For almost 20 years Gophers fans have envied the success of border neighbors Wisconsin and Iowa. Fans have wondered why a long dismal Minnesota program can’t achieve on the field what the Badgers and Hawkeyes have accomplished.
The Badgers tied for the Big Ten title last season and played in the Rose Bowl, the school’s fourth trip to Pasadena since 1994. The Hawkeyes often are in the mix for a top 25 ranking and BCS bowl game. The Gophers haven’t been to the Rose Bowl since 1962, have made only two visits to Pasadena and last won a Big Ten title in 1967. During the last 20 years the Gophers have two winning seasons in conference games. The Gophers were 3-9 overall last year, 2-6 in the Big Ten.
Kill didn’t hesitate when asked if the Gophers can equal the Wisconsin and Iowa success stories. “We can but it’s going to take time,” he said. “They didn’t do it overnight. … What you get out of life is what you invest in it. We have a lot of investing to do yet before we get to that situation.
“…I think people want to see it changed, but it’s going to take more than me. It’s going to take a group effort and hopefully we can get everybody to believe in the vision that we’re trying to create and we’ll see how it goes. Only time will tell.”
At Northern Illinois Kill had a vision to make the Huskies a success year after year. He will expect no less from the Gophers despite their present lowly place in college football. In the February issue of Sporting News Magazine the publication previewed 125 college programs prior to spring practices including the Huskies and Gophers. Capsule comments on Northern Illinois included this: “New coach Dave Doeren should tweak, rather than overhaul the conference’s healthiest program.” And on Minnesota: “Every aspect of the Gophers program needs an overhaul.”
Kill associates sustained success with Wisconsin and Iowa. “Our vision is certainly to become one of those programs,” he said. “That was our vision at Northern Illinois that we wanted to become the best team in the MAC conference (Mid-American) and be the most consistent team…year after year after year. I can promise you I left that program (in good standing) and they’re going to be good for a long time. They got a lot of talent there. That’s what we’ll try to do here.
“We have so much to offer here, the Twin Cities, careers after they get done playing. We just gotta do a good job of selling what we have to offer, and we gotta do a good job of recruiting the right kid to our university.”