Scoggins/Kill Article

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Chip wrote a nice article about Jerry Kill today.

www.startribune.com

Scoggins: 10 years after resigning from the Gophers, Jerry Kill is 'living the dream' while helping lead Vanderbilt and QB Diego Pavia.

A decade after resigning as the Gophers head coach to due health problems that included seizures, Jerry Kill is a consultant for Vanderbilt, arguably the greatest story in college football this season.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

Side note: Did it ever become public if him and Rebecca got divorced? I think we all kind of assumed they are and there is no mention of her, but I've never actually heard it confirmed.
 


MNfootballfan said:
Chip wrote a nice article about Jerry Kill today.

www.startribune.com

Scoggins: 10 years after resigning from the Gophers, Jerry Kill is 'living the dream' while helping lead Vanderbilt and QB Diego Pavia.

A decade after resigning as the Gophers head coach to due health problems that included seizures, Jerry Kill is a consultant for Vanderbilt, arguably the greatest story in college football this season.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

Side note: Did it ever become public if him and Rebecca got divorced? I think we all kind of assumed they are and there is no mention of her, but I've never actually heard it confirmed.
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listed as they're divorced on his wiki page for what that's worth
 

Eastside Forever said:
Loved Coach Kill. He was a fabulous coach and knew what was required to have a winning program.
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I too, am a Jerry Kill supporter.

However, he went 29-29 (14-21 in conference) at Minnesota and 0-3 in bowl games. He made the program better (thanks Basement Brew) but he was average at best record wise.

People hate on Fleck 63-42 (37-38) for not winning enough but I think he’s just less likable to some people. (I also love Fleck, FWIW)
 



Eastside Forever said:
Loved Coach Kill. He was an average coach and knew what was required to have a winning program, at JV level schools.
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FIFY.

Can we stop w/ this narrative? Kill was .500 overall at Minnesota, and .400 in conference. Even if he was the winning coach you suggest, he couldn’t . . . stay . . . healthy (sound familiar, Minnesota sports fan?), and that, coupled with his “Aw shucks” persona, were not a mix for what a B1G HC in the modern era should be, and to no fault of his own (he is what he is, medically and personality).
 







UpAndUnder43 said:
I too, am a Jerry Kill supporter.

However, he went 29-29 (14-21 in conference) at Minnesota and 0-3 in bowl games. He made the program better (thanks Basement Brew) but he was average at best record wise.

People hate on Fleck 63-42 (37-38) for not winning enough but I think he’s just less likable to some people. (I also love Fleck, FWIW)
Click to expand...


They’re both good coaches
They both win less than I would prefer


Don’t get why people don’t universally accept this
 

ol' jer' is a ball coach. it's who he is, it's in his blood. he turns boys into men and football is his vehicle. ol' jer' is also a fix it man. when ad's need fixin' for their program, they call 'jer. this time around vandy needed some fixin' so they came callin and now he's mentoring not only players but also coaches. jer' is a tough sumabitch and doesn't let critics slow him down.
 

Kill was a mediocre QB from an HC job at a helmet school. Lesson in humility there somewhere.
 



spermophilus said:
FIFY.

Can we stop w/ this narrative? Kill was .500 overall at Minnesota, and .400 in conference. Even if he was the winning coach you suggest, he couldn’t . . . stay . . . healthy (sound familiar, Minnesota sports fan?), and that, coupled with his “Aw shucks” persona, were not a mix for what a B1G HC in the modern era should be, and to no fault of his own (he is what he is, medically and personality).
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Have to disagree with you. He started from scratch and was a hard worker dedicated to lifting up our moribund program.
 

Go4 said:
ol' jer' is a ball coach. it's who he is, it's in his blood. he turns boys into men and football is his vehicle. ol' jer' is also a fix it man. when ad's need fixin' for their program, they call 'jer. this time around vandy needed some fixin' so they came callin and now he's mentoring not only players but also coaches. jer' is a tough sumabitch and doesn't let critics slow him down.
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Love it! Right on!!
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
I too, am a Jerry Kill supporter.

However, he went 29-29 (14-21 in conference) at Minnesota and 0-3 in bowl games. He made the program better (thanks Basement Brew) but he was average at best record wise.

People hate on Fleck 63-42 (37-38) for not winning enough but I think he’s just less likable to some people. (I also love Fleck, FWIW)
Click to expand...

If Kill was provided a Year Zero are his statistics closer to Fleck's?
 

Kill was better than Brewster and Wacker for sure. I’d probably even take him over Mason. He would have been better in the 90s and early 2000’s I think due to his style. I think he’d struggle in the modern game and its new atmosphere. I think PJ works pretty well in it. Not perfect or excellent, but pretty good.
 


Ski U Mah 55 said:
Reminds me of the line from Moneyball, "If he's a good hitter, why doesn't he hit good?"
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Ha! I lead a book discussion on a required-reading breakout session on “Moneyball” themes and potential applications to our finance company, for a managers/supervisors retreat one fall about 20 years ago. Some of my favorite quotes/lines:

“Managers tend to pick a strategy that is the least likely to fail, rather then to pick a strategy that is most efficient. . . . The pain of looking bad is worse than the gain of making the best move.” And,:

“Pretty girls tend to become insufferable because, being pretty, their faults are too much tolerated.”
 
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gopherbadgerman said:
Kill was better than Brewster and Wacker for sure. I’d probably even take him over Mason. He would have been better in the 90s and early 2000’s I think due to his style. I think he’d struggle in the modern game and its new atmosphere. I think PJ works pretty well in it. Not perfect or excellent, but pretty good.
Click to expand...
Yeah. He was exactly what the program needed at the time the program got him.

I think sometimes people forget that he was coach for only 5 years.
3-9
6-7
8-5
8-5
4-3 (6-7)


He was good because of what the program needed at the time
When he left He was hitting the same ceiling fleck is hitting. Would’ve been interesting to see what he could’ve done with a few more years but we will never know because he left.
Would’ve that 5-7 that made a bowl and won have been better if he stayed? Would have he ever won 9+ regular season?
 

The thing I liked most about JK is he changed the culture regarding football. Minnesota had been soft for a long time, and he improved the blocking, tackling, and physicality of the gophers, that has been for the most part true with P.J.s regime as well. I was biased against Fleck when he was hired because he reminded me of Wacker and Brewster, more BS than anything. I think that Fleck is a good coach, and he has earned my respect, although the BS does get a smidge deep at times but….for now it’s ok.
A lot of folks around here seem to be really upset with the coordinators and not the coach, I would think the style of offense and defense run is pretty much approved by the head coach, don’t really see the disconnect there.
Probably my only real expectation under Fleck was an uptick in recruiting quality, I think as far as where they rank year to year in the BIG 10 is about the same as Kill. Of course our best recruiting the last 15 years or so was that one year under Brew, that turned out to be a non-factor.
 



gopherbadgerman said:
Kill was better than Brewster and Wacker for sure. I’d probably even take him over Mason. He would have been better in the 90s and early 2000’s I think due to his style. I think he’d struggle in the modern game and its new atmosphere. I think PJ works pretty well in it. Not perfect or excellent, but pretty good.
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Better then Brewster/Wacker....no doubt
In terms of Mason - Pre-Ohio State Mason (1996-2000) was better then Kill post Ohio State Mason (2001-2006) was worse.
 

Go4 said:
ol' jer' is a ball coach. it's who he is, it's in his blood. he turns boys into men and football is his vehicle. ol' jer' is also a fix it man. when ad's need fixin' for their program, they call 'jer. this time around vandy needed some fixin' so they came callin and now he's mentoring not only players but also coaches. jer' is a tough sumabitch and doesn't let critics slow him down.
Click to expand...
I will now sleep soundly tonight.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Better then Brewster/Wacker....no doubt
In terms of Mason - Pre-Ohio State Mason (1996-2000) was better then Kill post Ohio State Mason (2001-2006) was worse.
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Fair. Kinda like trading shit for piss though…
Mason was not here in 96 and was 12-20 from 1997-2000 in B10 and was 20-28 after…neither was a great run but better than Wacker for sure
 

I liked that the Kill teams were always tough as nails. We always had a large gritty Oline. Linebackers that looked like NFL linebackers Damien Wilson, De'Vondre Campbell, and Jack Lynn to name a few. They were always deep at defensive back.

But the passing game left a lot to be desired to say the least. UFF DA!
 
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A few observations.

1.
Kill took over a program that had gone 3-9 (2-6) in the previous season, and made it better.
Fleck took over a program that had gone 9-4 (5-4) in the previous season, and made it worse.

2.
Kill was named Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2014.
Fleck was named co-Coach of the Year in 2019, sharing the honor with Ryan Day.

3.
After taking over a wrecked program, Kill fielded a better team each year he was at Minnesota*, except in his final season, when his health collapsed and he was forced to retire. (*win totals: 3, 6, 8, 8, and 4 in a partial season)

After taking over a winning program, Fleck peaked in his third season, winning 11 games with a number of the previous regime's players still on his roster. Since then he has endured two seasons with a losing record, and since 2021 has only presided over a season-upon-season improvement once (2024).

4.
Kill's run at Minnesota was cut short due to intractable health problems, but his overall record as a head coach is 175-115 for a winning percentage of .603.

Fleck has now had nine years at Minnesota, making him the second-longest tenured coach in the Big Ten, and his overall record as a head coach is 93-64 for a winning percentage of .592.

5.
A lot of Gopher fans are dicks. Some of them are reading observation 5 right now.
 

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