When Jerry Kill was hired by University of Minnesota Athletics Director Joel Maturi in December to be the next Head Coach of the Golden Gophers it was met with both confusion and outrage by the media and Gopher fans alike. Here are some of the quotes, which were being echoed across the state of Minnesota. “I feel like the ugly kid in High School who had to take his sister to prom.” “A MAC head coach hired by a MAC AD.” “We hired the coach from Northern Illinois!” “Who the bleep is Jerry Kill?” “What happened to that Tubby Smith type of hire Joel?” The overwhelming majority of Gopher fans were either confused or angered by the hire. There were even rumors circulating about Chris Peterson from Boise State being a possibility a day before the hiring of Kill was announced. Of course there was absolutely zero concrete evidence regarding Peterson being interested; most of the noise was coming from Gopher blogs and twitter, by goofball fans such as me with absolutely no sources. So we were left with Jerry Kill and anger and outrage ensued…. For about 20 hours. Jerry Kill had his press conference less than 24 hours after his hiring was announced. After his charming, honest, meat and potatoes press conference, which was even filled with a few good one liners, “stroke the post” Jerry Kill was officially embraced by both the media and hardcore Gopher fans.
Kill was only loathed for about 20 hours. He even made jokes about not being his wife’s first choice. He told a room of reporters how he understood fan frustration after going 50 years without a Rose Bowl appearance and losing to teams like North Dakota State and South Dakota. He struck a chord with the Gopher faithful, even as obvious as it was. He spoke about needing all of Minnesota to get behind the football team, to be patient, to not be negative, yet he was realistic. He spoke about how it was going to take hard work and discipline to turn the program around and it wasn’t going to happen overnight. He spoke about the need to increase speed and athleticism and it was going to be a work in progress.
After the spring game was over Kill held a press conference and his opinions of the team weren’t grandiose. He was the anti-Brewster and it showed. Kill said he was concerned about depth, lack of speed, poor work ethic, and discipline. He told reporters that his team needed to work their butts off in the offseason with strength and conditioning coach Eric Klein. He was hesitant to hand out bouquets to any individual player or units. Only saying that QB MarQueis Gray learned his offense faster than expected and showed “improvement” over the course of the spring, but didn’t anoint him the starter. He also spoke about how he thought the defensive line was awful at the start of the spring, but they too showed “improvement”.
Kill has yet to win a Big Ten game, or for that matter even coach one for the Gophers, but he has won over the media and the fans, something that hasn’t been done since Lou Holtz bolted for Notre Dame in the mid 80’s. He will be traveling throughout the state this summer for speaking engagements and meeting fans. He has already established a strong relationship with the High School coaches in the state. Kill has already secured commitments from three of the top recruits in the state: Andre McDonald of Hopkins, Philip Nelson of Mankato West, and Max Williams of Waconia, all before Memorial Day. Apathy for the Minnesota football program went from an all time high after his hiring was announced in December to a casual rooting interest as I write in May all because of Kill and his no-nonsense work horse attitude. He has come across as honest, polite, witty, and charming while tempering expectations. His honesty has even Kool-Aid drinking Gopher fans predicting 4 or 5 wins in year 1, while doing it with a smile on their faces. I haven’t heard one person that has anything bad to say about Kill or the Gopher football program in the last 5 months. Even snarky and condescending media types such as: Dan Barreiro, Patrick Reusse, and Jim Souhan have taken a liking to the new coach. Not one viscous column or radio rant. Brewster was barbequed after his first press conference promising Rose Bowls and talking about “Gopher Nation”. Kill already has a leg up on his predecessor. He has lowered expectations to a low not seen since the days of Jim Wacker, but the funny thing is everyone is fine with it. What Gopher fans are looking for is: discipline, work ethic, intelligence, and improvement on the field and everyone feels good about Kill producing all of the above. The Gopher faithful will be okay with him going 4-8 in year 1; and if he goes 6-6 and leads them to a Bowl game fans and media alike may proclaim him as the next Murray Warmath. Kill has played fans and media members brilliantly. He can only meet or exceed expectations. That is the beauty of talking about your team in an honest manner.
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