Minnesota on the up? Jerry Kill looks to revive the Golden Gophers
Minnesota has struggled in recent years, forlornly slipping down the Big Ten into mediocrity. With a disappointing defeat to South Dakota last September, the crowd turned on then Head Coach Tim Brewster. Chants of “Fire Brewster” rained down from the TCF Bank Stadium stands and it reached a head when the Northern Illinois University Huskies took the lead on September 25th.
The fans got their wish in mid-October, with Brewster being shown the door. Jerry Kill was the man leading the Huskies to that 34-23 win over the Golden Gophers but nobody expected him to become the next head coach in Minnesota.
Kill’s first test was to reinstall the toughness in Minnesota that was blatantly missing during the Brewster-era. Spring practices were ran as competitively as if the team was in preseason, with a high speed, physical tempo that Brewster could not seem to run his practices with.
Kill has built a solid reputation of rejuvenating programs that have headed towards and landed in inadequacy. He turned Southern Illinois from a 1-10 program into a perennial FCS playoff contender and he led NIU from a 2-10 season in 2007 to 23-16 over the next 3 years.
But this challenge proves to be a massive one. No matter how much experience Kill and his staff have at turning around programs, Minnesota are a flailing team, without a Rose Bowl appearance since 1962 and without a conference title since 1967. Kill also refused to make promises of glory, as Brewster did, in his introductory press conference. “I don’t have a magical wand,” he said.
Kill still has a lot of work to win over the fans at Minnesota, though. They know he was not the first choice to lead the program, with Tony Dungy and Barry Alvarez both turning down the job before Athletic Director Joel Maturi approached the former Saginaw State HC.
But Kill and his staff are ready for the challenge, with Tracy Claeys, defensive coordinator, admitting that, “to go to a BCS school is a dream of all of ours.”
“This one ain’t easy,” Kill admitted, talking about turning the program around. “But I’m convinced that we can do it.”
Not easy may be an understatement. Kill opens his competitive regime at Minnesota against USC and will face Michigan in his first conference contest. Time will tell if Jerry Kill can surprise the Big Ten once again.
Article courtesy of NJ Sharrocks.
