MN Daily: Jerry Kill cultivates winning culture on campus

Donate To GopherHole
BleedGopher

BleedGopher

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 11, 2008
Messages
60,943
Reaction score
16,505
Points
113
per the Daily:

Establishing a winning culture

When defensive back Cedric Thompson was a freshman in 2011, it didn’t seem like many of his teammates wanted to win badly enough.

“We would lose those games, people would act like they didn’t care,” said Thompson, who was drafted by the Miami Dolphins last week. “As the process went on with coach Kill, we cared more and more about winning and being together as a team.”

To get players to buy in, Kill and his staff became strict. If a player wasn’t getting work done in the classroom, was late to a team meeting or had a bad attitude, he’d sit on the bench.
“The way we changed them was just discipline,” Kill said. “Eventually, they understood Coach isn’t going to change.”
Bringing in good people helped with the process. Thompson came to Minnesota from a disadvantaged background and was just happy to have a chance to play.

Maxx Williams became the conference’s top tight end and an Academic All-American. David Cobb developed into the program’s single-season rushing leader after having only one other Power Five scholarship offer.

“[Kill] and his staff have done a great job of bringing in guys who are quality guys on and off the field and coaching us to reach the best of our ability,” said former defensive back Brock Vereen, now with the Chicago Bears. “Changing the culture of a team isn’t something that you can do in one or two years. It takes time.”

http://www.mndaily.com/sports/football/2015/05/07/kill-cultivates-winning-culture-campus

Go Gophers!!
 

BleedGopher said:
per the Daily:

Establishing a winning culture

When defensive back Cedric Thompson was a freshman in 2011, it didn’t seem like many of his teammates wanted to win badly enough.

“We would lose those games, people would act like they didn’t care,” said Thompson, who was drafted by the Miami Dolphins last week. “As the process went on with coach Kill, we cared more and more about winning and being together as a team.”

To get players to buy in, Kill and his staff became strict. If a player wasn’t getting work done in the classroom, was late to a team meeting or had a bad attitude, he’d sit on the bench.
“The way we changed them was just discipline,” Kill said. “Eventually, they understood Coach isn’t going to change.”
Bringing in good people helped with the process. Thompson came to Minnesota from a disadvantaged background and was just happy to have a chance to play.

Maxx Williams became the conference’s top tight end and an Academic All-American. David Cobb developed into the program’s single-season rushing leader after having only one other Power Five scholarship offer.

“[Kill] and his staff have done a great job of bringing in guys who are quality guys on and off the field and coaching us to reach the best of our ability,” said former defensive back Brock Vereen, now with the Chicago Bears. “Changing the culture of a team isn’t something that you can do in one or two years. It takes time.”

http://www.mndaily.com/sports/football/2015/05/07/kill-cultivates-winning-culture-campus

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...

When coach kill first arrived here I pointed out that he was a change agent but that it takes time to change the culture of a football program. I then suggested that everything he did was designed to accomplish this goal. Also, the focus and measuring our success needed to be on this and not so much on the wins and losses. If the culture changed, the wins would eventually come. The culture did change and the wins did come. It has been was easy to see this over the past five years. I personally found watching practices a great barometer as how things were going. I remember during those early practice coach Kill was doing a whole lot of yelling but very little coaching. Now he and his staff are doing whole lot of of coaching and very little yelling. Watching this development and his practices has been truly a thing of beauty.
 

also..

I attended the week before Spring game scrimmage with a WI speed coach and he enjoyed the walk from the 4th St parking ramp past Ridder/Mooch/Williams arenas to the stadium. Sometimes it takes an outoftowner to point out how nice we have it. The Brick by Brick has a look and a feel to it.
 

Nice article. I'm not a physician, but Kill looks good/healthy in that photo. I'm hoping for a great 2015 season!
 

Killjoy said:
When coach kill first arrived here I pointed out that he was a change agent but that it takes time to change the culture of a football program. I then suggested that everything he did was designed to accomplish this goal. Also, the focus and measuring our success needed to be on this and not so much on the wins and losses. If the culture changed, the wins would eventually come. The culture did change and the wins did come. It has been was easy to see this over the past five years. I personally found watching practices a great barometer as how things were going. I remember during those early practice coach Kill was doing a whole lot of yelling but very little coaching. Now he and his staff are doing whole lot of of coaching and very little yelling. Watching this development and his practices has been truly a thing of beauty.
Click to expand...

+1. So true.
 



denguegopher said:
Nice article. I'm not a physician, but Kill looks good/healthy in that photo. I'm hoping for a great 2015 season!
Click to expand...

Yea. His color is certainly less rosy, He almost looks younger. Good on ya coach kill. I should follow suit...
 

Killjoy said:
When coach kill first arrived here I pointed out that he was a change agent but that it takes time to change the culture of a football program. I then suggested that everything he did was designed to accomplish this goal. Also, the focus and measuring our success needed to be on this and not so much on the wins and losses. If the culture changed, the wins would eventually come. The culture did change and the wins did come. It has been was easy to see this over the past five years. I personally found watching practices a great barometer as how things were going. I remember during those early practice coach Kill was doing a whole lot of yelling but very little coaching. Now he and his staff are doing whole lot of of coaching and very little yelling. Watching this development and his practices has been truly a thing of beauty.
Click to expand...
Just doing all the right things doesn't mean the culture will change. It's not an easy thing to do that anybody with the formula can pull off. I think this last year has been amazing and even think the epilepsy situation helped galvanize the transition for the program and draw everyone together. And, once the culture changes -- good or bad -- it can linger after the coach leaves. The places Kill left were all better off for a few years, at least. Pretty incredible with the awful state each program was in when he arrived.
 




eventually when Coach kill retires after a few Nat championships could we see the U rename the field Kill Field?
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom