“I’m walking away from a lot of money”. Claeys also served as acting head coach during Kill’s absence in 2013.
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“I want to be myself”, said Kill, who has a career record of 156-102 and was 29-29 at Minnesota.
Despite the health challenges, he has done a very good job at Minnesota, leading the Gophers to bowl games each of the last three years. He told SI’s Jon Wertheim in December that he attributed it to getting his medication right as well as eating and sleeping better.
The deal included an automatic termination clause if Kill were unable to fulfill his role for 45 consecutive days during the season. The Gophers won four straight Big Ten games with Claeys at the helm for the first time in 40 years and finished the season 8-5 after a loss to Syracuse in the Texas Bowl.
The Gophers’ on-campus stadium that opened in 2009 surely has had a positive impact on the program, and the go-ahead previous year to build a $70 million football complex would only have been a big asset for Kill in luring players from all over America to the cold of Minnesota.
He said he had two seizures prior to his team’s practice on Tuesday and has struggled to sleep more than three hours each night.
“I just hope (God) figures out something for me to do”, he said.
“I got a chance to know (Kill) a little bit at the Big Ten meetings”, Flood said.
He added that his doctor told him if he continues to coach that it could led to even more neurological problems. Claeys took over for Kill in 2013, and coached the Golden Gophers to a 4-3 record in those games.
It’s certainly possible that Kill’s health may have contributed to the team taking a step back from last season. QB Perry Hills has run for 294 yards in his last two starts, RB Brandon Ross has two 100-yard games this season, and the Terrapins are averaging 5.2 yards a carry.
Following stops in Northern Illinois and Southern Illinois, the U of M was Kill’s first major conference job.
He energized the Gophers program and became a face for the fight against epilepsy through his perseverance.
The first time Claeys replaced Kill because of a seizure was at Southern Illinois in 2005, but Kill still was present in the press box. He has suffered various seizures due to epilepsy, which he contracted in 2005.
Minnesota coach Jerry Kill announcing his retirement during news conference Wednesday. “I don’t want to be a liability. I don’t want the coaching staff to change at all, but I’ve never been so uncertain about my future and what’s going to happen”, Connelly said.
Coaching is what Kill loves and knows, he has been doing it for 32 years, and now he can’t do it. The fact that he’s making the right move for his health and his family didn’t make this any easier to watch. “I probably wasn’t supposed to go there”, he said.
Perhaps, as Kill speculated, he’ll find an answer through Chasing Dreams.
Kill said Wednesday that he was advised by doctors to retire.
“When he came in, he had a lot of success. I like the pleated ones”. “Sometimes we live in a selfish society, and if we could get back to the “we” and caring about each other, we’d have a better country”.
Jerry Kill stepped down Wednesday because of continued issues with his epilepsy after rebuilding a failing program into a solid, if not spectacular, winner.
Kill said even as he faced this announcement, he was wrestling with the decision.
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“I feel like I’ve been trained well from the last situation”.
