Kill is making

[denguegopher]

progress with cynical Gopher fans. I called my old college roomie tonight. He's a Gopher fan, but very wary. We briefly talked about the Gophers and he said, "I think that Gophers finally have a coach." And he said that he was excited for next season. I about dropped. If Kill can impress this guy he is making progress. Now, if Kill can just win some games this fall I think that he'll have a lot more people back in the fold.

 

[GopherHomer]

Trust me, I am super pumped about Kill. The only thing I worry about is that all this good will and optimism that he is acquiring now will be lost after our first game. At USC is a very tough opener, and the history of fringe Gopher fans dictates a quick jumping-of-ship at the first sign imperfection. I just hope, as a fanbase, that we show a little patience because I agree that we found the right man.

 

[Geezo Beezo]

Cynical fans are still waiting for proof of something better.

 

[#2Gopher]

The key I believe this coming season to win over more fans who are not totally aware of the situation for Kill is going to be depth and academics. Neither of which he has control over.

 

[Ski U Mah 55]

The key I believe this coming season to win over more fans who are not totally aware of the situation for Kill is going to be depth and academics. Neither of which he has control over.

The key for winning over more fans is the same as it always has been: win more games.

 

[jags1998]

I will be very surprised if Kill doesn't bring us Mason type results or a little better...solid bowl games and years where we are on the cusp of breaking through. The question, in my mind, is whether he can get us to break through to New Years bowl games or better. From everything I've seen, read, etc ... the man can coach. But so can 11 other Big Ten coaches. Jerry Kill could do a wonderful job here and his results may end up very similar to Glen Mason. Let's hope the two aren't mentioned in the same sentence 10 years down the road!

 

[Ski U Mah 55]

My realistic hope for the Kill era:

*We fluctuate between 6-9 wins a season regularly, with an occasional 10+ win season.
*We don't give up the heartbreaking losses that defined the Mason period.
*In games we lose, we aren't embarrassing
*The students graduate
*We don't lose to mid-majors or worse

 

[Sparlimb]

Cynical fans are still waiting for proof of something better.

True dat! Kill gets more than this year, because even cynical fans like myself know Brewster gutted this team and left little talent. As I am every year, I'm cautiously optimistic that a good Qb (first one since Cupito) could win us a game or two this year we otherwise wouldn't win. 5 wins would be a lot in my book and impressive. But Kill gets the standard 3 years to improve how the team looks. He does appear to be a good coach who knows what he's doing. I would argue however, Brewster appeared to be a good recruiter that could get high end talent. So appearing and being are two different things.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

I will be very surprised if Kill doesn't bring us Mason type results or a little better...solid bowl games and years where we are on the cusp of breaking through. The question, in my mind, is whether he can get us to break through to New Years bowl games or better. From everything I've seen, read, etc ... the man can coach. But so can 11 other Big Ten coaches. Jerry Kill could do a wonderful job here and his results may end up very similar to Glen Mason. Let's hope the two aren't mentioned in the same sentence 10 years down the road!

I agree with you Jags.

For me, my optimism with Kill being able to surpass Mason is that he seems to have a better idea of how to build a complete program. I know this is obviously putting the cart before the horse and it seems a bit premature to talk about better results than Mason right now, but Mason achieved some success while almost completely neglecting the areas of recruiting and defense.

It wasn't just that I didn't like Mason's schemes or anything, he just simply never had a defensive identity. His problems on defense were similar to Brew's problems everywhere, he flipped coordinators quite a bit. He also never seemed to recruit enough depth to be able to put athletes on both sides of the field. Our defenses were often left without any talent or identity. Where Mason excelled on offense, he failed on defense.

With Kill, it seems like he has a definite identity on both sides of the ball. So yeah, as of now, i'm drinking the Kool Aid.

 

[Too Long in the Wasteland]

I will be very surprised if Kill doesn't bring us Mason type results or a little better...solid bowl games and years where we are on the cusp of breaking through. The question, in my mind, is whether he can get us to break through to New Years bowl games or better. From everything I've seen, read, etc ... the man can coach. But so can 11 other Big Ten coaches. Jerry Kill could do a wonderful job here and his results may end up very similar to Glen Mason. Let's hope the two aren't mentioned in the same sentence 10 years down the road!

Well stated! I don't think the question is whether Kill needs to improve his coaching ability. The most encouraging thing I've seen so far is that Kill and his assistants have a system and they stick with it. IMHO the big question is whether Kill can up his game in the recruiting department. Regardless of how well you coach, you can't win the BT (or even get to a NYD bowl) with MAC level talent. Mason proved that. If Glen could have recruited half as well as he coached up the players he did bring in he'd still be coaching, instead of showing off his pearly whites on the BTN.

It's not like Kill needs to out-recruit SCum, tOSU, or even PSU. But he does have to show he can bring in a few 4* players, particularly at skill positions, if he wants to sit at the big boy table. It's not fair to judge him by this past recruiting class, given the timing of his hire (although he did better than many expected). But let's see how next year turns out. That's where winning a few games noone expects him to this fall will really help out.

 

[Hates Monikers]

progress with cynical Gopher fans. I called my old college roomie tonight. He's a Gopher fan, but very wary. We briefly talked about the Gophers and he said, "I think that Gophers finally have a coach." And he said that he was excited for next season. I about dropped. If Kill can impress this guy he is making progress. Now, if Kill can just win some games this fall I think that he'll have a lot more people back in the fold.

To me, this illustrates the importance of the media, as much as most around here hate the local guys. They never gave Brewster a chance. The fact that they were right about him isn't the point -- it's that the casual fan never gave him a chance because all they knew about him was what the media told them. For now, the local media loves Kill. So the casual fan thinks Kill is a good coach because that's what they're being told.

In the end, Kill will have to win. But he'll get more rope because he's got the media behind him. At least for now.

 

[cfb120]

As a Badger fan, Kill is starting to make me a little nervous. I never got that feeling with Brewster. Heck, I was hoping that Minnesota would sign Brew to a lifetime contract!

 

[station19]

I will be very surprised if Kill doesn't bring us Mason type results or a little better...solid bowl games and years where we are on the cusp of breaking through. The question, in my mind, is whether he can get us to break through to New Years bowl games or better. From everything I've seen, read, etc ... the man can coach. But so can 11 other Big Ten coaches. Jerry Kill could do a wonderful job here and his results may end up very similar to Glen Mason. Let's hope the two aren't mentioned in the same sentence 10 years down the road!

We need to 'get back' to the Mason level first. After that we can worry about Jan 1 bowl games.

 

[calminnfan]

a little bit of revisionist history here...Brewster "gutted" the program? The program was gutted of talent before he even got here. If anything it has improved talent wise, if not results. I am not saying he was a great coach, but the talent is overall better.

Mason-type results??? wow...though that may be better then Brewster coaching wise, it is still truly low expectations...

Sorry, but I expect a lot more then that, not necessarily the first year but eventually I expect a team that can not only run the ball, and pass the ball, but actually knows how to play defense as well. Something that never happened under Mason.

 

[Killjoy]

Station19

We need to 'get back' to the Mason level first. After that we can worry about Jan 1 bowl games.

I am afraid Kill has already past "the Mason level" and I am not talking about win/losses. I am talking about knowing how to develop and run a complete football program at Minnesota. Can we say for sure that Kill will succeed in turning the program around? Of course not! But what we can say is that Jerry and his staff are doing all the right things. Whether you believe it or not, Jerry Kill is as good a turnaround specialist as you will find. We are dam lucky to have to him.

Therefore, I am personally not looking for him to get to “the Mason’s level.” I have way too much respect for him and what he is doing to wish that upon him. If you can’t see the difference between him and Mason, so be it. I just hope that you are not so jaded from our years of wandering in the desert that you can accept and enjoy what is happening here.

 

[Sparlimb]

a little bit of revisionist history here...Brewster "gutted" the program? The program was gutted of talent before he even got here. If anything it has improved talent wise, if not results. I am not saying he was a great coach, but the talent is overall better.

Mason-type results??? wow...though that may be better then Brewster coaching wise, it is still truly low expectations...

Sorry, but I expect a lot more then that, not necessarily the first year but eventually I expect a team that can not only run the ball, and pass the ball, but actually knows how to play defense as well. Something that never happened under Mason.

Revisionist history would be to say Mason couldn't coach defense. The defense he coached in 1999 was likely the best Minnesota defense in the last 30 years (and maybe that goes 40). I'd be more than happy if Kill could get to Mason levels as stated above. That would be a giant step from the last regime. Then we can worry about New Year Day's games...

 

[calminnfan]

Revisionist history would be to say Mason couldn't coach defense. The defense he coached in 1999 was likely the best Minnesota defense in the last 30 years (and maybe that goes 40). I'd be more than happy if Kill could get to Mason levels as stated above. That would be a giant step from the last regime. Then we can worry about New Year Day's games...

kinda forgot all the years following didn't you. Might be better to find out who the DC was at that time.

 

[Ski U Mah 55]

I am afraid Kill has already past "the Mason level" and I am not talking about win/losses. I am talking about knowing how to develop and run a complete football program at Minnesota.

Put down the pipe. The biggest part of developing a complete program is winning, Kill has yet to do that. I think (hope?) he will, but to say that he has already passed (proper homonym) Mason is ludicrous.

 

[Killjoy]

Time to move on ...

Put down the pipe. The biggest part of developing a complete program is winning, Kill has yet to do that. I think (hope?) he will, but to say that he has already passed (proper homonym) Mason is ludicrous.

What is ludicrous is that some of you are holding up Mason as the standard. That was my point along with the fact that Kill has already developed several winning programs which Mason was never able to accomplish at Minnesota. At least what I consider a winning program. If you want to worship at the Church of Mason that is your right but I am tired of people lighting candles for him. It is time to move on.

 

[RodentRampage]

I don't think that enthusiasm for Kill will be dampened by the USC game. In a way, it's no-lose for us. We get beat, well, no one expected us to beat USC, especially with a new coach. But if we win, that's a major story.

 

[Ski U Mah 55]

What is ludicrous is that some of you are holding up Mason as the standard. That was my point along with the fact that Kill has already developed several winning programs which Mason was never able to accomplish at Minnesota. At least what I consider a winning program. If you want to worship at the Church of Mason that is your right but I am tired of people lighting candles for him. It is time to move on.

I didn't even like Mason, but his time here is the high water mark of the last few decades and is the bar against which every new coach will be judged until they surpass it.

 

[Killjoy]

So Sad

I didn't even like Mason, but his time here is the high water mark of the last few decades and is the bar against which every new coach will be judged until they surpass it.

A tear ran down my cheek when I read your comment. It is as if somebody stated that Brewster was the high water mark of recruiting. It is time to look forward and to let go of the past. One of Kill's great qualities he knows how to let go of the past and focus on where we are going. We all could learn something from him.

 

[station19]

I didn't realize we could go from a 3-8 team to a Big Ten champ without playing even one game. Amazing what you can learn on GH.

 

[dpodoll68]

I didn't realize we could go from a 3-8 team to a Big Ten champ without playing even one game. Amazing what you can learn on GH.

It is amazing what you can learn. For example, I've now learned that we were 3-8 last year.

 

[Killjoy]

Sku U Master

I understand why you think Glen Mason should be the standard that we measure success against. You clearly have bought into Mason's philosophy about Minnesota and our ability to win here. Thank god Kill didn’t bring Mason's philosophy to the program when he came here. To better understand what this is all about just click on the site below and see what the differences are between the two. It makes all the difference in the world as to how you see the world and how you go about changing the program.

http://www.offtackleempire.com/2011/4/19/2118616/b1g-2011-minnesota-football-point-counterpoint

 

[Killjoy]

Station19

Living in the past isn't going to do us any good. I am quiet aware that Jerry Kill has his work cut out for him but you don't see him crying about it do you? It is kind of pathetic to see how afraid some people are to notice or accept what is going on with the program. It is as if they were afraid. There are no guarantees but being afraid isn’t living. And that doesn’t mean you need to drink the Kool-Aid. Just notice what is going on and don't be afraid.

 

[jovs]

The past is kind of a road map for the future, obviously things aren't written in stone and they can change but you would be stupid not to let it impact your expectations. I think Mason won a fair share with talent he had. With an upgrade in talent and good coaching I hope Kill can surpass the success Mason had.

The USC game won't change perception of the program, the next three games will.

 

[mplsbadger]

I will be very surprised if Kill doesn't bring us Mason type results or a little better...solid bowl games and years where we are on the cusp of breaking through. The question, in my mind, is whether he can get us to break through to New Years bowl games or better. From everything I've seen, read, etc ... the man can coach. But so can 11 other Big Ten coaches. Jerry Kill could do a wonderful job here and his results may end up very similar to Glen Mason. Let's hope the two aren't mentioned in the same sentence 10 years down the road!

I think the Big Ten played six bowl games on or after NYD this year so it will only be a matter of time before that happens. BCS is the big prize now.

 

[Ski U Mah 55]

I understand why you think Glen Mason should be the standard that we measure success against. You clearly have bought into Mason's philosophy about Minnesota and our ability to win here. Thank god Kill didn’t bring Mason's philosophy to the program when he came here. To better understand what this is all about just click on the site below and see what the differences are between the two. It makes all the difference in the world as to how you see the world and how you go about changing the program.

http://www.offtackleempire.com/2011/4/19/2118616/b1g-2011-minnesota-football-point-counterpoint

Well that's just, like, your opinion, man.

 

[fryguy22]

It is amazing what you can learn. For example, I've now learned that we were 3-8 last year.

I love these kinds of posts from you.