Coach Kill to Focus on Epilepsy Treatment: Tracy Claeys will serve as the acting HC

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GopherGod said:
Wish Coach Kill well but the sad thing for Minnesota is that this just adds more fuel to the fire for those recruiting against Minnesota. This recruiting class which wasn't that great to begin with will likely only get worse.
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Translation: Wish Coach Kill well.
 

GopherGod said:
Wish Coach Kill well but the sad thing for Minnesota is that this just adds more fuel to the fire for those recruiting against Minnesota. This recruiting class which wasn't that great to begin with will likely only get worse.
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The recruiting class so far is solid and the best this staff has put together. If you go by average # of stars, we're 8th in the big ten ahead of Indiana, Illinois, Purdue, and Iowa. The class is only last in the big ten when you factor in # of recruits, which isn't fair since this class is so small for Minnesota.
 

I think today was important for several reasons. First and foremost, Coach Kill is finally going to put his full time and energy into getting his condition fixed. Second, it puts a set plan into motion with Claeys stepping in as the de facto head coach. He needs to take on the role now...no more sitting up in the press box, get down on the sidelines and be a gameday presence for his players. I have been critical of our contingency plan when Coach Kill had gone down with seizures before, so I am happy that we are taking this step and announcing it up front and publicly. And lastly, a question for the posters here...let's say that Kill isn't back this year and the rest of the games go badly...like "1-7 or 0-8 in the Big Ten" badly...how will you look at this situation? Will you look at it as "Wipe this year off the books due to Coach's health problems..we'll get 'em next year!" or "For the best interests of the program, a change is needed"? I don't really know where to fall on this question so I'm looking for others' opinions.
 

I'm going to stay on the positive side. I am going to believe (whether realistically or not) that this story that is being written in Coach Kill's life is going to turn out like the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team. The lows that we are presently dealing with will be turned to an amazing victory that even Hollywood cannot write. I am going to believe that the outcome from all of this path will be student athletes growing into champions. I look forward to that happening. I refuse to allow the "woe-is-me" crowd to win the day.
 


GopherDieHardDyingHard said:
I think today was important for several reasons. First and foremost, Coach Kill is finally going to put his full time and energy into getting his condition fixed. Second, it puts a set plan into motion with Claeys stepping in as the de facto head coach. He needs to take on the role now...no more sitting up in the press box, get down on the sidelines and be a gameday presence for his players. I have been critical of our contingency plan when Coach Kill had gone down with seizures before, so I am happy that we are taking this step and announcing it up front and publicly. And lastly, a question for the posters here...let's say that Kill isn't back this year and the rest of the games go badly...like "1-7 or 0-8 in the Big Ten" badly...how will you look at this situation? Will you look at it as "Wipe this year off the books due to Coach's health problems..we'll get 'em next year!" or "For the best interests of the program, a change is needed"? I don't really know where to fall on this question so I'm looking for others' opinions.
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I'm a fan of Kill and believe he has the right vision for this program, so I'd fall under the "we'll get 'em next year" camp. Even if Kill were healthy and didn't miss any time, we still may have gone 1-7 or 0-8. The schedule was tougher than last year, and even though people hate hearing this, we're still a young team. I've always thought year 4 would be huge for Kill. If he can figure out his medication and get his epilepsy under control, I'm all for chalking up this season to tough luck and seeing what he can do in years 4 and 5.
 

GopherDieHardDyingHard said:
...let's say that Kill isn't back this year and the rest of the games go badly...like "1-7 or 0-8 in the Big Ten" badly...how will you look at this situation? Will you look at it as "Wipe this year off the books due to Coach's health problems..we'll get 'em next year!" or "For the best interests of the program, a change is needed"? I don't really know where to fall on this question so I'm looking for others' opinions.
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It's just a REALLY crappy situation. This clearly effects recruiting, but changing coaches again at this point doesn't solve that and in the short term would be a disaster for the U. We all hope Kill gets the treatment he needs, gets better and this all goes away, but given that it seems to be getting more serious, I personally suspect that is the least likely outcome. Hopefully I'm wrong.

We are left with bad alternatives, and worse alternatives.
 






edma0012 said:
Yea right, especially all those offensive play makers....
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You should hit the brakes a bit on your Kill disdain. See how this plays out.
Pray Kill gets this figured out and returns.

If you think a forced coaching change after all this will be a good thing you're so very wrong.
 

jaymil said:
I'm a fan of Kill and believe he has the right vision for this program, so I'd fall under the "we'll get 'em next year" camp. Even if Kill were healthy and didn't miss any time, we still may have gone 1-7 or 0-8. The schedule was tougher than last year, and even though people hate hearing this, we're still a young team. I've always thought year 4 would be huge for Kill. If he can figure out his medication and get his epilepsy under control, I'm all for chalking up this season to tough luck and seeing what he can do in years 4 and 5.
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I wish Coach Kill godspeed in his recovery. He will get better, and we'll see him on the sidelines again. I also think that this is the right thing for coach do to take care of himself first and worry about the team later.

We have a stable set of coaches under him. I still think we will see a Wisky type of turn around like the one under Alvarez. As a previously, it is a four/five year deal. More like five years to restock the cupboard, and once we start more fifth year seniors we will finally see light at the opening of the cellar. Let's hope and pray that our commits are solid, and that other targets like Ragnow still find it worthy to play for the Golden Gophers. This rebuilding project simply will take time and patience.
 

edma0012 said:
Oh, so you mean offensive playmakers didn't come to the U to play for Tracy Claeys?
Weird, sounds almost exactly like what I said...
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So you sympathize with the kids because they came here to play for Coach Kill, but who cares, because you don't think much of the talent of the kids?
 



Iceland12 said:
They've all made the decision that this is a necessary step to safeguard Kill's health. The only thing that "sucks" is the health problem that has forced his decision.

Have spent to much money, withstood to much irritation and spent WAY to much time here to say this but honestly, it's just a bloody game. I just hope he just gets well.
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+1,000,000
 


edma0012 said:
Well, sh%t now what? I hope the guy gets its figured out, but honestly, I think this is step one of a two part resignation for health reasons. Unless he really rallies in his medication plan and the team rallies on the field for Jerry, we're gonna see a new regime next year right?

How can you say this doesn't impact recruiting now? How can we say this isn't going to impact the game prep and decision making? Kids didn't come to the U to play for Tracy Claeys.
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The last part about Claeys. Are you absolutely sure about that statement. Seems like irrational conjecture. Maybe you can clarify how you know this will be the case.
 

Who is the first to decommitt ? Hate to ask that question, but I would be surprised if if we don't lose a few kids. The kids have no timetable as to when Coach Kill will return. This put a tremendous burden on the ass't coaches in all aspects of Gopher football. What sad situation for those of us that live and die Gopher football. As Winston Churchill said in the darkest days of the London Blitz: " Bugger on "
 

ruppertflywheel said:
Who is the first to decommitt ? Hate to ask that question, but I would be surprised if if we don't lose a few kids. The kids have no timetable as to when Coach Kill will return. This put a tremendous burden on the ass't coaches in all aspects of Gopher football. What sad situation for those of us that live and die Gopher football. As Winston Churchill said in the darkest days of the London Blitz: " Bugger on "
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Who was the first to bring this up? You of course. I knew that would be the case.
 

ruppertflywheel said:
Who is the first to decommitt ? Hate to ask that question, but I would be surprised if if we don't lose a few kids. The kids have no timetable as to when Coach Kill will return. This put a tremendous burden on the ass't coaches in all aspects of Gopher football. What sad situation for those of us that live and die Gopher football. As Winston Churchill said in the darkest days of the London Blitz: " Bugger on "
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Nobody yet. All of this panic about recruiting is premature. Not one player has come out and said Kill's health affects their decision, and not one player has decommitted from the U yet. Hell, Frank Ragnow is uncommitted and still thought it was necessary to make a comment that Kill's health won't affect his decision. Kill is a big reason players choose the U. We can start to panic if Kill steps down, but we're still far away from that happening, if it ever does. Relax.
 

jaymil said:
Nobody yet. All of this panic about recruiting is premature. Not one player has come out and said Kill's health affects their decision, and not one player has decommitted from the U yet. Hell, Frank Ragnow is uncommitted and still thought it was necessary to make a comment that Kill's health won't affect his decision. Kill is a big reason players choose the U. We can start to panic if Kill steps down, but we're still far away from that happening, if it ever does. Relax.
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Not saying this does impact recruiting, but what recruit is ever going to come out and say his health impacted their decision?
 

scher215 said:
Not saying this does impact recruiting, but what recruit is ever going to come out and say his health impacted their decision?
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I think we should judge Kill on the outcomes on the field, not our perception of what might be happening due to illness with recruits. Having said that, I agree with Scher that no one would ever admit that the illness affected their decision making. To suggest that the absence of an affirmative comment is conclusive evidence that it has not affected anyone's decision is a pretty absurd proposition.
 

scher215 said:
Not saying this does impact recruiting, but what recruit is ever going to come out and say his health impacted their decision?
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I agree nobody would come out and say that. What I'm saying is, we have no evidence that it has affected anyone yet. And like I said, Ragnow didn't have to say anything about it and still chose to make a positive comment. He said it without be asked too, it was a tweet that came out of nowhere.
 

Ole said:
Just hope he rallies and gets better or this program is going to fall to new lows. Another coaching turnover would be devastating.
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Overreaction. It would set us back 3 years. Not that big of a deal when you've been terrible for 50 years.
 



I look at this way finally the "no problem, plan in place" talk can end. The realization that missing parts of games or as in this case not even making the road trip is cause for concern. The head coach needs to be there.

However, doubt that this is the final or ultimate resolution to this situation with regards to Jerry Kill as the coach at Minnesota. The University will give Kill every opportunity to try and get this under control and whether he returns this year or not Jerry Kill will still be the head coach of the U's football program come the 2014 season.
 

Exact same line of b.s. that Maturi put forth in September 2011, including very similar "Kill quotes".

Of course, a few days later after the "open ended leave" began, Kill reappeared and said that he never said the things the U's release claimed he said.

They made stuff up before.. might have done it again. Sadly, this may not change anything at all - it just buys the U more time to delay stepping up and making the right decision. I take little to no meaning from today's announcement other than Jerry is probably banged up pretty badly, which was already suspected.

9/25/11 Release from Minnesota

University of Minnesota head football coach Jerry Kill announced Sunday afternoon that he is readmitting himself to the hospital in an effort to resolve his ongoing seizure issues.

Kill suffered a seizure on the Gophers' sideline late in Minnesota's home season opener against New Mexico State on Sept. 10 and has admitted publicly to dealing with multiple seizure events since.

"The seizures continue to be a concern for me and my family," Kill said. "Rebecca and I have made the decision to do what it takes to find a solution. I hope to be back to work soon, but we believe that taking some time away to get a handle on this is the right thing to do."

According to Gopher football team physician Dr. Pat Smith, Kill suffered another seizure Sunday morning. Smith said that Kill is in good condition and his vital signs remain strong, but that he will be admitted to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., for further testing and evaluation. Smith was unable to speculate on how long he expected Kill's stay at Mayo to last.

"Coach Kill is determined to get this issue resolved," director of athletics Joel Maturi said. "We all want what's best for him, and his health is our first and foremost concern. I have full confidence that our football staff will get the team prepared while Jerry is away. We all want him back on the sidelines. But it's time to find a resolution."

Maturi is traveling to athletic director meetings today and is unavailable for further comment. Gopher Athletics will provide updates on Kill's situation in the coming days as circumstances warrant.
 


I feel like all the "Chicken Littles" decided to come out all at once on this thread...

Here's a little tip for ya'll...The Sky isn't falling!

For all we know Coach Kill could be back before the NU game next Saturday. Just let the issue play itself out and...just for once...hope for the best.
 

Best wishes to Coach Kill. Here's hoping for a fast recovery.
 

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