What grade would you give the Jerry Kill Era at Minnesota?

What grade would you give the Jerry Kill Era at Minnesota?

  • A

    Votes: 74 46.8%

  • B

    Votes: 75 47.5%

  • C

    Votes: 7 4.4%

  • D

    Votes: 1 0.6%

  • F

    Votes: 1 0.6%
  • Total voters
    158
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What grade would you give the Jerry Kill Era at Minnesota?
 


Gave it a B (B+ if I could).

From where we were to where we are was a big improvement and above what an average coach and staff could do, IMO. Beat Iowa, beat Michigan, beat Nebraska. Did it with class and improved the classroom performance as well, and led the charge to get the shovels in the ground on new athletic facilities.

An A grade would've been beating Wisconsin and winning a bowl game during his time as well. Those were the two things that were missing from the resume that kept it from being truly excellent, IMO.
 

Kill's accomplishments at Minnesota include one of the highest APR's in the country, his kids staying out of trouble, improving recruiting, etc. We all wish they would have won a few more games, especially against Wisconsin, but all in all, Kill is one hell of a guy and a great asset for the U and the state of Minnesota.
 



Agreed. His impact goes beyond the Gopher Football program, to the entire Gopher Nation, to kids with illnesses, is immeasurable. He made real honest to goodness good men out of boys.
 

Somewhere between B and B+. Good hire, nothing more, nothing less. Which means on Maturi's scale, it was a A+++++++++ hire.
 

A solid B.

He built up the program that was in a pretty terrible state.

For an A you have to win the B1G. Sadly his chances were cut short.
 

Solid B+.

On field results, program direction, recruits, classroom results, attitude, fan interest in program, fan experience.

Make that an A-.
 



B. If he would have won the axe and beaten a top 20 team, I would have given him an A. He did everything else right.
 

I gave him a B, but I debated between B and C.

Probably would have gave a B- if I could have.

He has done a lot of good things. He took a program in the toilet and made it respectable. Academically the program is night and day from where it was. He was a great leader, built the team the right way, and was a guy you could be proud to have as your coach.

However, the non-homer in me has to look at the results. Two wins vs. ranked teams - both #20something Nebraska. No wins over WI, no Bowl wins, the revolving door at QB and poor offensive play overall after 5 years says I just can't give a higher grade. If the current staff is retained and they achieve some of those things, his grade will go up accordingly. But as much as I want to buy into the foundation is laid argument, until we start seeing results, I have to grade on what the team has achieved, which is not near where we want to end up.
 


I gave a B. Would've been closer to an A if we had beaten Wisconsin last season.
 



Lakeville Goldy said:
I gave him a B, but I debated between B and C.

Probably would have gave a B- if I could have.

He has done a lot of good things. He took a program in the toilet and made it respectable. Academically the program is night and day from where it was. He was a great leader, built the team the right way, and was a guy you could be proud to have as your coach.

However, the non-homer in me has to look at the results. Two wins vs. ranked teams - both #20something Nebraska. No wins over WI, no Bowl wins, the revolving door at QB and poor offensive play overall after 5 years says I just can't give a higher grade. If the current staff is retained and they achieve some of those things, his grade will go up accordingly. But as much as I want to buy into the foundation is laid argument, until we start seeing results, I have to grade on what the team has achieved, which is not near where we want to end up.
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This
 

A-. Would be a straight A if we had won the B1G West last year by beating Wisconsin. He definitely did a great job turning the program around and developing young men.
 


How can you judge an era before it's over? Kill might not be the head coach anymore....but he laid a solid foundation and he's leaving the team with HIS staff. And I highly doubt that Kill will completely separate himself from the team.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
 

It's hard to say because I don't think the Kill era is really ending this year. Depending on how the recruiting landscape plays out with this class. Given what he inherited, I can't not give in an A. He put the program on the map and although it has yet to really break through, it is still respected and the expectations have been raised as a result of what he has been able to do.
 

stocker08 said:
How can you judge an era before it's over? Kill might not be the head coach anymore....but he laid a solid foundation and he's leaving the team with HIS staff. And I highly doubt that Kill will completely separate himself from the team.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
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Fully agree. Kill was building a program. As long as his coaches are still here, it is still his program.
 

I gave him a "A" because this just is a mid term grade, the more I think about it, it is a A+. To bad he can't stay to finish the job so I could give him a "final".
 

Winnipegopher said:
Fully agree. Kill was building a program. As long as his coaches are still here, it is still his program.
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That feels like the right thing to think now, and for the rest of the season. But no matter who gets the job full time, this has to be their program, obviously building on Kill's foundation, but if Claeys is the long-term guy, he needs his space and ability to drive the program in the direction he sees fit. It won't happen overnight, but its unhealthy if it doesn't happen.

Go Gophers!!
 


Everyone on this board was very helpful a couple of months ago when I needed suggestions for restaurants, etc before the TCU game. I just wanted to stop by and wish you well on your search for a new coach. Jerry Kill is a good guy and I wish him and y'all all the best.
 

How quickly people forget....

How you can think back to the New Mexico State, NDSU, South Dakota (Brewster's final year, I know), and the 2011 Michigan game, then compare to now (just four years later), and not rate this an "A" is beyond me.
 

Okie said:
How quickly people forget....

How you can think back to the New Mexico State, NDSU, South Dakota (Brewster's final year, I know), and the 2011 Michigan game, then compare to now (just four years later), and not rate this an "A" is beyond me.
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Well said. "A" is a no-brainer for me.
 

BleedGopher said:
That feels like the right thing to think now, and for the rest of the season. But no matter who gets the job full time, this has to be their program, obviously building on Kill's foundation, but if Claeys is the long-term guy, he needs his space and ability to drive the program in the direction he sees fit. It won't happen overnight, but its unhealthy if it doesn't happen.

Go Gophers!!
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I guess my writing was somewhat inaccurate. I would change to "Kill and his coaches were building a program. As long as the nucleus of coaches is still here, it is still the same program." I fully expect Claeys to take charge this week and for things to look different, at least in play calling. If Kill was suffering a lot, it must have been very stressful for the staff and players. This may be a relief.
 

How can you give him anything but an A+? He took over a debacle of a program and made it respectable nationwide. And spearheaded upgrading some of the worst facilities of comparable teams in the country. He built support and excitement like no other.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

We you compare him to Wacker, Brewster, Mason et al he get an A. Sure there are other coaches out there who do amazing things but each situation is unique. If you have compare him to guys other guys who've built programs from scratch he's no worse than a B+.
 

A for sure. Five years of "F" Followed by Kills five years of "A" has the program at a "C" We didn't win the Big or the West during the "A" years but they were still A's in my book.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
 

Iceland12 said:
Sadly, very sadly an "Incomplete".
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Hard to give the final grade at mid-term, but he was riding a low-A/high-B. Would have loved to see what he could have done with four or five more years. Clearly, he established a solid foundation, which had been lacking for three decades.
 

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