 5-3 in the Big Ten, the program’s best conference record since 2003. That team also played in Minnesota’s first New Year’s Day bowl game since 1962.
Kill also turned around a failing academic situation at Minnesota where players were battling to stay eligible. The team’s improved academic work was a factor in Minnesota being invited to the Quick Lane Bowl, despite having a 5-7 regular season record. The off-field behavior of players also improved dramatically under the leadership of Kill and his staff who demanded good citizenship.
Now former defensive coordinator Claeys and a group of assistants that Kill put in place are beneficiaries of what looks like a bright future for Gophers football. Asked whether he has any regrets about resigning, Kill said, “No, not one. I did the right thing for the players. I did the right thing for the coaches.
“Sometimes I had to do a lot at the University of Minnesota—a lot more than people really know. If I could just coach the game (teach players) it would have been a lot easier but I had to do a lot of other things and it caught up with me.
“Now I don’t have to put a band-aid on it (improving his health). I can get it taken care of the next three to six months. I’ve been in the (Florida) sunshine walking…doing all the things my wife (Rebecca) wants me to do, and we’ll see what happens.”
Kill, 54, has a history of health problems including epilepsy. He was exhausted when he resigned as coach and had suffered recent seizures. As Minnesota’s coach his success on the field, along with his authentic and caring personality, made him the face of the athletic department—even the University—but it all came with a steep price. He pushed himself beyond the physical limits most people can endure, working long days 12 months a year not only for the football program, but also the athletic department where he was a key fundraiser for the school’s ambitious $166 million Athletes Village project.
Kill now is intent on improving and maintaining his health. “I will never be a head coach again,” he said. “I don’t want any part of it. I actually was offered a job to coach again at a smaller level, and no way I am going to do that. I might be a consultant, or I hope I can get on a bowl committee or selection committee. I will stay close to football. …I just don’t know how much. The main thing I am focused on is getting better and (focusing on) my family. That’s the most important thing to me.”
Kill said he has yet to discuss any future role working for the University but is open to discussions. The athletic director position, however, doesn’t attract him for a couple of reasons. After working 16 hours a day or more as football coach, he thinks the AD job at Minnesota will require at least that much daily dedication and that’s not the direction he is headed. Then, too, Kill wouldn’t be comfortable with a potential conflict of interest overseeing a football program he was so close to. “I am not real fired up about being the athletic director,” Kill said. “I don’t think that’s a good thing for Minnesota.”
Kill and his wife will vacate their downtown Minneapolis residence next month and move back to the family lake home in Illinois. Eventually Kill wants to find something for the next chapter of his life he can do with passion. He is already considering some offers but didn’t provide details. “I’ve got a lot of options, more options than I ever thought I would have,” Kill said. “I just have to pick what I want to do and what my body is going to allow me to do.”
Kill is planning to have discussions about going on the national speakers’ circuit, and he will write a book with local author Jim Bruton. The manuscript will talk about his career, values and “health situations.” The book will probably be out by next September and be marketed to business and football people, and those who suffer from epilepsy.
That project and no doubt other activities will bring Kill back to Minnesota, even though this won’t be his permanent home. Minnesotans will remember this remarkable leader who not only did so much for the University, but along with his wife reached out to assist causes and people in the larger community.
Kill is appreciative of how so many Minnesotans supported him. “We’re grateful for our time (here),” he said.
He would have loved to be around for a great run of Gophers football in 2016 and beyond, but he knows he made the right decision walking away. He gave everything he had to the Gophers and when he couldn’t give anymore he wasn’t going to take a paycheck for anything less than his best effort.
“I’ve lived a great life and I’ve had a great career, over 32 years,” Kill said. “I fired myself, I guess.”
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