Beloved former Golden Gophers head football coach Jerry Kill, 62, now calls Nashville home where he works on Clark Lea’s staff. His title is senior offensive advisor and chief consultant to the head coach.
Kill admirers might shorten it to “miracle worker.”
The Commodores were 0-8 in the mighty Southeastern Conference last season. That kind of record is nothing new for Vandy, a private school that has long been familiar with the bottom of the league standings.
Kill recalled that before he came to Vandy in January, Lea told him it “seems like you got a knack for helping people turn things around.”
The rest of the message: Why not come join the Commodores where offensive coordinator Tim Beck has been a Kill friend for about 40 years?
Kill was sitting on a beach in Mexico drinking margaritas when he received the phone call from Vandy. “Basically, coach (Lea) has pretty much said, hey, come in and do what you do,” Kill told Sports Headliners in a phone interview. “And he said, you know, come in and tell me what we need to do and what we need to do to get better and what we need to do to win from ground up.
“It’s really no different from what I’ve been doing my (whole) career. I just don’t have to deal with all the other problems (of a head coach). I just get to kind of help rebuild the program.”
Can things turn around at Vanderbilt where Lea is 9-27 overall? Kill believes so and he’s enthused about where he is working and living. “There’s a lot of work, catchup and so forth but I am enjoying it. I am only two and half hours (away) from my granddaughter (Emery). Nashville is a great place to live. I like country music—and still get to do a large part of what I want to do—but I can leave the office and I don’t have to carry the head coaching duties with me. That’s a good thing. In my time and where I am at in my career it’s a good thing. “
When discussing improvement at Vandy, Kill makes the point that if a coach can win at New Mexico State then success can be achieved just about any place. Before Kill was hired in late 2021, authorities referred to the Aggies as the worst college football program in the country.
The Aggies had won more than three games in a season just once since 2010 before Kill came to Las Cruces. He won a bowl game in his first season (2022, 7-6 record) and last season State’s 10 victories were the most since 1960. Among the wins was a stunning road victory at Auburn, the first win by the Aggies against an SEC team in 28 tries.
Kill credits “the kids” for the success in Las Cruces. He didn’t envision the miracle, but the players bought in and the results brought national attention to the Aggies.
Why step away? Kill said there were a lot of things, both personal and professional, involved with the decision. “You get to a certain age, you go, hey, I missed out on a lot of things, and maybe I don’t want to do that anymore (be a head coach). But it was good. I tell you what, had a great time there. We did things they will never do there again. I mean it’s too hard.
“And going up and beating Auburn and winning 10 games. Man, we did stuff they hadn’t done ever. And the rest of it since 1960. So it was fun.”
The challenge of the program, with limited resources including for Name, Image and Likeness, can wear on any coach and fatigue weighed on Kill whose history with cancer and epilepsy is well documented. “In life you know when it’s time and (I) knew it was time. I don’t regret the decision one bit. I had a great time there. Great people. Loved it there.”
Why is Kill still coaching? “That’s a good question,” he answered. “I don’t know how to do anything else. I want to prove I can do it one more time. …”
Even after all the health challenges and decades of coaching Kill hedges about ever completely divorcing himself from the profession. “I don’t know if I’ll ever completely get out of it. I’ll slow down when it’s time.
“As long as I can still be a difference being around kids, I’ll do it. There will be a time where I want to travel and do some things of that nature. …Right now, just being a part of it in a different way, I am enjoying it.”
Epilepsy forced Kill out of the Gophers job during the 2015 season after he had rebuilt the program that was in dire shape in December of 2010 when he took over. He was 2014 Big Ten Football Coach of the Year after a season that included a rare win at Michigan and a 51-14 beat down of Iowa.
Kill’s success, including taking the Gophers to their first New Year’s Day bowl game since 1962, didn’t surprise Dave Mona who assisted athletic director Joel Maturi with the coaching search to replace Tim Brewster. Mona recalled asking Kill for insights about a game where his Northern Illinois team defeated Minnesota and receiving about a 25-minute answer. “This guy really gets football,” was Mona’s reaction.
Kill has learned to take better care of himself since he left Minnesota. At New Mexico State the Aggies practiced in the mornings and that was part of a strategy to deal more effectively with his workload. Yet more than anything success in handling his seizures is “getting on the right cocktail” of medicine, he said.
“I’ve only had about four seizures the last two years, maybe three years. So I’ve limited those a bunch and I think I am different. I don’t think relaxed is the right word. Maybe more self-control of what I am doing from a day-to-day basis. Then, I know if I don’t do that then I know I ‘ll have problems.”
There is a major difference in Kill’s health now compared with when he was at Minnesota. “It’s a deal where I am like 90 percent better than when I was there from a physical capacity as far as what I was battling. Yeah, I am doing really good.”
With competitive football teams and a country boy’s charm, the Kansas native was a big hit with Gophers fans. Minnesotans saw his genuineness and connected with their head coach.
Mona remembers emceeing an event in Wilmar where Kill was running late, and the audience was becoming restless. Kill arrived about 10 minutes late but had an excuse that connected to his audience. He told the crowd that on the drive he saw the blackest farm dirt he had ever seen. “He’s got them eating out of his hand (with that story),” Mona said.
Kill made and kept so many friends in Minnesota. He was close with former Gophers 1969 football captain Jim Carter who just like the coach had a “little orneriness” to him. The two talked just a few days before Carter died from cancer last November.
“He’s a guy that a lot of people don’t understand and so forth, but I will tell you there was nobody more loyal and good and took care of Jerry Kill. You know, Jim is what they call old school and that’s what I call good school. And so my heart has gone out to their family and so forth but Jim will always be a part of the old ball coach’s family. He will always be a part of me.”
Leading the Gophers was the only Power Five head coaching job Kill ever had. He loved the opportunity, the community and the people. It was beyond difficult to walk away.
“No, I never have recovered from that completely. Have I lived a great life? Heck, yes. Have I been able to do things nobody else gets a chance to do? You bet. You know, I love Minnesota. It was devastating at the time…It was tough, and it was tough on our family. It’s been tough on everybody.”
It’s been speculated that perhaps Kill should have taken a leave of absence rather than just walking away from the job because of his health. Kill said placing the program in limbo wouldn’t have been fair to the players.
“I gave every ounce I could to the program. I never cheated anybody how I work and what I do. I wasn’t going to cheat the kids… I wasn’t going to get paid money and not be there, take leave, all that. I don’t believe in that, whether it’s right or wrong. …I walked away from about $8 million (on his contract) if I remember right.”
Kill looks back at his program and knows it would have been helpful to have the state-of-art football facilities that are now part of the Athletes Village, a project he pushed for. He thinks the Gopher job is a good one and doesn’t buy into the long-held argument it’s difficult to win at Minnesota because the state high schools don’t produce a lot of Division I recruits.
“To be honest with you, I think that’s an excuse,” Kill said.
Making recruiting easier in-state, per Kill, is that the Gophers are the only Division I program and also have first class facilities. NIL is another positive and the Gophers’ success in that area is growing.
“You just gotta find a way to get it done,” Kill said about Gopher recruiting. “People will come to Minnesota. I mean, shoot, we got kids from the south that came to Minnesota, and they were all starters for us. They played well, and I think P.J. (Fleck) has done some of the same thing. And kids want to get away from home anyway. …It’s hard to keep kids in your own state for anybody.”
Kill has been critical about Fleck in the past, bothered by Fleck comments that to him didn’t validate the culture already in place at Minnesota and questioning the young coach’s relationship with players. But Kill calls that “water underneath the bridge now.”
”I’ve always cheered for the Gophers and always will,” Kill said. “Coach has done a good job. There’s no doubt about that. Minnesota has won. My personal feelings—one way or another—coach has done a good job.”
With the college football playoff field expanding to 12 teams, Kill believes the Gophers might be a contender in future years. “Do I think they could? Yeah, I do. But it comes down to recruiting and hitting that (transfer) portal right.”
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