Ladies and Gentlemen....Jerry Kill....we got'm?

[MuleShack]

Besides the fact that no one has heard of "kill bill" maybe no one with any status wanted to coach at minnesota? Either that or the Gophers wern't paying very much.

I guess we'll have to see if he pronouncs that we are going to the insight bowl next year at his press conference. Then we'll know what he is about.

[creepworm]

I think hiring Leach would have satisfied a huge majority of the fan base. I know I would rather see him here than kill.

[Coach1310]

WOW!!!! Of all the names thrown out over and over and we hire Kill???? He may do great, I hope he does, but this is another fine example of how far the U of M has fallen.

Issue #1: The same old, same old process the U of M has followed with its football hires forever. Ho hum guys, you say "Who?" "Really?" "Never heard of him".... but as far as the U is concerned their background is spotless and their cheap.

Issue #2: THIS WILL DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO STIR UP SUPPORT AND POSITIVE BUZZ FOR THE PROGRAM. The biggest issue I see with this is in recruiting. Maybe the guy is a great salesman, but I just don't see him heading into living rooms across MN an convincing the best talent in MN to stay home. You can't compare it to Northern Illinois because those kids had a chip because the big schools in Illinois passed them over and you can't compare him to Tressel at Ohio State because I'm pretty sure I could recruit kids to Ohio State. And Mike Grant??? Really, if his last name was Wilson, no one would even know who he was.

Issue #3: THEY WANTED THEIR STADIUM, WE GAVE IT TO THEM AND FOR THAT WE GET.... Tim Brewster and Mr. Kill???? So we roll out the big bucks for the stadium but can't find a few extra million to spend on a coach???? This screams of getting buy on the cheap because we had to pay out so much money to Mason and Brewster. Saving a few bucks to potentially set the program back another 5 years.....

I can understand this on a few levels... of course he will listen as I doubt a whole lot of other BCS conference schools are knocking on his door. Also, the U of M has turned into such a mess, no big time candidates will even listen to us. We're talking about guys at Temple, San Diego State and Air Force saying NO THANKS!!! Thirdly, its another guy with a perfectly straight and narrow personality so we can keep our nose up and our ego inflated because we are all "perfect people" at the U of M???? We're trying to win football games here, not running a daycare center.........

Disclaimer- Mr. Kill may be a GREAT football coach and hopefully it turns out wonderfully for him and the U of M..... however as a Gopher football fan, other than the preceding ramblings...I'm almost speechless!!

[pike doctor]

Minneapolis Star and Sickle Tribune Headline "U goes in for the Kill"

Over 400 comment already and most people are disgusted. It really doesnt matter if the guy can coach. He has already lost public interest until he produces a winning record and some meaningful bowl games. If people arent excited now, they wont sell season tickets next year, wont get any recruits and will have a horrible season next year and then nobody will want to play for him again and the process will repeat until he gets fired. Then four years from now we can do this all over again and hand him a big check on the way out the door.

Here are some of my favorite comments from the Stalingrad free press:

50,000 empty seats. Good going Joel. Time to puke.

OH yeah! This really makes me want to get season tickets. Fail Maturi!

Oh No! We've hired a fat Brad Childress!

This is the guy who is going to rebuild gopher football. What a joke!! Maturi should be on the chopping block!!!!! what a bunch of horse dung!!

And the laughs just keep rolling in at MN sports.

[zepman]

On the surface it seems like a questionable hire...but what did we really expect. Any of the "big" names mentioned in the recruiting process would have been here and gone faster than Brewster. That's just the way the game goes.

So we hire a guy from a mid-major conference...a guy who has earned his right to take the next step. A coach who has a complete staff in tact and ready to roll. A coach who by all means is just that...a "coach", a teacher, and a football guy.

By all accounts, he has a good track record and has won everywhere he's gone. The big question will be if he can recruit well enough to land the type of athlete we need to take many, many steps up the ladder. He'll be able to hire a whole recruiting staff...hopefully a bunch of young, energetic, and talented new faces who'll be able to sell our football program in new ways.

Give the guy a chance...heck...we haven't even heard him talk yet.

[JBMasterAngler]

At the very least, he has some pretty good athletes to work with. So if he can teach them how to play football, we could be bowl bound next year I'm predicting a win over Michigan next year! Marquis Gray should fit in well in his offensive scheme.

[CJH]

I am really disappointed. This is not a "Tubby" type of hire as promised, this is a "our lame duck President turned down all the decent coaches available and we are broke so we couldn't pay them anyway" hire. Leech should have gotten the job.

I hope he does well, 10-3 is a good season on any level. Maturi should resign if this turns out badly. Good Luck dealing with the angry mob for the next few months.

BTW - Brewster was never a coordinator, the highest he ever got to was a position coach, which is a major difference. Coaching TE's (a position he played) is night and day from directing an offense or coaching an entire team.

[JIvers]

I am really disappointed. This is not a "Tubby" type of hire as promised, this is a "our lame duck President turned down all the decent coaches available and we are broke so we couldn't pay them anyway" hire. Leech should have gotten the job.

I hope he does well, 10-3 is a good season on any level. Maturi should resign if this turns out badly. Good Luck dealing with the angry mob for the next few months.

BTW - Brewster was never a coordinator, the highest he ever got to was a position coach, which is a major difference. Coaching TE's (a position he played) is night and day from directing an offense or coaching an entire team.

I believe Maturi is near retirement, so this will probably be his last major hire, whether it works out or not.

The boast about getting a "Tubby Smith" hire for the football program was foolish, given the undeniable fact that the U's football program is a mess, and a big name coach was therefore unlikely to come here. We know Fulmer ruled himself out, and I suspect Gary Patterson, Al Golden, and other more realistic semi-big names passed on the MN job as well, as there will be openings at better programs sooner or later. Golden, for instance, is often suggested as JoePa's potential replacement at PSU; Michigan may have a job opening soon, too.

And who is to say a big name would be a slam dunk? Michigan lured RichRod away from West Virgina, and while Rodriguez has not been an utter disaster he has not restored Michigan to the level its entitled fans expect.

As I said earlier, I was open to Leach, but the James kid incident was only the straw that broke the camel's back at Texas Tech; Leach had clashed with the admin. there for years, and had a long history of controversial behavior and statements. (There could have been more that the public never heard about.)In any case, the U ruled Leach out early on for just these reasons, so that wasn't an option. Once Leach was eliminated, like it or not, the chances of getting a big name were slim.

Yes, Brewster was TE coach, not a coordinator, at Texas...but a coordinator typically has never run anything on the other side of the ball, unless they were a head coach somewhere else. And all head coaches start out running an entire team for the first time, and Kill has that out of the way.

I wish the Gophers had gotten a more proven name, but I don't think that expectation was realistic. I live in Iowa City, and I have had to put up with Hawkeye fans for almost a decade now; currently, a vocal minority among those Hawkeye fans are wishing Kirk Ferentz, the guy who eleven months ago gave Iowa its first BCS Bowl win ever, be fired for Iowa's 7-5 season. That minority assumes Iowa can just go out and hire a coach who will win the next ten BCS Championship games. Those expectations are ridiculous.

While not as extreme, Gopher fans' wishes that the U could have hired Mike Leach or ??? ignore the realities of where the Gopher football program is now, and where it has been the last fifty years. I see no reason to assume Kill can't be a good coach at the U, and I hope he does well. If Kill crashes and burns, I will eat my crow. Until he has a couple seasons to put his system in place, I see no point in arguing about his hiring, as it is done.

[DTro]

Well how many big name coaches can you think of that wanted to come here?

It’s the old quandary, what comes first, the chicken or the egg.

In order to have a successful program (not just a good year here or there) you have to get decent players. Not even the great Vince Lombardi could be successful here without some talent.

So do great coaches, bring in talent, or does talent bring in great coaches? How can the U succeed if it keeps hiring and firing guys every 3 years?

If they REALLY want to start being competitive it’s all about the Benjamins…..plain and simple.

Personally I think they would be better off dropping out of the conference and use the money for better things.

[harvey lee]

+1

[toughguy]

Well there is a presser scheduled for 2:00 today where Kill will be introduced. I hope he does well.

[sunglow2]

I haven't sent in a lot of posts here, but I think the guy deserves a chance. Big names aren't always the ticket, just look at Notre Dame and their program. They have failed with big time coaches & big name recruits. The Gophers need to recruit nationally & keep some of the home grown talent, but they need a coach to get the ball rolling.

...just my $0.02.

[so haaad]

I'm disappointed like most of you that this wasn't a big name hire like Tubby. One thing they are saying about Kill though is that he stresses teaching the fundamentals, which is something that this team desperately lacked the past few years. Under Brewster, the Gophers struggled to line up and do the simple things like run plays on time. Hopefully Kill can prove the naysayers wrong. The biggest thing I question about this hire is the guy's ability to attract recruits. I can't see why any top prospect from MN or anywhere else would want to play for this team based on this move.

[PierBridge]

Quote:

Issue #1: The same old, same old process the U of M has followed with its football hires forever.

LOL!....not exactly breaking news here.... ... So we have another coach you all will blame for the mediocre to brutal teams we will continue to have here at the U..

I was hoping for this guy but knew it wasn't going to happen!

[DTro]

I heard him on an interview on KSTP yesterday. Seems like a pretty decent guy. Didn't talk about winning any bowls or even going to them, but rather recruiting team players and the "right" kind of people.

[SkunkedAgain]

Once we all get over the lies that vomited out of Maturi's mouth, I think that we'll all like Coach Kill. We just need to get over what we were promised versus what we got.

[toughguy]

Skunked and dtro - I totally agree. I'm not happy about how it went down but this just might work. I watched the whole presser on Ch. 5 and I have warmed up to him. My level 9 of disappointment has eased to a 4 or 5. He seems like an honest, to the point, hard working guy. At least that's a change from Brew.

Maturi should still be blind folded, put in a car, drove across the St. Croix and left on a gravel road though.

[SkunkedAgain]

I'd rather find a coach that wants to be a 30 year coach than just to have Minnesota be another notch in their coaching headboard.

[creepworm]

Toughguy, I agree with you entirely. He seemed to ease the disapointment with his press conference. I do not know that most people were saying he was a bad hire, I just think that we were promised a big name coach and did not get one.

[TR21HP]

As said before, big name coaches don't always equate to big name players. Winning programs bring in big name players. If Kill starts a tradition of winning football games the players will come. It rests on the ability of the assistant coaches to develop these players to their fullest ability, something that was sadly lacking the last 4 or 5 years. A coach is only as good as the players that he has on his squad. It's funny how some coaches have a great team one year, graduate a number of skilled players have a sub par season and everybody is talking about how lousy the coach has become. After you sign your tender at the University you rarely interact with the head coach, it's usually the position coaches you spend all your time with and that will be an important part of Kill's success at the U is his assistants and those assistants recruiting the type of player that will enable the U to become, at least, competitive again and get into some mid level post season bowls.

[Harmonica Bear]

I guess it'll be just a wait and see thing, and just pray he can turn this thing around to at least be relevant.

One never knows, it's not like Barry Alvarez was a house-hold name when Wisconsin hired him.

[SkunkedAgain]

Yup, I'll be going to games next year no matter what. Losing outdoors still beats losing in the Dome anytime.

[JIvers]

Urban Meyer today announced his resignation as head coach of Florida...again.

I mention it on this thread because this is why it was foolish for the U of M to declare that they were going for a "Tubby Smith" type of hire. All those big and semi-big names that didn't take the job at Minnesota? They are going to be knocking each other down auditioning for the Florida job.

[Coach1310]

LOL!....not exactly breaking news here.... ... So we have another coach you all will blame for the mediocre to brutal teams we will continue to have here at the U..

So what exactly are you saying Pier?? You always throw stuff like this out there, but never seem to SAY what you want us to interpret. Just curious as to what YOU think the problem is??

The more and more I hear Kill and read about him, the more and more I think it will work out okay. Unfortunately, I see a Mason type of campaign, but that's a heck of a lot better than another Brewster type one.

[JBMasterAngler]

If mason had this stadium instead of the dome, he would've had much better gopher teams, and most definitely would still be the coach! Anyway, I'm looking forward to attending a couple games next year at the "kill zone"!