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VIDEO: JK PREVIEW OF 2015 SEASON - AXE KEY
Axe Key in Next Major Progression for Minnesota
Kyle Goblirsch, 247 Sports - Aug 4, 5:37 PM 26
The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers Football team has progressively improved each season under Head Coach Jerry Kill. From 3-9 in year one after taking over a struggling program from Tim Brewster, to two consecutive 8-5 finishes in years three and four.
Kill and his longest tenured staff in the country have done what it has at each of its previous stops. Move a program forward from a previous dark spot left by an earlier regime.
Looking forward to year five, the 2015 season, the major question is what’s next to get over the next hurdle?
“We've gotten better every year and everybody goes, what do you want to do this year, and I want to be better,” Head Coach Jerry Kill said from the Gibson-Nagurski complex today. “You don't think about it, but I believe, unless I've been corrected wrong, is that two years in a row we've been one game away from being in the Big Ten Championship game; is that correct?
“Nobody really talks about that, one game. And it's Wisconsin.”
The border-rival with the Wisconsin Badgers has been one of one-sided proportions for more than a decade. Four of the last eleven straight loses to Wisconsin have fallen under Kill’s leadership. He knows if Minnesota is going to take another step, it has to get the Axe back first.
“They've been a pain in our butt. We had our opportunities last year. Got to win the border games if you're going to be a Big Ten champion and you want to play in that game,” Kill said of the Badgers. “You've got to win the border games. Our expectations we've got to get another brick, and that's the brick.”
Off the field, the next major ‘Brick’ that Kill has been pushing hard is the updates to the practice facilities, which are expected to finally break ground later this fall. Coach Kill notes the importance of driving the project to completion if the program is going to take the next step forward.
“There's nobody making any bones about it. We're still walking recruits in the hallway and still doing a pretty good job recruiting. We get a new facility out there, we'll really be able to recruit.”
Kill continued, “That's a big brick. That's a big brick. We walk them from the hallway right into our indoor facility that it rains in front of. But we've still been able to recruit. You know why? Because hey, you've got what you got, you can't cry about it. I don't give our coaches any excuses.
“We lose one to somebody over a facility, I say, well, I guess you didn't build enough of a relationship with him. How can we lose that guy? We've been the longest coaching staff in the country. We're not going to be moving everywhere, so they come here and they'll see the same damned coach for a while.”
Coach Kill transitioned from the importance of winning the Axe and getting the facilities complete into one of his more entertaining rants, mostly tongue in cheek, but somewhat serious over the large number of fans from opposing Big Ten teams that have migrated to the Twin Cities.
“On the borders, they all want jobs because Iowa, driving me crazy; Wisconsin. And I'm walking around the deal and they've got a Wisconsin shirt on, or here in the Twin Cities, just makes me mad, I'll tell you. I told them that, too."
After getting lengthy about poking fun with a local young Nebraska fan, Kill proposed a potential ban the state could consider.
“The Governor is always banning. We need to ban any other shirts but the University of Minnesota and the Vikings. That's it. The secretary likes the Packers. We're in Minnesota, aren't we? Right? All right. I'm off that soapbox.”
Coach is all torqued up about Wiscy like a wound up top.
I don't know if this press conference has been posted yet from Gophersports.
He is like a comedic but serious Tim Conway. The focus this year is the offense and more importantly getting a red thorn off the Gophers' backs that has been bugging them for years.
http://www.gophersports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/080415aaa.html
Axe Key in Next Major Progression for Minnesota
Kyle Goblirsch, 247 Sports - Aug 4, 5:37 PM 26
The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers Football team has progressively improved each season under Head Coach Jerry Kill. From 3-9 in year one after taking over a struggling program from Tim Brewster, to two consecutive 8-5 finishes in years three and four.
Kill and his longest tenured staff in the country have done what it has at each of its previous stops. Move a program forward from a previous dark spot left by an earlier regime.
Looking forward to year five, the 2015 season, the major question is what’s next to get over the next hurdle?
“We've gotten better every year and everybody goes, what do you want to do this year, and I want to be better,” Head Coach Jerry Kill said from the Gibson-Nagurski complex today. “You don't think about it, but I believe, unless I've been corrected wrong, is that two years in a row we've been one game away from being in the Big Ten Championship game; is that correct?
“Nobody really talks about that, one game. And it's Wisconsin.”
The border-rival with the Wisconsin Badgers has been one of one-sided proportions for more than a decade. Four of the last eleven straight loses to Wisconsin have fallen under Kill’s leadership. He knows if Minnesota is going to take another step, it has to get the Axe back first.
“They've been a pain in our butt. We had our opportunities last year. Got to win the border games if you're going to be a Big Ten champion and you want to play in that game,” Kill said of the Badgers. “You've got to win the border games. Our expectations we've got to get another brick, and that's the brick.”
Off the field, the next major ‘Brick’ that Kill has been pushing hard is the updates to the practice facilities, which are expected to finally break ground later this fall. Coach Kill notes the importance of driving the project to completion if the program is going to take the next step forward.
“There's nobody making any bones about it. We're still walking recruits in the hallway and still doing a pretty good job recruiting. We get a new facility out there, we'll really be able to recruit.”
Kill continued, “That's a big brick. That's a big brick. We walk them from the hallway right into our indoor facility that it rains in front of. But we've still been able to recruit. You know why? Because hey, you've got what you got, you can't cry about it. I don't give our coaches any excuses.
“We lose one to somebody over a facility, I say, well, I guess you didn't build enough of a relationship with him. How can we lose that guy? We've been the longest coaching staff in the country. We're not going to be moving everywhere, so they come here and they'll see the same damned coach for a while.”
Coach Kill transitioned from the importance of winning the Axe and getting the facilities complete into one of his more entertaining rants, mostly tongue in cheek, but somewhat serious over the large number of fans from opposing Big Ten teams that have migrated to the Twin Cities.
“On the borders, they all want jobs because Iowa, driving me crazy; Wisconsin. And I'm walking around the deal and they've got a Wisconsin shirt on, or here in the Twin Cities, just makes me mad, I'll tell you. I told them that, too."
After getting lengthy about poking fun with a local young Nebraska fan, Kill proposed a potential ban the state could consider.
“The Governor is always banning. We need to ban any other shirts but the University of Minnesota and the Vikings. That's it. The secretary likes the Packers. We're in Minnesota, aren't we? Right? All right. I'm off that soapbox.”
Coach is all torqued up about Wiscy like a wound up top.
I don't know if this press conference has been posted yet from Gophersports.
He is like a comedic but serious Tim Conway. The focus this year is the offense and more importantly getting a red thorn off the Gophers' backs that has been bugging them for years.
http://www.gophersports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/080415aaa.html