Kill is a great coach. He's proven that over and over and over and over and over and over and over again at his previous 7 gigs. He's ALWAYS turned his previous teams into better teams. ALWAYS. Not one exception in his 7 previous examples. Even when he led a team to just 1 loss in his 1st year, he STILL improved that team and lost ZERO games the next year. Granted that was his 2 year stint as a high school coach.
But I guess my point is, that being impatient with our fb coaches hasn't gotten us anywhere in the past. Whats his name, that came in after Mason, didn't earn our patience. Mason could have arguably been given more time, we are worse now than we were when he was here, but he may never have been able to get us up over that hump? But we'll never know, now will we? He kept us competitive and interesting and usually fun to watch. His problem was that he succeeded in getting our hopes, and expectations up pretty high, and the huge losses to Michigan and Texas Tech were understandably inexcusable and sometimes you have to suffer to become stronger. It became apparent to the majority that Mason may not have had it within him as a coach, to win a Big Ten Title, much less a Natl Title.
So we chose the path of suffering. We suffered through whats his name, I don't remember, BECAUSE I DON'T CARE TO OR WANT TO.
Now we have suffered through 2 less than incredible years.
But, with Kill, I simply think that he's proven too many times in the past, that he knows what he's doing, he knows how to coach, he knows how to build up a program. He didn't take this Minnesota job as a step to a bigger better job. I honestly think he took this job as his final challenge. And challenging it has been and is going to be.
Minnesota is almost impossible to recruit to and win at. Honestly, I love Minnesota probably too much. I can be a huge homer sometimes. I hate it when people rip on Minnesota, and I defend Minnesota every chance I get, when it deserves being defended.
But one thing I can not defend, is when people say that Minnesota is a horrible job, its a horrible place to recruit for football. The school seemed bound and determined for many years to deemphasize football, and though they did not get rid of it, they sure succeeded in bringing it down into the dumps.
But slowly we've been struggling to get better, despite being one of the worst funded programs in the Big Ten. It doesn't matter that we're better funded than someone like Toledo or Connecticut, if we even are, because we don't compete week in and week out against those lesser funded teams. We compete in the Big Ten, vs teams that, for the most part, have more funding and support than us.
That is slowly changing. We have a stadium now, due in part to Mason's efforts. Thanks Glen!
We were not able to get Tony Dungy to come and coach us, and as much of a Gopher Fan as a I am, I can't even blame the guy. Why do a Bud Wilkinson and risk tarnishing your legendary career when you can retire on top, loved and respested by all? He would have given Minnesota instant credibility, but we couldn't get him. So, could we get Nick Saban?! No, or any already proven coach like him, they would NEVER come here.
So, we have to settle with an up and comer, who does not have instant recognition or credibility. Meaning its going to be much tougher for him to build up our program than a Saban or Dungy. And NOT because he's not as good as them. We simply can not get already well known successful coaches to come here, not for fb at least.
So we HAVE TO BE MORE PATIENT. Kill is a winner. If Kill can't turn us into winners, then maybe we should offer Nick Saban 20 mil a year? That might be what it would take to get a coach like him to come here. He's already had a Big Ten gig and he struggled there. But thats not realistic in any sense.
I honestly think that Kill could almost be our last chance. If we fire him for only winning 2 games in conf, it was hard to get coaches to come here before, it will only get harder and harder and harder.
He's a good game coach, I'm convinced of it. I saw it in his first season here. Give him time to adjust to Big Ten football, give him time to establish relationships with high school coaches, give him time to develop 2 or 3 successive recruiting classes. It's not going to be a quick turnaround like it was for some of his teams. Those were teams at lower levels of play, where coaching could have alot more of an influence. He's at a level now where overall quality, depth, speed, athleticism, etc., are very large factors. And we are more often than not, at a disadvantage against every team we play in conference in this regard.
I think its wrong to put numbers out there, like 2 conf wins or 3 or 4, etc.. Scedules vary, would winning 3 vs Indiana, Maryland and Illinois count as improvement?! See what I'm saying? I'd rather see only 2 wins, but have them be against Wisconsin and Nebraska, or Iowa. Not saying we lose to IU or Maryland, but that they weren't on our scedule that season. And would a 3 point loss to Nebraska or OSU next year not be considered progress?
That is what I want to see, progression as each year goes by. More depth, more speed, more athleticism, better tackling, better execution, better game day decisions, no more blow outs, better competition in the ooc part of the season, etc.. If I see improvement in all of those areas, but because of a tough slate in conf, we only win 2 games next year, I think it would be ridiculous to start putting him on a hot seat, or to start making requirements for year 4.
If it took Kill, on average, 1-3 years to turn those other programs into winners, its going to take 3-6 years for him to turn us into a consistent winner. If we win 3 or 4 conf games next year, GREAT!!!! Then I'd consider him AHEAD of scedule. But that depends, ON the scedule, too. We are going to be adding 2 teams, and soon, maybe another 2, to our scedule, so that will change the way we have to look at things as well. But if we win only 2, but look good all year, meaning fewer blowout losses, better stats all around, etc., then I'll be fine with the job Kill is doing. If it takes him 3 more years to get us to 5-3 in conf, that just might be fine as well. You don't think its going to get easier to win in the Big Ten now with Nebraska and Rutgers in the league and the SEC rubbing it in everyone's faces that they simply are the best and can't be beat, do you?! Wisconsin is not going to accept being mediocre again, they got a taste of success and will want more, same with Iowa. PSU seems to still get good recruits despite their troubles.
I think we need to just accept our sorry lot when it comes to football, and wait patiently for our return to more glorious times. It happened for Notre Dame, but it took a very long time, and they have far more advantages than we do, and they still have a way to go, as we all saw.
The SEC pays the most for their coaches, and can attract the best. Same with Michigan and OSU.
Firing Mason like we did, may have been justified, but it sent a message to the coaches throughout the country, that Minnesota is a place that its not worth the risk to coach there, unless you are an unknown willing to take a chance. Hence, the hiring of Jerry Kill.
Fire him too soon, and its only going to get harder to ever get a capable coach to come here.
