Happy 60th Coach Kill

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The Kill era was not without its controversies and disappointments - BUT despite everything, I still have a lot of affection for Kill.

if nothing else, he came to MN and restored at least a sense of competency after the Brewster era. There were still ups and downs, but at least you felt like the adults were in charge, and you felt like the team was going to compete every week.

If his health would have been better, I wonder what direction the program might have taken.
 

ol' jer' is a ball coach. it's who he is, it's in his blood. he turns boys into men and football is his vehicle. with jer' turning 60, it's another decade of age experience for which he can draw upon his mentoring. not many get to impact student athletes for as long as jerry has.
 




short ornery norwegian said:
The Kill era was not without its controversies and disappointments - BUT despite everything, I still have a lot of affection for Kill.

if nothing else, he came to MN and restored at least a sense of competency after the Brewster era. There were still ups and downs, but at least you felt like the adults were in charge, and you felt like the team was going to compete every week.

If his health would have been better, I wonder what direction the program might have taken.
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I feel like sadly we reached the peak of his career....

And then sadly at that point everything goes wrong health wise for Jerry and the reality that moving forward isn't possible and a sort of crisis in his life.

Understandably it was horrible for Jerry and he just sort of vanishes and the fans are just kinda left wondering and then things don't go right for TC and like all of sports everyone moves on after a while.

It makes for a strange situation where I'm happy for what he did, but he kinda just vanished and became a stranger.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I feel like sadly we reached the peak of his career....

And then sadly at that point everything goes wrong health wise for Jerry and the reality that moving forward isn't possible and a sort of crisis in his life.

Understandably it was horrible for Jerry and he just sort of vanishes and the fans are just kinda left wondering and then things don't go right for TC and like all of sports everyone moves on after a while.

It makes for a strange situation where I'm happy for what he did, but he kinda just vanished and became a stranger.
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I appreciate what he did here, but he tarnished his legacy through his own actions. Best for the university to stay away from him in the future and let him finish out his career out of the spotlight.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
The Kill era was not without its controversies and disappointments - BUT despite everything, I still have a lot of affection for Kill.

if nothing else, he came to MN and restored at least a sense of competency after the Brewster era. There were still ups and downs, but at least you felt like the adults were in charge, and you felt like the team was going to compete every week.

If his health would have been better, I wonder what direction the program might have taken.
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If Kill had stayed the ceiling was just slightly higher than Mason levels of success. Good, never great.

Had he stayed "retired" he would have been remembered very fondly here by most of the fanbase for his awe shucks country boy schtick and competent coaching.

But then he went on his crazy job hopping tour of the United States and tried to dive right back into coaching. And along the way decided to take shots at the U and burn bridges. People got a glimpse of the real Jerry Kill and it tarnished his legacy for a lot of fans.
 



I'm just glad he's still alive. With all the health problems he's had and the stressful jobs he takes on, he could easily be dead. Glad the grumpy ole' man is still kicking.
 

MNVCGUY said:
If Kill had stayed the ceiling was just slightly higher than Mason levels of success. Good, never great.

Had he stayed "retired" he would have been remembered very fondly here by most of the fanbase for his awe shucks country boy schtick and competent coaching.

But then he went on his crazy job hopping tour of the United States and tried to dive right back into coaching. And along the way decided to take shots at the U and burn bridges. People got a glimpse of the real Jerry Kill and it tarnished his legacy for a lot of fans.
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I don't even know if the job hunting would have bothered most fans.

I think it's just that he .... just vanished. Then he came back to sell a book ... and that was kinda it.

Connection just wasn't there with the fans. Not really ever clear to me that Jerry cared either way ...
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I don't even know if the job hunting would have bothered most fans.

I think it's just that he .... just vanished. Then he came back to sell a book ... and that was kinda it.

Connection just wasn't there with the fans. Not really ever clear to me that Jerry cared either way ...
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I was a big Jerry Kill fan, but he definitely was bitter about how things shook out here. Even Brewster took the high road, but Jerry couldn't.
 

Word said:
I was a big Jerry Kill fan, but he definitely was bitter about how things shook out here. Even Brewster took the high road, but Jerry couldn't.
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I have a lot more respect for Brew than Kill. Brew may have been totally incompetent, but he handled his firing with complete class. Can't say the same about Jerry.
 



I attended the Gopher game @ Nebraskan when Coach Kill got the big W. Crazy game. BBC stripped the guy at the goal line (there was a penalty on the play) to seal the deal. That moment was pure bliss. The post game picture of me and my wife is one of my all time favorite. I love what Kill did here.

I wish Jerry nothing but success in life but he needs to go away and get over the gopher job/fans/etc
 

Word said:
I was a big Jerry Kill fan, but he definitely was bitter about how things shook out here. Even Brewster took the high road, but Jerry couldn't.
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Yeah no hard feelings for Bew.

Dude tried, didn't do well, but he took it all in stride and has never said anything bad about his time or the U. And despite not being a great HC... he didn't leave any scandals or issues or anything. Class act.

I'd be happy to have him back as a TE coach even. ... hell thrilled. Kinda would be amused to see him and PJ together ;)
 

Word said:
I was a big Jerry Kill fan, but he definitely was bitter about how things shook out here. Even Brewster took the high road, but Jerry couldn't.
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Gophers1992 said:
I have a lot more respect for Brew than Kill. Brew may have been totally incompetent, but he handled his firing with complete class. Can't say the same about Jerry.
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Not behind the scenes he didn't. There were definitely things broken around the football facilities when Brew was sacked.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Yeah no hard feelings for Bew.

Dude tried, didn't do well, but he took it all in stride and has never said anything bad about his time or the U. And despite not being a great HC... he didn't leave any scandals or issues or anything. Class act.

I'd be happy to have him back as a TE coach even. ... hell thrilled. Kinda would be amused to see him and PJ together ;)
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Brew's entire academic program was a shambles. We were docked scholarships and near probation after all the sketchy dudes he brought in. A lot of what the Kill era did was clean up awful academics and make them some of the best in P5.

He had way more off-field incidents on his watch than Kill or Fleck ever have, but none were organized enough to reach the level of scandal. Because organization was never Brew's thing.

I'm surprised in this thread at how time has healed the impressions of this clown.
 

fmlizard said:
Brew's entire academic program was a shambles. We were docked scholarships and near probation after all the sketchy dudes he brought in. A lot of what the Kill era did was clean up awful academics and make them some of the best in P5.

He had way more off-field incidents on his watch than Kill or Fleck ever have, but none were organized enough to reach the level of scandal. Because organization was never Brew's thing.

I'm surprised in this thread at how time has healed the impressions of this clown.
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I don't know if whatever academic numbers came about because Brewster was just taking chances on guys or what. For whatever reason that problem didn't stick around / I'm not going to sweat it.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
The Kill era was not without its controversies and disappointments - BUT despite everything, I still have a lot of affection for Kill.

if nothing else, he came to MN and restored at least a sense of competency after the Brewster era. There were still ups and downs, but at least you felt like the adults were in charge, and you felt like the team was going to compete every week.

If his health would have been better, I wonder what direction the program might have taken.
Click to expand...
I have a lot of respect for Jerry Kill as a person, and to some extent as a football coach.

I credit him for cleaning up the mess with the football team. He expelled a bunch of players that weren't going to classes and were directionless and undisciplined in the Brewster Era. Some left on their own accord. Remember Jewhan Edwards and his "Ju-Crew" which included Ra'shede Hageman? They live in a den of inequity off-campus. IIRC, Kill said they were stealing from the U and the team by not going to classes. He restored order and discipline.

We have to give him credit for doing the lush Mega Tongue's job to lead the Athletic Village fundraising.

He did lay the foundation brick by brick for the Athletic Program.

It is really too bad about his health issues doing the head coach and fundraising jobs.
 

fmlizard said:
Brew's entire academic program was a shambles. We were docked scholarships and near probation after all the sketchy dudes he brought in. A lot of what the Kill era did was clean up awful academics and make them some of the best in P5.

He had way more off-field incidents on his watch than Kill or Fleck ever have, but none were organized enough to reach the level of scandal. Because organization was never Brew's thing.

I'm surprised in this thread at how time has healed the impressions of this clown.
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I guess I knew we had some slight incidents and academic issues under Brew, but wasn't aware of the behind the scenes breaking stuff. Do you have more you are able to share?

In my mind Brew was more incompetent but not malicious where as Kill made a deliberate attempt to harm our program after he was gone. I will admit I don't have inside info though and only know the stuff that is public.
 

fmlizard said:
Brew's entire academic program was a shambles. We were docked scholarships and near probation after all the sketchy dudes he brought in. A lot of what the Kill era did was clean up awful academics and make them some of the best in P5.

He had way more off-field incidents on his watch than Kill or Fleck ever have, but none were organized enough to reach the level of scandal. Because organization was never Brew's thing.

I'm surprised in this thread at how time has healed the impressions of this clown.
Click to expand...
I think people have accepted that Brew was in way over his head and never should have been hired in the first place. So over time, a lot of the anger towards Brew has shifted to the guy who hired him (Maturi).

Brewster made a ton of mistakes, but many of those mistakes can be chalked up to him simply not being ready to be a head coach at the power 5 level.

I think you would be hard pressed to find anyone that looks back fondly on the Brewster years. Pretty universal acceptance of the fact that he was a mess as a head coach who was hired on the cheap because the AD didn't want to invest in football.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
The Kill era was not without its controversies and disappointments - BUT despite everything, I still have a lot of affection for Kill.

if nothing else, he came to MN and restored at least a sense of competency after the Brewster era. There were still ups and downs, but at least you felt like the adults were in charge, and you felt like the team was going to compete every week.

If his health would have been better, I wonder what direction the program might have taken.
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Simply, his heart was good, and he REALLY wanted to succeed here. He really wanted to turn this program around. Health betrayed him. Teague put a banana peel under one of his feet.
 


MNVCGUY said:
I think people have accepted that Brew was in way over his head and never should have been hired in the first place. So over time, a lot of the anger towards Brew has shifted to the guy who hired him (Maturi).

Brewster made a ton of mistakes, but many of those mistakes can be chalked up to him simply not being ready to be a head coach at the power 5 level.

I think you would be hard pressed to find anyone that looks back fondly on the Brewster years. Pretty universal acceptance of the fact that he was a mess as a head coach who was hired on the cheap because the AD didn't want to invest in football.
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IMHO Brewster did one thing to advance the program. He awakened people to the potential of this program. He just didn't know initially how to get it done. Then he continually had the dog chasing it's tail with the constant change in coordinators/ assistant coaches.
 

Gophers1992 said:
I guess I knew we had some slight incidents and academic issues under Brew, but wasn't aware of the behind the scenes breaking stuff. Do you have more you are able to share?

In my mind Brew was more incompetent but not malicious where as Kill made a deliberate attempt to harm our program after he was gone. I will admit I don't have inside info though and only know the stuff that is public.
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Brewster did speak fondly of the U. Never heard him badmouth the program.

Kill seemed to act out of hurt more than anything.

Onward and upward. Hopefully we can rally around Fleck and he can take us to that next step and more!
 

hungan1 said:
I have a lot of respect for Jerry Kill as a person, and to some extent as a football coach.

I credit him for cleaning up the mess with the football team. He expelled a bunch of players that weren't going to classes and were directionless and undisciplined in the Brewster Era. Some left on their own accord. Remember Jewhan Edwards and his "Ju-Crew" which included Ra'shede Hageman? They live in a den of inequity off-campus. IIRC, Kill said they were stealing from the U and the team by not going to classes. He restored order and discipline.

We have to give him credit for doing the lush Mega Tongue's job to lead the Athletic Village fundraising.

He did lay the foundation brick by brick for the Athletic Program.

It is really too bad about his health issues doing the head coach and fundraising jobs.
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Yes! I'll add what he did for youth with epilepsy. I know of at least one young person that Coach Kill inspired to come to the U. He inspired youth to believe.
 

Gophers1992 said:
I have a lot more respect for Brew than Kill. Brew may have been totally incompetent, but he handled his firing with complete class. Can't say the same about Jerry.
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Kill didn't get fired. His health betrayed him and was forced to retire to stay alive. Watching your dreams vanish is not easy to process. He said several things that should have remained private.
He was bitter at his fate. We don't know the truth or the other side of the things that angered him.
He contributed a lot to the U of M. He worked tirelessly to get Athletes Village to the finish line and got us from no bowl games to expectations of better bowl games. We were in jeopardy of academic probation and he got us to the highest academic achievement status in school history level that PJ has sustained..
 

hungan1 said:
I have a lot of respect for Jerry Kill as a person, and to some extent as a football coach.

I credit him for cleaning up the mess with the football team. He expelled a bunch of players that weren't going to classes and were directionless and undisciplined in the Brewster Era. Some left on their own accord. Remember Jewhan Edwards and his "Ju-Crew" which included Ra'shede Hageman? They live in a den of inequity off-campus. IIRC, Kill said they were stealing from the U and the team by not going to classes. He restored order and discipline.

We have to give him credit for doing the lush Mega Tongue's job to lead the Athletic Village fundraising.

He did lay the foundation brick by brick for the Athletic Program.

It is really too bad about his health issues doing the head coach and fundraising jobs.
Click to expand...
Didn't Kill also make the football players get out of bed in the morning and go to breakfast at the team training table? (baby steps) I do credit Jerry for shoring up team academics and pointing the ship in the right direction.
 

Here's hoping this is the only Jerry Kill thread of the 2021 season. Hopefully so many good things will be happening on the field that people won't have time to live in the past anymore......
 


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