Jerry has to move to the press box.

Donate To GopherHole
I don't get why the word ignorant is being thrown around here. It's just a difference of opinion.

I see coach Kill's visually upsetting medical condition as an issue, but it's a minor issue that becomes a major one because of the team's mediocre/poor performance. Winning cures everything. We can point to a 2-6 B1G record last year as a step forward from the year prior, but it was a weak 2-6. We'll be lucky to reach 2-6 again this year. Watching our boys, and then watching games from around the league, we don't look the part.

Kill's seizures are a minor issue on a very good team. The situation is augmented when the team struggles as our squad has, 3-0 over the cupcakes aside.

None of this is a knock on the man Kill is. He's a quality character that we are all rooting for. Happy to get the win today. Hoping for a win again next week.
 

hyaluronic said:
Jerry should move to a booth if Jerry wants to move to a booth. He has epilepsy. He has to deal with it. If you want to watch the Gophers, you should deal with it, too.
Click to expand...

This. +1 million.
 

BigBird1030 said:
The coaching staff I thought responded with nothing but professionalism and projected nothing but a sense of control and calm on the sidelines. They are prepared for the possibility of this and know how to project that things are under control to the players and get them focused. I think a lot of fans claim to worry about the players reaction to seeing Kill have a seizure to mask the fact that it makes them uncomfortable. It's a sad thought but I believe a lot of people want to run Kill out of town under the charge that he is a bad coach when in fact they are uncomfortable that he has seizures. The easiest thing to do with something uncomfortable is to get rid of it. If the admins at the U feel Kill can do his job effectively, then I don't care if he is occasionally affected by a seizure, I don't. I believe that Jerry Kill is a good coach and right for this program and if seizures are part of the deal, I can live with that. If other fans can't, that's their problem.
Click to expand...

Well said.

I was there for the first game in which Jerry had a seizure, and I was there today. What a difference. The first time it was a shock. Today, many of the fans around me were not even aware it had happened. The band played, the second half started, the team got it together and won. I realize the situations were not indentical, but the difference was still striking.

If Jerry has seizures every year or so or even more, it will eventually become old news, and the media will lose interest. If the team also succeeds, occational seizures will also go into the "doesn't matter" category for most fans. Most importantly, Jerry's success at Minnesota in spite of epilepsy will make it clear how hideously unfair and ugly the "keep it out of sight, it looks bad" attitude is to the 3 million Americans who suffer from it.

As I wrote this I heard the Minnesota Public Radio news item on the game. The tone was "In spite of Kill's seizure, the team carried on as if nothing has happened and won the game." That is progress.

Jerry Kill has my 100% support as our coach. This will be true until he either proves to not be capable of performing at the level we need, or until he makes a decision to move on.
 

Thank you for a very well presented answer. I imagine that other recruiters use Jerry Kills epilepsy against him, so having a plan to spin it in a positive light to recruits seems good to me. Your answers are what I would hope the staff might use to combat those who would use epilepsy against Kill and the U of MN.

hyaluronic said:
Ultimately, my only concern is the success of the program, and the 'issue' of his seizure disorder is a red herring. It is irrelevant to the discussion.

To answer your question more directly: What exactly will the coaches be insinuating? Either that he won't be coaching long, or may not be successful. So, if I was Jerry, I would mention:

-my commitment to continuing to coach
-the University's commitment to me, with full knowledge of the situation
-that we have a plan in place if it occurs during a game, and that we have successfully implemented the plan (ala today) without missing a beat
-that I have been successful at every place I have coached, even with the disorder

How can we spin it as a positive?
-Our win today is national news. It would not have been without the seizure.
-Often players commit to the coach with whom they feel the most comfort. That is achieved by a certain level of personal connection, and this is a great personal story that coach Kill has to address because of negative recruiting. In other words, it may be a negative recruiting tactic, but I think it actually plays into Coach Kill's hands.
-This is a great story for parents -overcoming adversity to achieve success in college football and being able to impart that on their kids.
-Coach Kill donates his to help others with epilepsy. For people who value volunteerism, he can recount these stories.

I'm sure there's more, but that's what I have off the top of my head.
Click to expand...
 

I will just add that the Roderick Williams story about an Iowa coach commenting about not wanting to win when he said he was going to visit MN is a perfect example of this kind of tactic backfiring.
 


When Jerry had seizures before, I noticed that the team would go into a funk afterwards. The team was decidedly NOT the same in his
absence. Today, however, the team showed that they expect this sort of thing and played right through as though nothing had happened.
The coaching staff obviously has a chain of command they follow, and Jerry is the head of a program that runs extremely well. I think he's
an inspiration. I have friends and family with epilepsy. Who knows what type of POSITIVE impact he is having on these young men?
 

Excellent!

metrolax said:
When Jerry had seizures before, I noticed that the team would go into a funk afterwards. The team was decidedly NOT the same in his
absence. Today, however, the team showed that they expect this sort of thing and played right through as though nothing had happened.
The coaching staff obviously has a chain of command they follow, and Jerry is the head of a program that runs extremely well. I think he's
an inspiration. I have friends and family with epilepsy. Who knows what type of POSITIVE impact he is having on these young men?
Click to expand...
 

It is certainly not the time or the place to attempt to answer the seizure question posed on this forum. The seizure question, along with every other aspect of Golden Gopher Football will be factored into the overall success of the football program on the playing field and will be identified by the total number of Conference wins vs. the total number of Conference losses combined with the number of bowl invitations and bowl wins vs bowl losses. As long as the program is graduating EVER INCREASING numbers of student athletes, is able to earn revenues that contribute to the funding of the Title IX and the non-revenue sports programs sponsored by the University and abiding by all Conference and NCAA rules and guidelines, the level of competitiveness within the Conference will mostly be demonstrated by the 2.0 to 2 PLUS Conference win average year in and year out.

With the 2014 and 2015 Conference Schedules, it would behoove Coach Kill to win at least 3 Conference Games during the 2013 season.

IF the trend in Conference play is upward...I really don't think the seizure question will mean as much as the general trend of the Conference Wins Coach is able to achieve on a season to season basis. Too many seasons of 2.0 or below would NOT be good. Win at least 3 Conference Games in 2013 Coach Kill!
 

When Kill left the new coaches decided to punt from the 42 and we gained 20 yards and then they went the length of the field. You have to go for it with just 2 yards to go.
 



You get knocked down, stand right back up. Jerry has done that a few times. As long as he gets back up, he is my coach as a fan. I have become a fan of Jerry Kill the more I see him in the media and how he relates to his team. If I were a young college kid these days, I would love to play for him. The only thing I ask of Teague is to have a plan in place if there comes a day when Jerry can not fulfill his duties due to his choice to retire. I don't him to retire for at least a decade.
 

Kill was hired to coach on the field not in the booth. My only concern is what if he has seizure and cracks his head on some sideline apparatus ? We're in row 12 on the Gopher side and we were directly in front of him when he went down. When you are that close and see the violence of the seizure it is not pretty. I complety lost interest in the game after that. I don't know what the answer is, but for someone to say it doesn't bother them after seeing Coach Kill girating on the ground for ten minutes
Is a heartless bastard.
 

ruppertflywheel said:
Kill was hired to coach on the field not in the booth. My only concern is what if he has seizure and cracks his head on some sideline apparatus ? We're in row 12 on the Gopher side and we were directly in front of him when he went down. When you are that close and see the violence of the seizure it is not pretty. I complety lost interest in the game after that. I don't know what the answer is, but for someone to say it doesn't bother them after seeing Coach Kill girating on the ground for ten minutes
Is a heartless bastard.
Click to expand...

You are an idiot. I doesn't bother me (the visual aspect of it). I'm far from a heartless bastard. It just means I'm more educated and used to it (my brother's an epileptic).

The only thing that REALLY bothers me about this is the negative press it gives Coach Kill and those around him.
 

SamSquatch said:
We'll be lucky to reach 2-6 again this year. Watching our boys, and then watching games from around the league, we don't look the part.
Click to expand...

What?!?!? What games are you watching? If you can't envision us beating PSU or Nebraska or Iowa at TCF, you aren't actually watching the games on TV. If you can't envision us beating MSU, NW or IU on the road, you aren't paying attention.

I'm not saying we're winning all 6 of those games, obviously - or even 3 of them - but if Akron and Wyoming and Western Michigan and UCF etc. etc. can compete and occasionally win on the road at these places, we certainly can under the right circumstances.

if you really don't think that can happen, why are you even wasting your time here?
 



What Souhan, Doyel, Studwell et al say about Kill situation is hollow (but infuriating). My not-so-novel position is to let Kill's highly qualified doctors tell Kill when enough is enough. If or when that time comes, I trust Kill will do what's best for himself and his family.

And the whole, visual aspect of seeing Kill's seizure being a big problem? Grow up. One of Coach's goals is to raise epilepsy awareness and not treat people with this condition like freaks to be shunned or closeted. I've seen 2 NFL players carted off the field and end up paralyzed live on TV (Mike Utley and Reggie Brown). If we're willing to watch football, knowing this is a potential risk, then I think we can stomach an epileptic seizure.
 

Gopher Bandanna Guy said:
What Souhan, Doyel, Studwell et al say about Kill situation is hollow (but infuriating). My not-so-novel position is to let Kill's highly qualified doctors tell Kill when enough is enough. If or when that time comes, I trust Kill will do what's best for himself and his family.

And the whole, visual aspect of seeing Kill's seizure being a big problem? Grow up. One of Coach's goals is to raise epilepsy awareness and not treat people with this condition like freaks to be shunned or closeted. I've seen 2 NFL players carted off the field and end up paralyzed live on TV (Mike Utley and Reggie Brown). If we're willing to watch football, knowing this is a potential risk, then I think we can stomach an epileptic seizure.
Click to expand...

:clap::clap::clap:

Yup
 

I'm not sure why people call each other "idiot or moron" so often when they disagree with each other.

Thanks to Coach Kill's willingness to talk about his condition, I have a much better understanding about epilepsy than I previously did and as a result, when I heard the news today I wasn't phased. That being said, I think Coach Kill is a good coach, the right coach for us and so I want him on the sidelines coaching our team, not in the press box, not in a hospital, etc. Kill himself has said he needs to stay on the sidelines and he knows he needs to not miss halves. As long as his condition isn't worsening, I am not concerned one bit if he has seizures at home, in the film room, etc. It's part of his condition. I just want him on the sidelines coaching our team.

Go Coach Kill!!
 

BleedGopher said:
I'm not sure why people call each other "idiot or moron" so often when they disagree with each other.

Thanks to Coach Kill's willingness to talk about his condition, I have a much better understanding about epilepsy than I previously did and as a result, when I heard the news today I wasn't phased. That being said, I think Coach Kill is a good coach, the right coach for us and so I want him on the sidelines coaching our team, not in the press box, not in a hospital, etc. Kill himself has said he needs to stay on the sidelines and he knows he needs to not miss halves. As long as his condition isn't worsening, I am not concerned one bit if he has seizures at home, in the film room, etc. It's part of his condition. I just want him on the sidelines coaching our team.

Go Coach Kill!!
Click to expand...

I try to avoid it.. But being in my shoes and seeing how many ignoramus posts about this, makes it quite hard to not take it personal. Then when someone calls you a 'heartless bastard' because you aren't affected the same way they are when seeing a seizure, you kind of ask for it.

Fact of the mater is, this condition is being made into a much bigger deal than it is. Yes, there are legitimate arguments (paying $$ to have a HC on the sidelines, etc) but until the actual production of the product we have on the field is obviously affected by Coach Kill's condition, those arguments hold NO water. At all.
 

I've noticed that Bleed. " Idiot and moron " accusations seem normal protocol on the Hole.
 


Sparlimb said:
I doubt the issue was heat or dehydration. I bet the issue was agitation over the effort and play of his team in the 1st half. Luckily he got to miss the 3rd quarter as that would have only made it worse. Not sure what the answer is, but I worry the guy is going to go down and not get back up one of these times. Hopefully that never happens and he gets well soon.
Click to expand...
Not the way this condition works
 

Studwell55 said:
I can't believe how blasé some people are about this.

Our coach needs to be available for three hours on 12 Saturdays a year.

If he checks out every 8th game, this is a problem.
Click to expand...

Omg, there he goes again. Stop it.
 

Formo said:
In this instance, it just means you need to educate yourself.
Click to expand...

Hmm...no I don't. I have a brother-in-law who is epileptic. His seizures run 2-3 minutes. Kill had a major seizure and that is why he was admitted to the hospital.
 

Another chance for MN to lead. K-Rations, Ag, Pacemaker, Children's Medicine, etc., etc. Epilepsy? Ha! Let's roll.
 

We either have to move on or accept the fact that our head coach is likely to miss parts of games due to hospitalization due to his health problems. Simple as that.
 

maxwellsmart said:
Not the way this condition works
Click to expand...

Not sure how you can say that with a straight face. There are many different kinds of epilepsy and they each have different stimuli for setting off an episode. I myself have primary generalized epilepsy and all of my doctors have told me that stress, lack of sleep and/or lots of alcohol are what triggers events for my specific kind of epilepsy. WHy does this matter to you? Well coach Kill's seizures seem to mimic what I am having exactly, but I can't say for sure as I don't know what kind of epilepsy he has actually been diagnosed with. Funny thing is, contrary to population belief visual stimuli has zero impact on my condition.
 

Don't be such a pansy Studwell. If it bothers you maybe you could stay home and then you wouldn't have to quake in fear of potentially seeing coach have a seizure.
 

This is an issue - no way around it. And I think the U is going to have to address it. If the U does not come out with an unqualified statement of support, the media (like Souhan) will continue to hammer on this, until Kill's health overshadows the team's performance.

Think about this - substitute Jerry Kill for Leslie Frazier, and imagine the reaction if the Vikings' head coach was having seizures during games.

In a perfect world, it will be solely Kill's decision - but in the real world, my gut tells me the U President and AD are going to be discussing this. If Kill wants to keep his job, this team needs to win as many games as possible.
 

Sure, they can and probably will discuss this. And if Frazier had the condition, it would probably be discussed, too. Ultimately, the driving factor for any decisions should be their success or the lack thereof. That is what is fair and just. That's how I expect any decisions will be made.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
This is an issue - no way around it. And I think the U is going to have to address it. If the U does not come out with an unqualified statement of support, the media (like Souhan) will continue to hammer on this, until Kill's health overshadows the team's performance.

Think about this - substitute Jerry Kill for Leslie Frazier, and imagine the reaction if the Vikings' head coach was having seizures during games.

In a perfect world, it will be solely Kill's decision - but in the real world, my gut tells me the U President and AD are going to be discussing this. If Kill wants to keep his job, this team needs to win as many games as possible.
Click to expand...

hyaluronic said:
Sure, they can and probably will discuss this. And if Frazier had the condition, it would probably be discussed, too. Ultimately, the driving factor for any decisions should be their success or the lack thereof. That is what is fair and just. That's how I expect any decisions will be made.
Click to expand...

Frazier's ultimate condition is that he wakes up and doesn't know that offense is a part of the game. He is stunned that his team gets the ball and is unaware that they have to do something with it, let alone touch it. It's icky.
 

hyaluronic said:
Sure, they can and probably will discuss this. And if Frazier had the condition, it would probably be discussed, too. Ultimately, the driving factor for any decisions should be their success or the lack thereof. That is what is fair and just. That's how I expect any decisions will be made.
Click to expand...

Success includes program image, does it not? If more folks begin to think Minnesota is allowing a man adversely affect his health by coaching, that's a negative for program image, yes?

Cura Personalis. This isn't about wins and losses, but that will be the vehicle through which many switch their stance.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom