Shama: Kill: Gopher Program Needs More Time

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per Shama:

“We have a long way to go in our program — period,” Kill told Sports Headliners. “We have to develop players at Minnesota. We have to recruit. Get…players who are going to play their tails off. Have three or four difference makers on offense and defense.”

“Again, we can’t correct everything in one year (one recruiting class),” Kill said. “We haven’t been able to change a lot of things.”

http://shamasportsheadliners.com/

Go Gophers!!
 

I look at the job Fitz has done at NU in elevating their program. After seven seasons, they became very competitive going 10-3 (5-3 BT) and a bowl win. And getting a good share of respect looking ahead to 2013. Still he has a 26-30 BT record after going 5-11 his first two seasons and 21-19 the past five seasons and 50-39 overall.

Competing against the likes of long standing powers like OSU, Michigan, Nebraska and PSU and a solid Wisky program the past 20 years is a daunting task. Moving up to mid-tier of the BT pack above Illini, IU and Purdue would be a nice improvement the next two seasons. The Badgers did it and it appears NU is on the same track. Purdue, MSU & Iowa have been competitive at times but their programs have waxed and waned.

Even JoPa had a tough time averaging more than four wins in the BIG. Its a tough thing to do.

I agree with Coach Kill. He has a very difficult task ahead.
 

Yes, Kill has some work to do. However, Kill's the kind of guy that even if he won the national championship, super bowl, and olympic gold medal in the same year he'd still tell you that they need work. Personally, I like a guy who is never satisfied.

Go Gophers!
 

If Coach Kill can break the .400 B1G winning percentage, he OUGHT to get total support from the Good Fans from Minnesota. He is currently 4-12 or
.250 in B1G play. He would need to go 4-4 in B1G play for 2013, 2014 and 2015 to get to the .400 winning percentage in conference play...or...some combination that would get him 12 B1G wins in the next 3 seasons. (After 2013 the Conference will go to 9 games, so, 12 wins in the next 3 seasons would get him to .380.

You say after 7 seasons, Coach Fitzgerald ( I also like the job he has done at NU in Evanston very much) at 26-30 in conference play has carved out a .464 winning percentage in Conference play.

My question is, Bayfield, do you really think the good fans...the good press and the good athletic administration here in Minnesota will keep Coach Kill around if he fails to reach that .400 mark in Conference play after five seasons here?

Just the other day we saw that Minnesota will play both Michigan and the OSU in 2014 and most likely 2015. That, in addition to wisky, iowa, Nebraska, Northwestern et.al? What are the odds of going 4-4 in conference play in 2013? How about 5-4 or even 4-5 in 2014 and 2015. Do you think that based upon past experiences of Coaches here at Minnesota that .380 to .400 in conference at the five year mark will keep the Coach well supported by the media, fans and administration?

I'd say that if he is at or at least very near that .400 mark, he should be given the opportunity to complete ten years here at Minnesota IF he should so desire. But, that's just me. I think if you have a coach who is allowing the program to be playing competitively you had better damn well stand by that coach.

Because IF we fire a near .400 coach we will go backwards AGAIN and I don't know about you, but, I am getting too darn old to see that happen AGAIN...Even Murray only managed to go about 15W-65L against Big Ten Teams that finished above .500 in conference play during his time here. It is a tough conference to climb to the top half of the conference in.

I agree, Coach Kill has a mighty tough task. I hope he makes it before the good press, fans and administrators here in Minnesota do again what they always seem to be all too happy to do any time a coach gets the program any where near respectability. They did it to Bernie...Murray...Cal...and another coach or two along the way as well. And sometimes they brought in replacements that stood no chance at all...kind of the same formula that Indiana has used for a long time in football...

; 0 )
 

Wren: "My question is, Bayfield, do you really think the good fans...the good press and the good athletic administration here in Minnesota will keep Coach Kill around if he fails to reach that .400 mark in Conference play after five seasons here?

The .400 mark isn't a magical benchmark where Coach Kill will either succeed or fail. Mason didn't even achieve that during his first five years as he came in at .350 and the good ol boys kept him around for another five.

The Brewster hire was a killer, thank you Joel. In fairness to Coach Kill, he needed to build from the bottom up and it appears that the depth is coming around and the talent level is slowly improving. Wacker left Mason with some excellent talent which manifested itself in 1999 when the team was competitive. But his next three seasons were mediocre.

If Coach Kill can keep things moving in the right direction, I think the Minnesota crowd will accept that. Especially if he claim a trophy game every now and then, give the big guns a battle and get to a bowl.

I think its a stretch to expect Jerry to be on the same level as the top dogs in five years. Nor accept being a bottom feeder.

All I know is that I will be enjoying as many Saturdays as I can at TCF
 


This new stadium is a help for Coach Kill...the addition of the Nebraska game makes..

Bayfieldgopher said:
Wren: "My question is, Bayfield, do you really think the good fans...the good press and the good athletic administration here in Minnesota will keep Coach Kill around if he fails to reach that .400 mark in Conference play after five seasons here?

The .400 mark isn't a magical benchmark where Coach Kill will either succeed or fail. Mason didn't even achieve that during his first five years as he came in at .350 and the good ol boys kept him around for another five.

The Brewster hire was a killer, thank you Joel. In fairness to Coach Kill, he needed to build from the bottom up and it appears that the depth is coming around and the talent level is slowly improving. Wacker left Mason with some excellent talent which manifested itself in 1999 when the team was competitive. But his next three seasons were mediocre.

If Coach Kill can keep things moving in the right direction, I think the Minnesota crowd will accept that. Especially if he claim a trophy game every now and then, give the big guns a battle and get to a bowl.

I think its a stretch to expect Jerry to be on the same level as the top dogs in five years. Nor accept being a bottom feeder.

All I know is that I will be enjoying as many Saturdays as I can at TCF
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for a more challenging situation.

However, after watching the administration's responses to dealing with the football program for over a half a century, I would say that Coach Kill needs to win some B1G Football games in a hurry. It has been much easier for the administration to offer up a sacrificial coach than support the old one. And, with this new ad in place, you know that the Norwood Team is just itching to make another signature move to try to establish itself as a "football-competent" full-service athletic directorship group. It will be very difficult for Coach Kill to reach even a .350 winning percentage in B1G play within the five year period looking at that new conference schedule that was released. So, if Coach Kill is able to up his win total during the next 3 seasons to 3 B1G wins per season, at the end of five seasons he would have won 13 B1G games and would have lost 29 for a .300 winning percentage. That would pretty much guarantee him a lot of problems with fans and administrators I would fear.

So, it will be very interesting to watch the next three seasons as they unfold. I think a 4 B1G win per season average for the next three seasons should pretty much insure Coach Kill's position. That would give him something like a .425 winning percentage. That would indicate that the Gophers should be winning bowl game invitations most seasons, and hopefully should win a bowl game or two. It would also indicate that they should have a chance to win some border battle games during that time. (This wisky nonsense has GOT to end...and soon.) During the coming three seasons, a nice 3 B1G, 4 B1G and 5 B1G progression of wins would look VERY good. However, a situation in which there were only 3 B1G wins per season, or a total of 9 B1G wins could spell a lot of unrest and discontent for Coach Kill and the Gopher Football Program in the media and with the administration...and, of course with the "talk on the street...or the "talk" on the HOLE..." crowd.

Coach Kill has got to target wisky, iowa, Northwestern, MSU, Illinois, Maryland, Rutgers, Indiana and Purdue for the majority of potential wins in his quest for achieving over .400 in B1G play within that five year time frame. The Ohio State, Michigan, Nebraska and PSU would be icing on the cake should the Gophers score a win over one of those programs. (Yes, I do include PSU because I believe they will remain a very tough game to win for many B1G Programs.)
 

When Kill's first full class are seniors and redshirt juniors we better be in the top half and consistently stay there. What is so hard about making the top half of the conference? Half the teams are already there! BTW, I think Jerry will make that happen. If you want to be in the B1G, be a B1G team. Kill definitely has the desire and I believe better support from the U administration than his predecessors (not to mention TCF).
 

diehard said:
When Kill's first full class are seniors and redshirt juniors we better be in the top half and consistently stay there. What is so hard about making the top half of the conference? Half the teams are already there! BTW, I think Jerry will make that happen. If you want to be in the B1G, be a B1G team. Kill definitely has the desire and I believe better support from the U administration than his predecessors (not to mention TCF).
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Agree....Jerry has been a winner. He's dedicated and well liked by players, media and fans. We're in good hands....I'm betting that he will get this program back to the level we have been waiting for.
 

If after 5 years Kill and his staff have only won 13 conference games any fears the fans and administrators might have will be well founded. The AD would be justified in bringing in "his guy" to take over the football program.
 



Parski1 said:
Agree....Jerry has been a winner. He's dedicated and well liked by players, media and fans. We're in good hands....I'm betting that he will get this program back to the level we have been waiting for.
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Thanks Parski for your comments and perspective. I also believe that "We're in good hands". Since we are, I do find it strange that we are having all these conversations on where Jerry needs to be to retain his job. My personal take is that trying to set arbitrary requirements is not that useful. The approach I have is a simple one, i.e. that we need to continue to get better. If that occurs, everything else will work out. Meanwhile, I am going to enjoy the journey.
 






Actually, I would take a .375 winning percentage (though .500 would be better). That is one more Big Ten win than each of the last 3 seasons.
 




BleedGopher said:
per Shama:

“We have a long way to go in our program — period,” Kill told Sports Headliners. “We have to develop players at Minnesota. We have to recruit. Get…players who are going to play their tails off. Have three or four difference makers on offense and defense.”

“Again, we can’t correct everything in one year (one recruiting class),” Kill said. “We haven’t been able to change a lot of things.”

http://shamasportsheadliners.com/

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...

We haven't heard from this Jerry Kill for a while. Maybe a bad day for him?
 

Ski U Mah Gopher said:
Actually, I would take a .375 winning percentage (though .500 would be better). That is one more Big Ten win than each of the last 3 seasons.
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And one more W each each consecutive year going forward would be just fine, thank you!!
 

JK doesn't get a 5th yr if we avg 2 BT wins/season over the next 2. Can anyone here convince me that JK is not in over his head?
 

wait!what? said:
JK doesn't get a 5th yr if we avg 2 BT wins/season over the next 2. Can anyone here convince me that JK is not in over his head?
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This year will start to show if Kill is in over his head. He still needs more time but this is the 3rd year in his system for these players so even though he didn't recruit them all they should be adjusted to the coaches and their expectations. There are still plenty of reasons why the team won't be successful but offenively execution should look a lot better this season. I do agree with you though if we are still stuck on 2 Big Ten wins a year after year 4 there won't be a year 5.
 

Profound statement of the day - If the team doesn't win enough games, the coach may lose his job.

Wow - I never would have thought of that by myself........

I think everyone understands that. The question is whether you think Kill can win enough games to make the program more competitive, and by extension, to remain as the Head Coach.

I am cautiously optimistic that Kill will be able to win 7-8 games a year on a fairly regular basis (with bowl eligibiity), and every once in a while, if the cards line up right, I think we can hope to see a 9 or even a 10-win season, and an appearance in a higher-quality bowl game.

As far as a Rose Bowl appearance, or even a slot in the BCS playoffs (or whatever the bleep they're calling it) - if it happens, great. But, I'm not going to throw myself off a bridge if it doesn't happen. I just want to see a competitive team. ( and win some trophy games - beat those stinkin' Badgers).
 

diehard said:
When Kill's first full class are seniors and redshirt juniors we better be in the top half and consistently stay there. What is so hard about making the top half of the conference? Half the teams are already there! BTW, I think Jerry will make that happen. If you want to be in the B1G, be a B1G team. Kill definitely has the desire and I believe better support from the U administration than his predecessors (not to mention TCF).
Click to expand...

We rarely agree on the off-topic board, but you conveyed my thoughts exactly.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Profound statement of the day - If the team doesn't win enough games, the coach may lose his job.

Wow - I never would have thought of that by myself........

I think everyone understands that. The question is whether you think Kill can win enough games to make the program more competitive, and by extension, to remain as the Head Coach.

I am cautiously optimistic that Kill will be able to win 7-8 games a year on a fairly regular basis (with bowl eligibiity), and every once in a while, if the cards line up right, I think we can hope to see a 9 or even a 10-win season, and an appearance in a higher-quality bowl game.

As far as a Rose Bowl appearance, or even a slot in the BCS playoffs (or whatever the bleep they're calling it) - if it happens, great. But, I'm not going to throw myself off a bridge if it doesn't happen. I just want to see a competitive team. ( and win some trophy games - beat those stinkin' Badgers).
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With a 9 game conference schedule, winning 7-8 games on average would mean winning damn near 100% of our out of conference games (composed presumably of non-FCS schools) and then having, at minimum, a .500 record in the Big Ten.

Point being, that would be an incredible feat for this program. I doubt it would even take that much to secure Jerry the job for the next 10-15 years.
 

I like Kill and hope he does well, but I do tire a bit with this seemingly constant refrain. We get it, Jerry. We get it.

I have a hard time figuring out if he is simply suppressing expectations or if he's serious. If the o-line develops, I think we'll be fine.
 

Gopherprof said:
With a 9 game conference schedule, winning 7-8 games on average would mean winning damn near 100% of our out of conference games (composed presumably of non-FCS schools) and then having, at minimum, a .500 record in the Big Ten.

Point being, that would be an incredible feat for this program. I doubt it would even take that much to secure Jerry the job for the next 10-15 years.
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Agree with you there especially about the 9 game conference schedule angle. 7 wins means going 4-5 in the conference, 8 wins would require 5-4. If Kill get the team to the point where we are winning at least 4-5 Big Ten games a year he will have a long tenure here.
 

diehard said:
When Kill's first full class are seniors and redshirt juniors we better be in the top half and consistently stay there. What is so hard about making the top half of the conference? Half the teams are already there! BTW, I think Jerry will make that happen. If you want to be in the B1G, be a B1G team. Kill definitely has the desire and I believe better support from the U administration than his predecessors (not to mention TCF).
Click to expand...

I think we all hate to admit it, but Wisconsin has been one of the top teams in the B1G over the last 20 years (year of their first Rose Bowl).

So how hard is it to be in the top half of the conference every year?

Wisconsin, while being incredibly dominant during that 20 year period, spent 6 years in the bottom half of the conference, one year tied for 5th (11 team era).

True, the helmet schools have had much better luck staying in the top half, but MN is a long ways from being a helmet school. If the U gets close to being half the time in the upper half of the B1G it would be huge.
 


nice try but i frequently am wrong and have no problem capitulating. I like JK but I have not seen anything yet that displays he is BT ready. JK has to win and him dumping UNC and sticking with Phil N last year displays that JK knows it.
 

wait!what? said:
JK doesn't get a 5th yr if we avg 2 BT wins/season over the next 2. Can anyone here convince me that JK is not in over his head?
Click to expand...

LOL - No, but I can say that you have convinced me that what is occurring at Minnesota is over your head.:rolleyes:
 

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