Minnesota’s Kill steps down for health concerns

Minnesota football coach Jerry Kill has stepped down because of health concerns, the university announced Wednesday morning.

Kill, 54, compiled a 29-29 record in four-plus years with the Gophers and was 156-102 overall. Minnesota associate head coach and defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys, who has worked alongside Kill for 21 years, was named as the team's interim head coach.

Kill previously had health issues related to epilepsy, causing him to step away most recently in 2013. Those health issues resurfaced recently and he admitted he had two seizures before Tuesday's practice. He waited to tell his coaching staff this morning because he didn't want the news to leak.

'This is a tough moment for me and players, coaches,' Kill said this morning in an emotional news conference. 'Last night when I walked off the practice field, I felt part of me died.

'This is not the way I wanted to go out, but you all know about the struggles. Some of those struggles have returned, and I don't want to cheat the game.

'This is the toughest thing I've ever had to do in my life and the toughest thing since I lost my dad.'

Minnesota hired Kill after the 2010 season, and within two seasons the program became a Big Ten West Division contender. The Gophers competed in the 2012 Meineke Car Care Bowl. In 2013 Minnesota won eight games and competed in the Texas Bowl. Last year, Kill's squad beat Iowa and Michigan in the same season for the first time since 1967. The Gophers dropped a winner-take-all game with Wisconsin for the West Division title but earned a trip to the Citrus Bowl, the program's first Jan. 1 bowl appearance since 1962.

After last season, Big Ten coaches voted Kill as its Hayes-Schembechler Coach of the Year and league media made it unanimous with the Dave McClain Coach of the Year award.

The Gophers (4-3, 1-2 Big Ten) were picked by many as a Big Ten West Division favorite entering 2015 and received votes in early polls. Minnesota dropped a 23-17 season opener to current No. 5 TCU but injuries crippled the team in close non-conference wins and big losses to Northwestern and Nebraska.

It is unclear what are Kill's health issues to force his retirement. Claeys previously served as acting head coach for seven games in 2013 when Kill stepped away to focus on his health. Claeys was 4-3 with wins against Northwestern, Nebraska, Indiana and Penn State.

Minnesota closes its season with a brutal stretch beginning Saturday with No. 15 Michigan. The Gophers then travel to No. 1 Ohio State and No. 10 Iowa before wrapping up against Illinois and Wisconsin at home. Kill was 2-2 against Iowa and guided the Gophers to a 51-14 win last year at TCF Bank Stadium.

'Coach Kill has had a strong and positive impact on every program he has been associated with during his career,' Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. 'I have tremendous respect for the coaching job he has done at Minnesota and even more so for the manner in which he has done it. Jerry is an outstanding person and I wish both he and his family all the best moving forward.'

Kill said he's unsure what his next step in life will be after coaching football for 32 years.

'I ain't done anything else,' Kill said. 'That's the scary part.'

Minnesota interim athletics director Beth Goetz said the department has not decided when it will begin a coaching search, but she and Minnesota President Eric Kaler will make that decision in the coming days.

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