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Jerry Kill also is a perfect match for Minnesota. He’s tough, stubborn, passionate, tireless, demanding. The Gophers football program needed a coach like Jerry Kill to drag it out of an abyss.
Gophers football needed a man like Jerry Kill.
That’s what made Wednesday so incredibly emotional and gut-wrenching — seeing Kill alone at a podium, so vulnerable and sad, saying he no longer physically can do the job that he loves so much.
Jerry Kill retired immediately because of health reasons. He acknowledged he’s had more seizures. He said he’s tired and has nothing left to give. He alluded to his medication not giving him the mental clarity that he needs to do his job effectively, do the job the way he wants to do it.
Kill looked emotionally defeated in a way that we’ve never seen from him. That was hard. His honesty and raw emotion left a roomful of Gophers officials and media members in tears.
I’ve never hidden my belief that Kill is the best thing that’s happened to Gophers football in a long, long time. He got this program on its feet again, gave it hope, structure and life. He leaves the program in far better shape than the mess he inherited.
But Jerry Kill is a better person than football coach. He gave his time to so many people and so many places that I always wondered if he even slept at night.
He made countless speeches to groups and churches. He’d rearrange his schedule to visit with a sick child. He invited a courageous 10-year-old girl named Mia Gerold who was battling a brain tumor to lead his team onto the field before the home opener in 2011.
He was their best fundraiser for the athletic village that he desperately pushed to be built.
Kill wasn’t exaggerating when he said he gave every ounce of himself to the program and this state.
Kill gave his entire heart, too.
The sadness at his news conference reflected Kill’s impact on Minnesota but also the unfair acknowledgment that a man who loves coaching is having that taken from him...
http://www.startribune.com/chip-scoggins-jerry-kill-gave-everything-he-had-to-gophers/337973231/
Gophers football needed a man like Jerry Kill.
That’s what made Wednesday so incredibly emotional and gut-wrenching — seeing Kill alone at a podium, so vulnerable and sad, saying he no longer physically can do the job that he loves so much.
Jerry Kill retired immediately because of health reasons. He acknowledged he’s had more seizures. He said he’s tired and has nothing left to give. He alluded to his medication not giving him the mental clarity that he needs to do his job effectively, do the job the way he wants to do it.
Kill looked emotionally defeated in a way that we’ve never seen from him. That was hard. His honesty and raw emotion left a roomful of Gophers officials and media members in tears.
I’ve never hidden my belief that Kill is the best thing that’s happened to Gophers football in a long, long time. He got this program on its feet again, gave it hope, structure and life. He leaves the program in far better shape than the mess he inherited.
But Jerry Kill is a better person than football coach. He gave his time to so many people and so many places that I always wondered if he even slept at night.
He made countless speeches to groups and churches. He’d rearrange his schedule to visit with a sick child. He invited a courageous 10-year-old girl named Mia Gerold who was battling a brain tumor to lead his team onto the field before the home opener in 2011.
He was their best fundraiser for the athletic village that he desperately pushed to be built.
Kill wasn’t exaggerating when he said he gave every ounce of himself to the program and this state.
Kill gave his entire heart, too.
The sadness at his news conference reflected Kill’s impact on Minnesota but also the unfair acknowledgment that a man who loves coaching is having that taken from him...
http://www.startribune.com/chip-scoggins-jerry-kill-gave-everything-he-had-to-gophers/337973231/