Chip Scoggins Column: Kill's health scares as U rebuilds linger as distractions

[BleedGopher]

per Chip:

This has become a sensitive subject that unfortunately can't just be brushed aside as something routine or part of everyday life. School officials press that message anytime Kill suffers a seizure that becomes public knowledge. It's not a big deal, they say. Many people suffer from epilepsy and function normally otherwise in their lives and occupations, they note. They also remind us that Kill's loyal assistants know the drill, so they're equipped to assume control with little disruption in his absence.

That might be true, but this is a big deal in terms of the program's image, outside perception and overall confidence of a frustrated fan base. It is a big deal when a coach suffers a seizure on the sideline or in the locker room at halftime. It is a big deal when the ticker at the bottom of the TV screen draws attention to it on an endless loop for a national audience. We can't possibly know the degree to which it affects recruiting, but it's reasonable to think it doesn't help.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/g...utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&refer=y

Go Gophers!!

 

[Unregistered User]

This line jumped out at me a little bit:

"Kill's absence created another distraction for a football program that has bathed in turmoil the past six weeks. The Gophers have a significant problem in regards to Kill's health, whether they want to believe that or not."

The bolding is mine, but really? Bathed in turmoil the past six weeks? What am I missing?

 

[Maximus]

has bathed in turmoil the past six weeks. What am I missing?

A true freshman in his first career home start putting together one of the most amazing first halfs I have ever seen, the first Big Ten road win in two seasons to qualify for the first bowl game since 2009 and losing to Michigan, the two teams playing in the Big Ten Championship game and the defending Legends champion was tumultuous.

 

[Ole]

You know for all the supposed college football cred Scoggins has out there, he sure spits out similar crap to the rest of the local media.

 

[50PoundHead]

This line jumped out at me a little bit:

"Kill's absence created another distraction for a football program that has bathed in turmoil the past six weeks. The Gophers have a significant problem in regards to Kill's health, whether they want to believe that or not."

The bolding is mine, but really? Bathed in turmoil the past six weeks? What am I missing?

Turmoil probably overstates the case (and it is college football and not the latest unrest in the Middle East, so it certainly isn't all that important in the grand scheme of things) and although we are going "bowling," the last six weeks haven't exactly been a walk in the park. The lifting of Nelson's (and a whole lot of other guys') redshirts, the cancellation of the North Carolina series, Kill's reaction on being criticized on the fake field goal (that admittedly bothers me more than just about everyone else), the Barker situation, and now another Kill seizure. Just a few potholes there.

 

[Stan The Caddy]

You know for all the supposed college football cred Scoggins has out there, he sure spits out similar crap to the rest of the local media.

Really Ole? I thought this was a very fair article and brought decent perspective to the situation. There has unquestionably been turmoil surrounding the program. 2 confirmed Kill seizures, AJ Barker, the Nelson redshirt and the UNC debacle. Is that "bathed in turmoil?" I don't know, but it qualifies as turmoil.

 

[Ole]

Really Ole? I thought this was a very fair article and brought decent perspective to the situation. There has unquestionably been turmoil surrounding the program. 2 confirmed Kill seizures, AJ Barker, the Nelson redshirt and the UNC debacle. Is that "bathed in turmoil?" I don't know, but it qualifies as turmoil.

Yes really.
Nothing original or thoughtful. Reusse or Souhan could have spit out the same thing in one of their gopher hate tweets.

The Redshirt burnings got us 2 more wins and set up several key contributors for the future, yes it's 3 versus 4 years, but those guys will be better next year for it.

The UNC doesn't bother me, I realize to many of you it's horrible, but our former AD burned a hell of a lot more money for worse reasons. It's what Kill wanted and it gets us a better shot at bowl eligibility for the critical next 2 year of Kill's time here.

AJ Barker is a snot. How ANYONE can take his side on the allegations is beyond me. Even if you only read what he wrote and disregard the other side of the story he's in wrong big time. Kill should be getting praise for not babying a leading receiver over anyone else on the team.

The seizures are what they are. Concerning but not turmoil worthy. As long as the team can rebound and compete in the bowl game and into next year what is the problem?

I'm just sick of drive by potshots at the program by media types who refuse to do research or dive into gopher centric topics with any depth. There was plenty to write about without this type of doubt clouding garbage.

 

[mnsports1]

Yes really.
Nothing original or thoughtful. Reusse or Souhan could have spit out the same thing in one of their gopher hate tweets.

The Redshirt burnings got us 2 more wins and set up several key contributors for the future, yes it's 3 versus 4 years, but those guys will be better next year for it.

The UNC doesn't bother me, I realize to many of you it's horrible, but our former AD burned a hell of a lot more money for worse reasons. It's what Kill wanted and it gets us a better shot at bowl eligibility for the critical next 2 year of Kill's time here.

AJ Barker is a snot. How ANYONE can take his side on the allegations is beyond me. Even if you only read what he wrote and disregard the other side of the story he's in wrong big time. Kill should be getting praise for not babying a leading receiver over anyone else on the team.

The seizures are what they are. Concerning but not turmoil worthy. As long as the team can rebound and compete in the bowl game and into next year what is the problem?

I'm just sick of drive by potshots at the program by media types who refuse to do research or dive into gopher centric topics with any depth. There was plenty to write about without this type of doubt clouding garbage.

Agree completely!

 

[Stan The Caddy]

Yes really.
Nothing original or thoughtful. Reusse or Souhan could have spit out the same thing in one of their gopher hate tweets.

The Redshirt burnings got us 2 more wins and set up several key contributors for the future, yes it's 3 versus 4 years, but those guys will be better next year for it.

The UNC doesn't bother me, I realize to many of you it's horrible, but our former AD burned a hell of a lot more money for worse reasons. It's what Kill wanted and it gets us a better shot at bowl eligibility for the critical next 2 year of Kill's time here.

AJ Barker is a snot. How ANYONE can take his side on the allegations is beyond me. Even if you only read what he wrote and disregard the other side of the story he's in wrong big time. Kill should be getting praise for not babying a leading receiver over anyone else on the team.

The seizures are what they are. Concerning but not turmoil worthy. As long as the team can rebound and compete in the bowl game and into next year what is the problem?

I'm just sick of drive by potshots at the program by media types who refuse to do research or dive into gopher centric topics with any depth. There was plenty to write about without this type of doubt clouding garbage.

Ole-

Great, but regardless of YOUR opinion on what has happened, it has all ACTUALLY HAPPENED. I agree that AJ Barker appears to be a "snot" but that does not change the FACT that he had his little tirade and quit the team. A leading receiver quitting the team prior to game #12 does not exactly happen all over the country. Whether you like it or not, whether you agree or not it is turmoil surrounding the program.

Scoggins is by far the most knowledgeable columnist in town when it comes to Gopher Football. I understand you may be on edge because Souhan and Zulgand, for example, have been over the top in their fake rage the past few weeks. However, I am simply going to disagree with you in regards to Scoggins. He did not take any cheapshots in this article IMO and it was a fair assessment of what is happening around the program.

 

[Ole]

Ole-

Great, but regardless of YOUR opinion on what has happened, it has all ACTUALLY HAPPENED. I agree that AJ Barker appears to be a "snot" but that does not change the FACT that he had his little tirade and quit the team. A leading receiver quitting the team prior to game #12 does not exactly happen all over the country. Whether you like it or not, whether you agree or not it is turmoil surrounding the program.

Scoggins is by far the most knowledgeable columnist in town when it comes to Gopher Football. I understand you may be on edge because Souhan and Zulgand, for example, have been over the top in their fake rage the past few weeks. However, I am simply going to disagree with you in regards to Scoggins. He did not take any cheapshots in this article IMO and it was a fair assessment of what is happening around the program.

I got ya.
I just think alot of this is contrived. The barker dust up was blood in the water for those who either never wanted Kill hired, or have some sort of reason to always rip the hometown college athletics teams.

The scheduling thing is local and spoon fed the folks who hate that there are so many bowls, and who think not only should we be playing a premier schedule, but we should also be winning 8 games minimum before accepting a bowl bid. That's not reality in college football anymore.

The seizures are scary to think about and the subject makes people uncomfortable, compare it to Percy Harvin's migraine issue. I don't recall everyone expecting his retirement.
It's something the team and program are going to have to deal with, many programs have unique situations they deal with too. Bill Snyder is damn old, but he's winning so nobody says boo about the fact he could croak.
Urban Meyer and Dantonio both had health issues supposedly(Meyer could have been faking).
I just think there's too much cheap gopher potshots out there for someone like Scoggins, who supposedly knows college football, to write a clouded column like this.

 

[guategopher]

Really Ole? I thought this was a very fair article and brought decent perspective to the situation. There has unquestionably been turmoil surrounding the program. 2 confirmed Kill seizures, AJ Barker, the Nelson redshirt and the UNC debacle. Is that "bathed in turmoil?" I don't know, but it qualifies as turmoil.

I'm with you Stan. There have been improvements this season, but it has not been an easy six weeks. I am optimistic about the future, but there are legitimate questions about Kill's health. Chip discusses this issue in a fair and honest way without the cheap shots we are so used to.

A person has to be wearing some darkly tinted maroon glasses to think that a coach having seizures on regular basis is not a serious issue. If these seizures are really related to stress and/or fatigue we can only expect more of them and cannot ignore them or pretend like they are only a small inconvenience.

I hate Reusse and Souhan as much as anybody, but that doesn't mean that any media member that brings up negative topics related to the Gophers is a Gopher hating cheap shot artist.

 

[50PoundHead]

Yes really.
Nothing original or thoughtful. Reusse or Souhan could have spit out the same thing in one of their gopher hate tweets.

The Redshirt burnings got us 2 more wins and set up several key contributors for the future, yes it's 3 versus 4 years, but those guys will be better next year for it.

The UNC doesn't bother me, I realize to many of you it's horrible, but our former AD burned a hell of a lot more money for worse reasons. It's what Kill wanted and it gets us a better shot at bowl eligibility for the critical next 2 year of Kill's time here.

AJ Barker is a snot. How ANYONE can take his side on the allegations is beyond me. Even if you only read what he wrote and disregard the other side of the story he's in wrong big time. Kill should be getting praise for not babying a leading receiver over anyone else on the team.

The seizures are what they are. Concerning but not turmoil worthy. As long as the team can rebound and compete in the bowl game and into next year what is the problem?

I'm just sick of drive by potshots at the program by media types who refuse to do research or dive into gopher centric topics with any depth. There was plenty to write about without this type of doubt clouding garbage.

I'm no Brewster guy (he's long gone), but when he did the same thing to get us to a next-to-nothing bowl in his second season, the media was all over him and so was a majority on this board. Kill has an advantage that Brewster didn't have (besides having a solid record as a coach) in that the program was in complete shambles when he took over (as opposed to simply being disorganized when Mason was let go) and sacrificing the long term to simply go to a low-level bowl game doesn't make a lot of sense from my perspective.

I'm surprised this hasn't been discussed more. Kill can do what he wants. He's the guy at the head of the table. But as I've said before, this isn't Carbondale or DeKalb and the media is going to question him here more than they did there. That's what happens when you move to the big town. There's nothing Scoggins is saying that a lot of people aren't thinking.

 

[Hates Monikers]

Scoggins hasn't been a columnist long enough to become jaded or to write crap just for a reaction, like Reusse and Souhan. This column is fair and raises all the issues that have been raised here already. In fact, my only question is, what's the point? He writes this at the end:

"Kill has shown no inclination to step aside in order to focus on his health, nor should the school force his hand."

So what is he saying? Reusse would've said something outlandish, and Souhan would've thrown in a few annoying "jokes" in a failed attempt to be funny. Scoggins really said nothing here.