ESPN: Ten storylines for Big Ten media days (Jerry Kill’s health.)

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BleedGopher

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per ESPN:

You may have heard, Big Ten media days is right around the corner. The event runs Monday and Tuesday at the Hilton Chicago, with all 14 league coaches and 42 players set to attend.

Here are 10 storylines to watch next week:

Jerry Kill’s health. Minnesota’s fourth-year coach, as much as he’d like to avoid the topic, will face more questions in Chicago about the epileptic seizures that forced him to coach from the press box for much of last season. The Gophers rallied behind their ailing coach. It was a feel-good story, though one that no one in the Twin Cities or elsewhere would like to relive. Kill has made excellent progress in the past several months. The coach and his players are anxious to put this issue to rest.

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/104115/ten-storylines-for-big-ten-media-days

Go Gophers!!
 

Coming off the Gophers' best season in a decade probably ought to be the big Minnesota story, but unfortunately Kill's health may well be the big story.

Sent from my LG-L38C using Tapatalk 2
 

Yawn. This story is beaten to death. Please move on EsPN.
 

Section2 said:
Yawn. This story is beaten to death. Please move on EsPN.
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That may be true for most of us true Gopher fans, but nationwide it is still great human interest story. So I say, let's go with it and educate the public that being somewhat at a disadvantage, Minnesota Gophers can still be competetive without the stigma of epilepsy holding our players back.

I know one thing, the situations with Coach and Rebecca Kill (cancer, then epilepsy) has made me much more aware of people with all forms of disabilities.

So I still say, keep his issues on the front pages to continue awareness nationwide.
 

Dr.Don said:
That may be true for most of us true Gopher fans, but nationwide it is still great human interest story. So I say, let's go with it and educate the public that being somewhat at a disadvantage, Minnesota Gophers can still be competetive without the stigma of epilepsy holding our players back.

I know one thing, the situations with Coach and Rebecca Kill (cancer, then epilepsy) has made me much more aware of people with all forms of disabilities.

So I still say, keep his issues on the front pages to continue awareness nationwide.
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Yep, the best season in 10 years angle isn't a big enough story because even that was just a .500 record in the Big Ten and a lower tier bowl game. Good for us to see as Gopher fans compared to what happened the years prior but from a National perspective not much of a blip in terms of being a focal point. The good news for us is that Kill's health is currently a positive in that he seems to be on the right track with things treatment wise and unless I have missed it there have not been any reported seizures for quite some time.

It is still a very unique situation to have a coach that deals with Epilepsy at this level so it is always going to be around as a story. All we can really hope is that his health continues to be strong and the story has a positive angle for the program as opposed to the questions that come up when your head coach is unable to be part of the program due to health reasons.
 


Jerry seems OK to talk about it and raise awareness. If he's ok with it (being a personal matter) we should be as well. It's a benefit to the fight against epilepsy and you could make an argument that the extra positive attention for how Jerry and the U deal with it is a positive to the U and the football team.
 

maroonedinCA said:
Jerry seems OK to talk about it and raise awareness. If he's ok with it (being a personal matter) we should be as well. It's a benefit to the fight against epilepsy and you could make an argument that the extra positive attention for how Jerry and the U deal with it is a positive to the U and the football team.
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He's ok talking about epilepsy and helping people afflicted, he is in no way comfortable or ok talking about his personal health. He does it because he has to. This was a big story last year, rightfully so. I don't think its a top ten story this year at this point. He's been seizure free and the doctors have it controlled. That can change, but it could change any time in the rest of his life. I think it's time to move on.
 

Section2 said:
He's ok talking about epilepsy and helping people afflicted, he is in no way comfortable or ok talking about his personal health. He does it because he has to. This was a big story last year, rightfully so. I don't think its a top ten story this year at this point. He's been seizure free and the doctors have it controlled. That can change, but it could change any time in the rest of his life. I think it's time to move on.
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Yeah I guess I should have segmented that out better. To be fair though, wasn't he relatively seizure free and under control prior to the season last year as well and that the mental, physical and emotional grind of a season puts him at increased risk for relapse or am I totally wrong about that? Not that it should impact his employment or anything (definitely not saying Souhan material) but other neurological problems are known to flare up when stress is invoked.

Nonetheless, here's to a happy and healthy season for Coach Kill!
 

maroonedinCA said:
Yeah I guess I should have segmented that out better. To be fair though, wasn't he relatively seizure free and under control prior to the season last year as well and that the mental, physical and emotional grind of a season puts him at increased risk for relapse or am I totally wrong about that? Not that it should impact his employment or anything (definitely not saying Souhan material) but other neurological problems are known to flare up when stress is invoked.

Nonetheless, here's to a happy and healthy season for Coach Kill!
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You may be right, I don't recall. It just seems kind of like a little slap in the face and it's lazy to say that's the most important thing about our team. The clear interesting angle is our yearly improvement and can we do it again.
 



It's frustrating as a fan to keep seeing this, but I get it. If we go 8-4 again and Kill is seizure-free coaching from the sideline I'm sure it will stop. Until then it's going to stay relevant to people on the outside.
 


Coach Kill will handle this, he will give testimony and his efforts with and for The Minnesota Epilepsy Group. He and his doctors have it under control. He will be coaching from the sideline and looks forward to the season.
 

Section2 said:
You may be right, I don't recall. It just seems kind of like a little slap in the face and it's lazy to say that's the most important thing about our team. The clear interesting angle is our yearly improvement and can we do it again.
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I have no doubt another successful, healthy season will quell the talk. But in defense of the media he missed several games and coached from the box in others last year which is something that is far more newsworthy right now than our middle of the pack record last year. We're thrilled with the success we had last year but nationally I understand why the other story is bigger news and in the spotlight.


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