Kill's recruiting history at NIU

[btowngopher]

Follow the 80/20 rule. 80% of football production will occur from 20% of the players. Concentrate 80% of your time on the 20% and you might find that we land more than a soft verbal. Again, everybody is cheering the lower 20% and praising its value. Try again. Make my happy with 2 star athletes. Not working. Not impressive. Not buying into a season ticket for 2 star projects. Loyalty has nothing to do with it. It is entertainment or not entertaining. Prove to me that Kill and company are putting in the extra effort to land their offers. You can't. I am going to run a study on how may similarly ranked BCS schools have been landing higher rated athletes than us. I would think we again will be in the lowest quartile even if the other school has a new coach. Catch me tomorrow as I bring in my results (or Monday).

You're awfully naive if you think recruiting is simply a matter of putting in enough time. This isn't a video game. Maybe Kill should spend 100% of his time on 4 and 5 star guys, then he'd land awesome classes. I'm sure we probably are in the lowest quartile, since we are down there in wins and further away from most higher ranked athletes. Would you rather date an ugly chick who you could bang 7 nights a week or a super model who stops by once a week? It's not about effort, it's that Minnesota is the less attractive school for most of these higher rated kids with multiple suitors.

 

[imthewalrus]

This is one mighty tough place to win at....

lou hoax had to cheat to get the few wins he got here. He got the football program into hot water with the NCAA. Tubby Smith can't seem to get it going either. He is earning well over 2million bucks a season. The hockey team can't win any longer either.

You fantasy high school football recruit freaks and wharton pretenders probably won't be buying any season tickets any way. Give me a good old fashioned coach who goes out there and gets the most out of the kids he/she has and I'll gladly keep shelling out the money for season tickets.

To me, the ONLY season that is any fun at all is the Big Ten Football season. This fantasy recruiting stuff is for pretenders. Here at Minnesota, we won't ever get your little fantasy highly sought recruits. That's just the way it goes. But, now that we have gotten rid of that brewster character that former prexy b and bjm stuck us with, at least the team will show up on Game Day Saturdays and will play the best they can play, with all the heart in th world and they will win some Big Ten Football Games. Good luck Coach Kill: you have the RIGHT idea about what needs to be done at Minnesota and you know it will be a tough, slow process and you and your staff are going to have to get the job done by coaching your hearts out! There is nothing from a coach and his staff that this old Gopher Fan could EVER respect more than that!

This is Minnesota. This is NOT some fantasy recruiting hot-bed. Give me lots of Minnesota and upper mid-west kids and kids from anywhere who want to be students, want to play at the U and will buy into the coaching staff's work ethic and let the chips fall where they may. Those hotsey-totsey fantasy star prima donnas can get their butts kissed somewhere else if they need that kind of stuff. IF they think they are too good to play here...they probably are too good to play here and I am sure they will find someone who will tell them just exactly that.

Any football coach at the University of Minnesota who spends too much time and effort chasing around fantasy four and five star high school recruits is asking to be humiliated, barking up the wrong tree and really is asking for....begging for, in fact... LOTS of trouble. Improve the program by getting the players who really want to be here, are student athletes, understand the climate and the area, still want to be here even though they know what winter is like, even though their girlfriend/family is a ways away from here and KNOW they are going to have to work their tails off, bond with their teammates and will most likely be working to make the program a better program because it sure as hell isn't one of the "top" programs right now. BUT, it IS a Big Ten Program. Any kid with the guts, the courage and the strength of character to take on a challenge like that is just exactly the kind of kid we need playing football at the University of Minnesota right now!

 

[corcoran1]

Jerry Kill had a once in a lifetime chance to crow about his success as a coach to land some highly talented players who are showing interest and have excellent athletic ability and Minnesota offers. He is scaring these guys away. They want similar players next to them. Not guys who will not be able to contribute at the same rate. So his success at landing recruits without recognition is his Achilles heel. He is then losing his major targets of opportunity. The elite don't want to associate with the non elite. They want to be stars on great teams, not just be great on the team. Many a contract is lost over ego. To overcome ego you need a way to bring 'the brag' to the table. Jerry Kill is not capable of doing this. He doesn't know how to sell at the elite level. He needs to be coached in this area as soon as possible. His whole staff needs to head off next February to an elite sales academy or institution. Football isn't just getting to hob nob with TCU and other Universities coaches in the off season.

You are a blockbuster coach. Don't blow it by stubbornly holding on to the past. What do players have to brag about right now? The coach! Not other players. When that turns around and Kill still wins, then he has a ready made recruiting machine. Everybody will line up and pound on the door to get in.

I think your idea of needing to raise our standards around here are great, but you don't do that by just immediately becomng Nick Saban. These guys recognize talent, they played teams they were supposed to lose to every year, and either won or played them much closer than they were supposed to. (They outplayed us twice and beat us once, and gave Wisconsin everything they wanted.) They have no reason to take kids they think can not play BigTen football in June.
The guy has won everywhere he has gone. Give him some credit for understanding his business just like you know yours, even if he does not do his the way you think you would. This is a seriously competitive guy, he has a chip on his shoulder for being under rated his whole life, if he thought there was a better way at the moment, he would take it.

 

[4four4]

IMO, I want to see kids who want to be playing at TCF Bank. Currently I don't believe many 4 or 5 star players want to be here.

 

[Mustang Mountain Man]

You're awfully naive if you think recruiting is simply a matter of putting in enough time. This isn't a video game. Maybe Kill should spend 100% of his time on 4 and 5 star guys, then he'd land awesome classes. I'm sure we probably are in the lowest quartile, since we are down there in wins and further away from most higher ranked athletes. Would you rather date an ugly chick who you could bang 7 nights a week or a super model who stops by once a week? It's not about effort, it's that Minnesota is the less attractive school for most of these higher rated kids with multiple suitors.

What is attraction? That is a very good question. Attraction doesn't start with yesterday or yesterdays news. It is the moment of discussion and knowing what makes the kid across the conversation tick. That takes practice to learn. Kill's efforts, I am sure are admirable to the MAC schools, but not to the B!G. I couldn't date any of my high school bombshells. After I was in college, I dated our prom queen. I went up the ranks and the dates followed. If that wasn't your experience, too bad for you. Kill likes to say he landed an upgrade for a wife, now let's see if he can land an upgrade for a player. The talk has been cheap around here and the support amazingly tight for a guy who hasn't coached a single snap of a Gopher game. The analogies suck outright. Kill has quarterbacks committing left and right. Where are the defensive ends and tackles? Where are the priorities he spoke about? His board looks nothing like what he stated we needed after the spring game. What has so drastically changed since then to think we need more quarterbacks than defensive ends? Why is this man getting this amazing star crazed pass on performance on such a vital indicator of future performance as recruiting? 17 scholarships and so many areas of concern and he hands out quarterback scholarships like sand in an hour glass.

It's madness. Sheer madness. Dogs and cats sitting down with each other. Broads with bare legs of biblical proportions. It's Armaggedon, Shiloh, and Kae Son all over again. OMG. WTF. BFF. SNAFU. LOL. Roger Wilco. Roger Dodger. Where's my beer!

 

[4four4]

What is attraction? That is a very good question. Attraction doesn't start with yesterday or yesterdays news. It is the moment of discussion and knowing what makes the kid across the conversation tick. That takes practice to learn. Kill's efforts, I am sure are admirable to the MAC schools, but not to the B!G. I couldn't date any of my high school bombshells. After I was in college, I dated our prom queen. I went up the ranks and the dates followed. If that wasn't your experience, too bad for you. Kill likes to say he landed an upgrade for a wife, now let's see if he can land an upgrade for a player. The talk has been cheap around here and the support amazingly tight for a guy who hasn't coached a single snap of a Gopher game. The analogies suck outright. Kill has quarterbacks committing left and right. Where are the defensive ends and tackles? Where are the priorities he spoke about? His board looks nothing like what he stated we needed after the spring game. What has so drastically changed since then to think we need more quarterbacks than defensive ends? Why is this man getting this amazing star crazed pass on performance on such a vital indicator of future performance as recruiting? 17 scholarships and so many areas of concern and he hands out quarterback scholarships like sand in an hour glass.

It's madness. Sheer madness. Dogs and cats sitting down with each other. Broads with bare legs of biblical proportions. It's Armaggedon, Shiloh, and Kae Son all over again. OMG. WTF. BFF. SNAFU. LOL. Roger Wilco. Roger Dodger. Where's my beer!

How much you want to bet the QB's he is recruiting are for a different position?

 

[Mustang Mountain Man]

No one cares.

Any guy who swallows two vowels in tour and comes up with "trrr' hasn't been fully introduced to the language. Any guy who says he got lucky becoming a head coach, isn't playing with the truth. Nor do I think that a guy with a mediocre GPA can come up with nugget after nugget of unknown recruits to win the B!G championship this year or any other year. We are likely to end up with the worst recruiting class of all time in Minnesota while proclaiming the coming of the messiah. I think it is an optimism of spirit that really sinks hard when confronted by reality. Once again the prognosticators have us winning, well, nothing of significance. Except the homers who in their desperate thoughts and dreams shout out, "tell me it ain't so, Joe!"

Of course you care. You might hate what I say, but you show you care by answering it. Apathy is far more destructive than hate. Tell me the truth for a change you coward. Tell me the odds for failure to succeed don't go up exponentially each time a two star is landed! Show me the positive correlation to recruiting years before winning occurs and I will buy into that argument that winning begets recruiting. Unfortunately, the literature on recruiting on every industry and commercial enterprise the world over suggests no winning occurs until good recruiting occurs, otherwise it is only the fleetingly rare that succeeds without good talent.

I dare ask you why do you think it is acceptable to allow the new coach to recruit so poorly and get away with it? It isn't my opinion that these kids are not up to speed.

 

[btowngopher]

What is attraction? That is a very good question. Attraction doesn't start with yesterday or yesterdays news. It is the moment of discussion and knowing what makes the kid across the conversation tick. That takes practice to learn. Kill's efforts, I am sure are admirable to the MAC schools, but not to the B!G. I couldn't date any of my high school bombshells. After I was in college, I dated our prom queen. I went up the ranks and the dates followed. If that wasn't your experience, too bad for you. Kill likes to say he landed an upgrade for a wife, now let's see if he can land an upgrade for a player. The talk has been cheap around here and the support amazingly tight for a guy who hasn't coached a single snap of a Gopher game. The analogies suck outright. Kill has quarterbacks committing left and right. Where are the defensive ends and tackles? Where are the priorities he spoke about? His board looks nothing like what he stated we needed after the spring game. What has so drastically changed since then to think we need more quarterbacks than defensive ends? Why is this man getting this amazing star crazed pass on performance on such a vital indicator of future performance as recruiting? 17 scholarships and so many areas of concern and he hands out quarterback scholarships like sand in an hour glass.

It's madness. Sheer madness. Dogs and cats sitting down with each other. Broads with bare legs of biblical proportions. It's Armaggedon, Shiloh, and Kae Son all over again. OMG. WTF. BFF. SNAFU. LOL. Roger Wilco. Roger Dodger. Where's my beer!

He's landed two qbs, one of which could likely end up as a tight end, calm down. He has a DT another DE/DT is rumored to be giving his verbal very shortly. Some of these LBs may end up as DEs as well. Not to mention it's JUNE!!!!!! You said it yourself, "I went up the ranks and the dates followed" yet you expect Kill to go up the recruiting ranks in order to go up the win ranks, there's been plenty of examples of it happening the opposite way. But whatever, you ignore everyone's facts and just keep posting about how you're convinced Kill will fail. You obviously have some kind of agenda. Worst class in gopher history? Did you follow recruiting during the Mason years? Why even play the games if recruiting rankings are soooo vital.

 

[btowngopher]

Any guy who swallows two vowels in tour and comes up with "trrr' hasn't been fully introduced to the language. Any guy who says he got lucky becoming a head coach, isn't playing with the truth. Nor do I think that a guy with a mediocre GPA can come up with nugget after nugget of unknown recruits to win the B!G championship this year or any other year. We are likely to end up with the worst recruiting class of all time in Minnesota while proclaiming the coming of the messiah. I think it is an optimism of spirit that really sinks hard when confronted by reality. Once again the prognosticators have us winning, well, nothing of significance. Except the homers who in their desperate thoughts and dreams shout out, "tell me it ain't so, Joe!"

Of course you care. You might hate what I say, but you show you care by answering it. Apathy is far more destructive than hate. Tell me the truth for a change you coward. Show me the positive correlation to recruiting years before winning occurs and I will buy into that argument that winning begets recruiting. Unfortunately, the literature on recruiting on every industry and commercial enterprise the world over suggests no winning occurs until good recruiting occurs, otherwise it is only the fleetingly rare that succeeds without good talent.

I dare ask you why do you think it is acceptable to allow the new coach to recruit so poorly and get away with it? It isn't my opinion that these kids are not up to speed.

"Nor do I think that a guy with a mediocre GPA can come up with nugget after nugget of unknown recruits to win the B!G championship this year or any other year."
Interesting take, you can only be good at evaluating talent if you have a high GPA.

"Tell me the odds for failure to succeed don't go up exponentially each time a two star is landed!"
They don't, Auburn and Oregon each had over 15 2 star players on their rosters last year, while teams like Florida, USC, and Texas had maybe 3.

"We are likely to end up with the worst recruiting class of all time in Minnesota"
No we aren't, pull your head out of your ass and quit making up complete BS.

"Unfortunately, the literature on recruiting on every industry and commercial enterprise the world over suggests no winning occurs until good recruiting occurs, otherwise it is only the fleetingly rare that succeeds without good talent."
We get it, you have a business degree, quit trying to apply it to college football.

"It isn't my opinion that these kids are not up to speed."
Yes it is.

 

[hungan1]

You guys need to all calm down. Kill will do a very good job of recruiting here at the U.

It is much harder to judge the talent of 2* and 3* players than it is to judge the talent of 4* and 5* players. All of the 5* players should have the talent to help your team, but only the right 2* players will have the talent. Kill has proven repeatedly that he can pick out the talented players and turn them into major contributors. He did this with the handicap of not being at schools that could not attract 4* and 5* players. When we win consistently he will be able to attract enough national 4* players to the U.

I agree.

Coach Kill has to start someplace in a very tough conference to win in if you are Minnesota or Indiana, and he is going to do it with the formula that has worked for him in the past - loyal assistant coaches, building relationships w/ HS players & coaches, and evaluating & judging talent firsthand.

If Wisconsin can succeed in turning the football program around under Donna Shalala (sp?) and Barry Alvarez, so can Minnesota.

The day of reckoning is yet to come. The Gophers have to start winning those winnable games and build momentum to start attracting higher rated talent.

 

[GoAUpher]

When a poster brags about their dating history and uses it as evidence that they understand recruiting it's time to shake your head and laugh.

 

[Formo]

Follow the 80/20 rule. 80% of football production will occur from 20% of the players. Concentrate 80% of your time on the 20% and you might find that we land more than a soft verbal. Again, everybody is cheering the lower 20% and praising its value. Try again. Make my happy with 2 star athletes. Not working. Not impressive. Not buying into a season ticket for 2 star projects. Loyalty has nothing to do with it. It is entertainment or not entertaining. Prove to me that Kill and company are putting in the extra effort to land their offers. You can't. I am going to run a study on how may similarly ranked BCS schools have been landing higher rated athletes than us. I would think we again will be in the lowest quartile even if the other school has a new coach. Catch me tomorrow as I bring in my results (or Monday).

lol Wow, seriously?!

News flash.. The University of Minnesota football program is 2-3 star program right now, and has been since 2003. Expecting us to land a bunch of 2-4 star prospects is about right.

 

[Mustang Mountain Man]

When a poster brags about their dating history and uses it as evidence that they understand recruiting it's time to shake your head and laugh.

Bingo! Johnny what do we have for contestant number 1 behind door number one.

It's madness. Sheer madness. Dogs and cats sitting down with each other. Broads with bare legs of biblical proportions. It's Armaggedon, Shiloh, and Kae Son all over again. OMG. WTF. BFF. SNAFU. LOL. Roger Wilco. Roger Dodger. Where's my beer!

Is it the F-n football season yet!

 

[RodentRampage]

"Nor do I think that a guy with a mediocre GPA can come up with nugget after nugget of unknown recruits to win the B!G championship this year or any other year."
Interesting take, you can only be good at evaluating talent if you have a high GPA.

"Tell me the odds for failure to succeed don't go up exponentially each time a two star is landed!"
They don't, Auburn and Oregon each had over 15 2 star players on their rosters last year, while teams like Florida, USC, and Texas had maybe 3.

"We are likely to end up with the worst recruiting class of all time in Minnesota"
No we aren't, pull your head out of your ass and quit making up complete BS.

"Unfortunately, the literature on recruiting on every industry and commercial enterprise the world over suggests no winning occurs until good recruiting occurs, otherwise it is only the fleetingly rare that succeeds without good talent."
We get it, you have a business degree, quit trying to apply it to college football.

"It isn't my opinion that these kids are not up to speed."
Yes it is.

+1 If a high GPA is requires for evaluating football talent, then we should hire Stephen Hawking to be our recruiting coordinator.

The idea that you can't win until you get good recruiting is laughable to anyone who can tell a football from a ham sandwich.

 

[6 Nov 1999]

I agree, most new coaches see a bump up in recruiting the first couple of years at a new job because they can sell optimism and a new vision. Haven't seen any signs of this bump yet with Kill. Once you get beyond the first couple seasons that initial momentum is gone and recruits will look primarily at his win loss record here. If the talent he already has isn't according to him that great and he isn't taking advantage of the initial bump in recruiting then it may be more difficult to get the wins necessary to attract good recruits in seasons 3 and 4. It is early however and maybe he will suprise. He seems like a good coach, my only concern is can he get the talent needed to compete at a high level.

He might have had more of a bump if he had been hired shortly after Brewster was fired. He did not have a lot of time to work with, and we urinated and defecated away the advantage and hoopla that the new TCF Bank Stadium would have normally provided. Give the man time. If the cupboard was truly bare, then Jeff Horton would not have won our last 2 games. I think Jerry Kill and his staff will do just fine with recruiting, but I do think that we are just searching for things to talk about and argue about while we are waiting for Fall practice to start. I know I am.

 

[6 Nov 1999]

Character. Jerry Kill does not exclusively know character. Nor is he the only guy on earth that is smart. And, as you act as his unofficial guardian, do you think Jerry Kill would want you to toss about derogatory descriptions of a person you know so very little about? I think a person of character does not choose character assassination over what is a disagreement, not about Jerry Kills overall ability, but his ability to land elite players he has already offered, which has been quite a few. He has offered 19 scholarships to 4 or 5 star athletes. Of that he has landed a soft verbal from 1 at a rate of return of ~5%. Overall his rate of return for all athletes is now at ~10%. So his offers to elite athletes has a return half of normal. But, compared to the non 4 and 5 star offers, he has a return of 16%. So his success rate at the low end is 3 times as successful. He offered 19% of his offers to elite athletes. I think he well understood their character and he has already identified them as being part of his football 'smart'. I think coach Kill wants higher rated players and has not succeeded in landing them. My suggestion that the elite coaching staff we have hired to go to a seminar with elite minds on recruiting is not antithetical to my knowledge of recruiting or success in general, as you have so very publicly suggested. I think the suggestion has merit because we can see from simple numbers that he has not succeeded where he intended to succeed. I suggest the Wharton school because they are an elite school in regard to selling and recruiting. They will customize their program to the needs of the staff and they can condense it to seminar of less than a week. As far as I am concerned, I have at least looked at the problem from the point of view of acceptance ratio. All you have offered is a few slurs and hyperbole.

Oh yes, teach them how to sell blockbuster drugs like COX-2 inhibitors!

 

[6 Nov 1999]

What is attraction? That is a very good question. Attraction doesn't start with yesterday or yesterdays news. It is the moment of discussion and knowing what makes the kid across the conversation tick. That takes practice to learn. Kill's efforts, I am sure are admirable to the MAC schools, but not to the B!G. I couldn't date any of my high school bombshells. After I was in college, I dated our prom queen. I went up the ranks and the dates followed. If that wasn't your experience, too bad for you. Kill likes to say he landed an upgrade for a wife, now let's see if he can land an upgrade for a player. The talk has been cheap around here and the support amazingly tight for a guy who hasn't coached a single snap of a Gopher game. The analogies suck outright. Kill has quarterbacks committing left and right. Where are the defensive ends and tackles? Where are the priorities he spoke about? His board looks nothing like what he stated we needed after the spring game. What has so drastically changed since then to think we need more quarterbacks than defensive ends? Why is this man getting this amazing star crazed pass on performance on such a vital indicator of future performance as recruiting? 17 scholarships and so many areas of concern and he hands out quarterback scholarships like sand in an hour glass.

It's madness. Sheer madness. Dogs and cats sitting down with each other. Broads with bare legs of biblical proportions. It's Armaggedon, Shiloh, and Kae Son all over again. OMG. WTF. BFF. SNAFU. LOL. Roger Wilco. Roger Dodger. Where's my beer!

You might want to start by spelling Khe Sanh correctly. http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/central/Brush/KheSanhCasualtyCount.htm A lot of good men died there, and those who survived earned purple hearts, bronze stars, and the like protecting your right to sell patent medicines to an unsuspecting public, paid for with public money (Medicare / Medicaid / TRICARE / VA). On this Independence Day, give these heroes who gave their last full measure the respect of at least spelling their battle correctly. What this country needs more of is men of character like these heroes, not salesmen.

 

[everybody knows my name]

Hey Mustang!

Isaac Hayes!

So there!

 

[Mustang Mountain Man]

Hey Mustang!

Isaac Hayes!

So there!

Welcome aboard Isaac.