Who gets to start under Kill?

[Killjoy]

One of the things that may be unique about coach Kill is how he selects who is going to start. We all heard coaches say “If you are the best you will start.” But I believe that many coaches really don’t really practice what they say. That is because there is a natural strong bias that favors the highly recruited and ranked players over the not so highly recruited or ranked players.

I don’t think this is the case with coach Kill. As a former walk-on himself, coach Kill is going to judge each players by what they actual do and not by their press clippings. Therefore when he says that if you are the best player you will start I take him at his word. How does this actually translate into whom going to start? Based on Kill’s actions so far it seems to me it means:

- If you are a true freshman and you are the best you will start even if means burning your red shirt. Maybe down the road when we have more depth it might not mean that but until then until it does mean that.

- If you are walk on and you are better than a highly recruited player you will play ahead of that player. Hopefully this will help attract more and better walk-ons to Minnesota in the future.

It also means that you won’t start and/or probably not play if:

- You are not doing it Kill’s way.
- Coach Kill isn’t comfortable that you won’t let your team down.
- You are not doing your academic.

All coaches have to deal with the question “Do I play a player if he isn’t following the rules?” It appears to me that coach Kill is more likely to say no than most other coaches even though there certainly are short term negatives to a team when you have to bench a player. In the long run it is the right thing but I am sure it is not easy. The problem is that most coaches, players, and fans are not that concerned about the long term. Hopefully parents are more concerned about the long term for their son than the above. If they are, they may see the value of having their son coached by Kill.

Thoughts?

 

[highwayman]

Starting is such a relative term with Kill. I think you are referring to "quality playing time". Kill seems to reward 30-40 players per game with quality playing time. No pretense, no favorites. Perform, you will play. That's a nice sell.

 

[Dr.Don]

Starting is such a relative term with Kill. I think you are referring to "quality playing time". Kill seems to reward 30-40 players per game with quality playing time. No pretense, no favorites. Perform, you will play. That's a nice sell.

Your concept of who is "starting" is spot on. The tendency of the commentors here is to dwell on the starters, such that so many think that starters play all the time. In fact it is the depth and slight difference in quality of the players that is important.

Depth of closeness in quality of players is what Coach Kill is working on, and this will not happen in just a short time.

 

[Killjoy]

Thanks highwayman and Dr.Don - You both captured what Kill is trying to do here which is often either not understood or misunderstood. His policy of frequent substitution is the reason why red shirting freshmen will not be possible until we build up our depth. This obviously bothers people but Kill is going to do it his way, not the way the experts on GopherHole want him to do it.