It was the opposite of how Kill looked at his news conference Wednesday as he announced his retirement because of health concerns. In 2005, he was diagnosed with epilepsy at age 44 after suffering a second seizure while on the sidelines at Southern Illinois.
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“I’ve given every ounce that I’ve had for 32 years to the game of football and the kids I’ve been able to coach”, a tearful Kill said at his press conference Wednesday.
“Last night, when I walked off the practice field…”
The rigors of college coaching – Kill said he didn’t sleep more than three hours a night in the past three weeks – require coaches to find a release. And I did my best to change.
Shortly before kickoff at Michigan Stadium, I posted the news that Kill would miss the game.
Sometimes stability and patience aren’t the worst things in the world, though I’m not naming names (Iowa).
INSIDE THE NUMBERS: Illinois has won three of its last five Big Ten games and four of its last eight.
After a 3-9 campaign with the Gophers in Kill’s first season, they made a bowl game the last three years and are 4-3 so far this year. “He supports everyone around him, and he has set a tremendous example about what it means to be passionate, going after your dreams, to be fully committed to anything and everything you do”. “But there is a whole range of how long that may take and what they may have to go through”.
My son had never met anyone who had seizures; he started referring to Coach Kill as a part of our family. He beat cancer, but he’s continued to deal with seizures. Kill said he had avoided taking a few of his medication because “I couldn’t think the way I wanted to think”. “I don’t want somebody to have to worry if I am going to drop on the field”.
“This is a tough moment for me and our players, our coaches”.
“But, I don’t have any more energy”.
The state of Minnesota came to a pause. “And I have no regrets”.
For now, Claeys and the rest of Kill’s longtime assistants will attempt to carry on his vision with the Gophers. Interim athletic director Beth Goetz is presiding over the program, but unless named to a permanent position is unlikely to name a successor.
“Hell, that ain’t no way to live, ” Kill said.
Minnesota isn’t regarded as one of the power programs in the Big Ten, but Kill had been slowly building it to that point.
“I had like 20, 15 missed text messages at 7:30 in the morning”, said Epping, who earned a degree in business and marketing education from Minnesota and finished his playing eligibility last season.
“It’s a stressful situation, but like I always tell my players, you can kill stress if you’re prepared or if you’re players are prepared”, Jackson said.
Kill told the team in early morning meetings, five days before a critical game for the Gophers (4-3, 1-2) against the 15th-ranked Wolverines. Travis, like Kill, has a love of football. I probably wasn’t supposed to go there, either, but I didn’t give up.
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“I don’t think it will be too much of an adjustment because Coach Claeys and Coach Kill are very similar”, Murray said. Lewis said Jurich “explained to us that Coach Pitino is going to be our coach” when he was asked during the Atlantic Coast Conference media day if he was anxious about his coach’s future. I ain’t done anything else.
