Steep climb to Minnesota for hard-nosed coach Jerry Kill

CHICAGO - He's homespun and hard-nosed. He uses venerable cliches to get his point across. He's as old-school as it gets, and that's the way he likes it.

Jerry Kill hails from barren southwest Kansas, but unlike the topography of his native land, his climb to the Big Ten has been steep. Kill spent three years at a Missouri high school and toiled 13 years in the Division II ranks. Then he coached another seven years in Division I-AA and three more in the Mid-American Conference.

Now in his first year at Minnesota, the 50-year-old Kill appreciates the grind of his career path, especially when compared to coaches who never left the Division I ranks. His lack of pedigree has hardened his resolve and tested his character over the years, particularly this season in Minnesota.

"I started off like owning a restaurant and starting in the kitchen," said Kill, who signed a seven-year contract this morning at Minnesota that runs through 2018. "I've kind of gone through the whole regiment of learning what to do and how to do it and how to build relationships with people. I think sometimes it's not what you know but who you know and through the journey, I think I appreciate the profession.

"I carried the bags out to practice. I've done my share. We didn't have 14 equipment managers and all that stuff. Shoot, I marked lines on the field and everything else."

Kill's humble upbringing has served him well through his career and in life. He became a linebacker and team captain at Southwestern (Kan.) College in the early 1980s. He worked his way through the ranks and became an assistant at Division II powerhouse Pittsburg (Kan.) State. There he coached under Dennis Franchione and alongside best buddy Gary Patterson at Pittsburg (Kan.) State. He developed lifelong friendships with both and even stood up with Patterson at his wedding.

Kill left Pittsburg State to become head coach at Saginaw Valley State, then returned to central Kansas for two seasons at Emporia State. Both of his Pittsburg State cohorts tried to persuade him to join their Division I programs as an assistant in 2001 - Franchione at Alabama, Patterson at TCU. But Kill opted instead for a massive rebuilding project at Division I-AA Southern Illinois.

From 1986 through 2000, the Salukis had only one winning season. Kill took over in 2001, and Southern Illinois finished 1-10. By 2003, Southern Illinois was 10-2 and a playoff squad. For five consecutive years Kill had the Salukis in the postseason, including a 12-2 record in 2007 and a playoff semifinal experience.

It wasn't an easy turnaround and one Kill still calls his toughest to date.

"Coach Franchione told me, 'Jerry don't take this wrong, but Jerry you're never going to get a great job,'" Kill said. "'When jobs are open, it's usually for a reason. If it's a great job, they'll usually promote the assistant and get a big name person. The jobs you get are going to be struggling jobs.' He said, 'You've got to go make a name for yourself and taking that job at Southern and you turn that around - that's a bad job right now - and it's a good one to get.

"Now it's one of the best I-AA jobs in the country."

He got it done at Southern Illinois, but it nearly killed him. In 2005, Kill suffered a seizure on the sideline and later was diagnosed with kidney cancer. He waited until the season was over and had a tumor removed from a kidney. He went back to work just as hard afterward with a new attitude but recurring physical challenges.

Kill has suffered from seizures at his different jobs, including at Northern Illinois from 2008 through 2010. His seizures became a public situation last month during the waning moments of a Minnesota loss to New Mexico State. He was hospitalized, sought opinions from Mayo Clinic and since has had multiple seizures, including 20 in a six-day period. But as he did at Southern Illinois, he pressed on at the same pace.

"I ain't changing," Kill said. "You know, I'm tired and I have my wife telling me I'm tired. I have some doctor telling me or whatever. You know, their job is to get it all figured out. They have got to get me on the right medication and all that kind of stuff.

"But I can't control what I can't control. I believe in one man and that's The Big Man upstairs, and I'm going to go like hell until I go down and then I go down, and they can do whatever they do and I'm going to go again. That's who I am, and I ain't changing."

Kill has assembled a loyal coaching staff and seven associates have served under him for at least 10 years. That has helped the program maintain some stability during Kill's medical issues.

"We have been through the situation before," Minnesota defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys said following Kill's seizure in the New Mexico State game. "Everybody knows the job they got to do. That's one great thing about working with (Kill). He has a little manual. They're all lined out to the T what's expected of you, what your job is. We follow them.

"We're still doing it the exact way he wants it to be done. If we didn't do that, we wouldn't have a job when he got back. The plan has worked. We've been successful everywhere we've been. We don't plan on deviating from that at all."

Kill's spirit is tested at Minnesota, a school with little success in the last 40 years. Kill's had to do just about everything in his first year at Minnesota from public speaking engagements to posing for pictures with Floyd of Rosedale. He avoided a summer vacation and has called out his players for academic problems.

"He speaks to the fans just how he speaks to us," Minnesota running back Duane Bennett said. "The fans aren't getting any different spiel than what we're getting."

Kill cannot accept a lack of effort from his players, something he shared with them from the beginning. Some of that philosophy is shaped by his cancer scare. Most of it is embedded into his personality by a strong-willed father and mother and a hardscrabble upbringing.

"I think that's probably the hardest thing I have to understand is how anybody can be blessed with talent that has the opportunity to get a college scholarship and play the great game of football and they don't play the way it should be played," Kill said. "I always talk about respecting the game. People who played this game long before I was here played the game hard, physical. If you don't play hard and you don't give your best, you're cheating life.

"I almost lost my life so I don't understanding anybody who gets up in the morning and is moaning and groaning and complaining. You don't know if you're going to be here the next day you have to change your thought process of what you do. Every day is a good day; some are better than others. Life is short, you'd better take advantage of it."

Kill's philosophy has rubbed off on his players.

"If you're not going to put it out there, he's going to get it out of you either way," Bennett said. "Either you're going to give it, or he's going to take it from you either way. So with giving 100 percent, just knowing his background and knowing how he came through the coaching ranks, it almost illuminates you as a player. It makes you want to play for him and makes you want to give everything that you've got."

This year the Gophers are 1-6 and have allowed 181 points combined in the last four games. In the Big Ten, Minnesota ranks last in scoring offense, scoring defense and total offense and 11th in total defense. It's tough to accept for Kill, who has had 14 winning seasons in his 17 years as a head coach. He's taken teams to the postseason eight consecutive seasons, including the last three years at Northern Illinois. That streak could end this week should the Gophers lose to rival Iowa.

Minnesota hasn't won a Big Ten title since 1967 or participated in the Rose Bowl since 1962. That also was the last season the Gophers played in a New Year's Day bowl. But Kill is ready for the challenge. He's battled through that type of adversity and more his entire life.

"You'd better be thick-skinned," Kill said. "You'd better have a little mental toughness to you. I think what's happened with me in my lifetime, I was raised in a small town by a hard-nosed father and mother. I've had a few obstacles; everybody in the room has had obstacles. It's how you deal with them. You just keep trucking along."