Humanitarian Bowl: NIU vs. Fresno St.

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stocker08

stocker08

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Starts here in a couple minutes. Just a heads up for anyone who would like to watch and cheer on Coach Kill's former team.

Lets go Northern Illinois!
 

NIU's D is interesting to watch. High energy. They definitely defend the run first. I wish #54 Coffman was a Gopher LB. They can put the heat on Fresno's QB. I hope Gray can manage coach Kill's offense as well as Harnish can.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
NIU's D is interesting to watch. High energy. They definitely defend the run first. I wish #54 Coffman was a Gopher LB. They can put the heat on Fresno's QB. I hope Gray can manage coach Kill's offense as well as Harnish can.
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Just for clarification Coffman was a zero star.
 

This is an impressive team - tremendous effort on every play, good execution, smart play-calling, strong defense. If the Gophers end up a senior version of this style, we should all be happy.
 

So, are most of NIU's coaches here tonight coming to MN? I know the LB coach is staying on, but wasn't sure how man still at NIU would be leaving after this game.

Regardless, this is an impressive display. Some may say the team didn't need Kill to win; but I think tonight's performance is a testament to the culture and team Kill built.
 


FrothyGopher said:
So, are most of NIU's coaches here tonight coming to MN? I know the LB coach is staying on, but wasn't sure how man still at NIU would be leaving after this game.

Regardless, this is an impressive display. Some may say the team didn't need Kill to win; but I think tonight's performance is a testament to the culture and team Kill built.
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+2

The entire staff has done a great job with NIU and I hope and suspect many more/ most of those coaches will be in MN this week. Kill has only anounced the linebacker coach because we know the NIU coach will stay. He hasn't named any other additions besides the coordinators and the holdovers so we can only assume he is bringing his NIU staff with him.
 

TV commentators can't stop talking about what a well coached team NIU is. They are hammering Fresno!
 

This is the reason why many was saying Coach Kill was the perfect hire for Minnesota even though he isn't flashy (those that have followed Coach Kill's career). If you have seen any of Northern Illinois games, you would know they always play this way. It is the perfect style/fit for Minnesota... you don't have to have a roster full of 4*/5* kids to succeed. Just be well coached, blue collar/tough and disciplined.
 

I can now officially not wait for next season. Just imagine what Kill has done with all of those 2 & 3 star recruits. Now figure what the Gophers could be in the next few years with our load of solid 3 star athletes. I know the recruiting rankings aren't any kind of guarantee, but I can guarandamnty that NIU wasn't in the running for any of our roster.
 



Very impressive. If this is an example of what Coach Kill can build then lets bring it!!
 

Byatfield. I agree. My concern isn't with years 1-2 of Coach Kill it will be in years beyond that...can he recruit the athletes that along with his coaching will continue to improve or stay very good.

I'm excited to watch to find out. Gray should be awesome in Coach Kills offense. The talent returning to the D should be able to take a step forward too.

GM
 

Posters were why to negative when coach Kill was announced as the new coach. You need to give the guy a chance before you jump to conclusions. I was listening to ESPN radio and they were talking about Northern Illinios. They briefly mentioned coach Kill and they said it was just a matter of time before he was going to coach at a BCS school. They felt health concerns was something that held coach Kill back. Give the guy a chance and let's see what happens. He might be the best coach since Bernie Beirman.
 

I think we'd all agree that Kill and his staff can coach. His track record is proof positive. I'm confident that'll he get his system in place fairly quickly (there's talent on the current roster, let's hope they can adjust to the new system in short order), and hopefully he'll sign some recruits on LOI that fit his syle and coaching philosophy. His major uphill climb, iMO, is changing the team's culture, which goes back 40 plus years and that may take a little more time.

That said, I also believe he can recruit at the Big 10 level. It'll be easier, of course, if he can get the team competitive in conference play, especially by winning the trophy games. Winning makes a lot of things easier, including recruiting quality student-athletes. Who doesn't want to play for a winner? Winning cures a lot of ills.

Go Gophers!!
 



Klondike Gopher Fan said:
He is also 26 years old...
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So what's your point? Should he have been given a "star" for every year over 23?

The guy was a walk-on. Kill accepted him and saw his potential and helped developed it.

Certainly maturity helps, but the fact is he was a "zero star".
 

It will be interesting to watch us next year, because it will clearly show what kind of coach Brewster actually was. We all like to say he couldn't coach up his athletes, but that's a tough thing to quantify. We'll see if coaching was his deficiency or if the players he brought were not all they were cracked up to be. Don't let this sound like a Brewster apology letter, because either result is an indictment on him...I've just always been curious if it was his coaching or slavery to the star system that led to his demise.
 

You don't have to wait until next year. Horton showed what kind of coach Brewster was.
 


GRGOPHER said:
You don't have to wait until next year. Horton showed what kind of coach Brewster was.
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Yeah, I guess you're kind of right. I still think we'll see more clearly next year, but I feel ya.
 


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