Coach Kill's comments and responses to questions by Dave and Sid on today's Sports Huddle:
1) Sid questioned Kill about paying college players: Kill said he's not in to making the college game a professional game. However, he thought a small stipend for everyday activities may be in order. However, he went on to say, "We have to be careful with it."
2) Is going to be busy this month with out state travel caravan and the summer camps for high school and junior high school students.
3) Tomorrow morning coach Kill will be in Red Wing for a breakfast meeting with Gopher fans (250 are expected to attend morning meeting) and then at noon he'll be in Rochester and Owattona in the afternoon. "I enjoy meeting people. Life is about relationships." "I wish I could wave a magic wand and makes us a winner, but it's going to take time." "Without the fans we don't have a chance." They're part of the organization!
4) Sid asked about a couple kids that reportedly will be visiting Minnesota soon: Kill responded that recruiting is an everyday thing. "We've been courting a few players for a long time." He didn't identify the potential recruits because of NCAA rules. He went on to say that they recruited some walkons late in the recruiting process that became starters at previous coaching stops.
5) Talked about a couple players from NIU -- Trevor Olson (lineman from Minnesota) and quarterback Chad Harnish -- they were visiting Minnesota to see their former coach and coaching staff. Kill expects to see good things from the two at NIU this year. He also said that's the hard part of leaving a program - the players that they bonded with.
6) Mona asked about offering players at summer camps (offers made immediately or after the recruits have returned home and after evaluation.): Kill said if they've been following a player for a long time they may receive an offer immediately; however, they do things differently from most schools in that they recruit as a group. If they're looking at an offensive player, as an example, the offensive coaching staff and especially the position coach will get together and discuss the attributes of the recruit and evaluate the recruit before tendering the offer. Players personality equals chemistry, which is extremely important.
7) Will meet with an Alumni group on June 12th. "Meet the Rookie" (this year's recruits) will be later this month (most of the recruits will be here June 12th; however, because of different graduation schedules across the country the arrival of some will be delayed.)
8) Mona asked about the OSU situation and college football today: Kill said we must continuously evaluate our operations and make sure we're in compliance with policies. Problem: basketball for some time has had difficulties with third parties, which has transferred to college football. We live in a fast paced society and people want it now and that can translate to problems for coaches and their organizations. Another problem is the time limits that coaches have to meet with the players, which makes it difficult to make sure players are doing what they should be doing (not talking about practice but about off-duty activities). He has his coaches go to the places that the players reside to check up on them and make sure things are okay.
9) Ended the Coach Kill segment talking about the tragedy in Joplin, MO, per Sid's question. He lived in the Joplin area for seven years. All of his friends in Joplin survived the tornado.
Go Gophers!!
1) Sid questioned Kill about paying college players: Kill said he's not in to making the college game a professional game. However, he thought a small stipend for everyday activities may be in order. However, he went on to say, "We have to be careful with it."
2) Is going to be busy this month with out state travel caravan and the summer camps for high school and junior high school students.
3) Tomorrow morning coach Kill will be in Red Wing for a breakfast meeting with Gopher fans (250 are expected to attend morning meeting) and then at noon he'll be in Rochester and Owattona in the afternoon. "I enjoy meeting people. Life is about relationships." "I wish I could wave a magic wand and makes us a winner, but it's going to take time." "Without the fans we don't have a chance." They're part of the organization!
4) Sid asked about a couple kids that reportedly will be visiting Minnesota soon: Kill responded that recruiting is an everyday thing. "We've been courting a few players for a long time." He didn't identify the potential recruits because of NCAA rules. He went on to say that they recruited some walkons late in the recruiting process that became starters at previous coaching stops.
5) Talked about a couple players from NIU -- Trevor Olson (lineman from Minnesota) and quarterback Chad Harnish -- they were visiting Minnesota to see their former coach and coaching staff. Kill expects to see good things from the two at NIU this year. He also said that's the hard part of leaving a program - the players that they bonded with.
6) Mona asked about offering players at summer camps (offers made immediately or after the recruits have returned home and after evaluation.): Kill said if they've been following a player for a long time they may receive an offer immediately; however, they do things differently from most schools in that they recruit as a group. If they're looking at an offensive player, as an example, the offensive coaching staff and especially the position coach will get together and discuss the attributes of the recruit and evaluate the recruit before tendering the offer. Players personality equals chemistry, which is extremely important.
7) Will meet with an Alumni group on June 12th. "Meet the Rookie" (this year's recruits) will be later this month (most of the recruits will be here June 12th; however, because of different graduation schedules across the country the arrival of some will be delayed.)
8) Mona asked about the OSU situation and college football today: Kill said we must continuously evaluate our operations and make sure we're in compliance with policies. Problem: basketball for some time has had difficulties with third parties, which has transferred to college football. We live in a fast paced society and people want it now and that can translate to problems for coaches and their organizations. Another problem is the time limits that coaches have to meet with the players, which makes it difficult to make sure players are doing what they should be doing (not talking about practice but about off-duty activities). He has his coaches go to the places that the players reside to check up on them and make sure things are okay.
9) Ended the Coach Kill segment talking about the tragedy in Joplin, MO, per Sid's question. He lived in the Joplin area for seven years. All of his friends in Joplin survived the tornado.
Go Gophers!!
