Hello. I just wanted to say how excited I am to have Jerry Kill and his staff at the U. I am looking forward to seeing his men on the field in the years to come. What a leadership challenge he and his staff have undertaken, and this is why I am such a big fan of his. Only a man with nuts the size of watermelons would even consider taking on such a challenge. The difference with Jerry is that he has proven his leadership. Why does his staff follow him to different football teams? I believe he has also beat cancer? A leader is leader no matter what situation you put them in. I watch him go out onto that field every Saturday and give it everything he has. His team fails again and again, I see him fall to the ground and taken to the hospital. I hear his comments. I know what he is going through taking over a leadership challenge. That team is going through hardship like no other. The strongest bonds and iron clad character is forged in the greatest of hardships. It is where you learn mental toughness. Why do Marines have such strong brotherly bonds? They suffer and endure through the most incredible hardships together. Most of this board just see failure, I see out of failure comes greatness. I can’t wait to see the studs he develops in the next few years go out and compete on that field, his way.
The AD needs to be canned yesterday. Joel, the minute you fired Mason you became responsible for everything this team does or fails to do. Joel is the laughing stock, not the program. The program is a direct reflection of him.
I found this board recently to learn more about the football team and was taken back a little bit by some of the negativity and expectations. I have served with some of the best leaders this nation has created. I know, what do college football and the USMC have in common right? Leadership, discipline, and culture are the same no matter what organization you look at. It just varies on the quality of it and intensity in which it is followed and displayed. We have one of the most unique and hardcore organizational cultures on the planet. It took us 236 years to develop this organizational culture we have today through leadership, discipline and the mastery of basic skill sets. Jerry Kill can turn this program around on a dime? It doesn’t work that way and here is why.
Do the ages of the members of the organization matter? You bet it does! You mold and forge 18-19 year old kids into the material that will turn into your men and leaders when they are 20-21-22. You have but ONE opportunity to get this right. Does character matter? That is the absolute number one thing we look for. Those 18-19 year old kids with character who are raised in YOUR culture become the 20-22 year men who set the example and become leaders on the field. When those 20-22 year old men raised in YOUR culture have the next crew of 18-19 year old kids come into the organization is where culture starts. YOUR 22 year old men setting the tone for an 18 year old kid is when organizational culture is established. For the U that is 5 years…minimum. It doesn’t mean you will have an excuse for 5 years, doesn’t mean you will be undisciplined for 5 years, and it doesn’t mean you will lose for 5 years. It is what it is.
We have a phrase we call brilliance in the basics. What is the most basic thing a student athlete should do at this university? How about show up to every one of your classes. You are there to get an education, and if you have discipline instilled in you and become a leader even more success will follow you after college is over and you have to get a real job. Jerry Kill has to track 63 players most of which are getting room/board/education—free of charge? NASTY!!! If so many players are lacking the most basic of all disciplines how can you expect them to be disciplined on the field? Maybe in year one he just gets this straightened out. David Hackworth is one of the most decorated and highly regarded combat leaders in the history of the Army. He took over a combat unit in Vietnam that was regarded as the worst of the worst. Do you know what he did the first week? If you guessed get some grass from the rose bowl you are wrong. His soldiers were so undisciplined they would not even wear their combat helmets and flak jackets. This first week of his command he put on his helmet and flak jacket and walked around and enforced this until it was instilled in his unit. When you start from square one it’s a long road to travel.
It is impossible to micro-manage an 18 year old kid. There is no such thing as over-supervision with young kids, away from home for the first time with so many distractions and people that want to take advantage of them. Set the tone early, set it hard, enforce it. They are going to make mistakes and bad decisions but kids with character will correct themselves with proper leadership. There is no such thing as an 18 year old who is brilliant in the basics. You have to teach them how to crawl, then walk, then run in your basic skill sets. Even if we have a kid who shot a rifle on the US Olympic team, he learns how to shoot our rifle our way and he starts from day one with the rest of the kids. We even teach them how to lace up and tie their combat boots in the correct way. Does it really matter how your boots are tied? Of course not! Does it matter if a kid cannot even pay attention to detail in the simplest of tasks? You bet it does! It can take upward of two to three THOUSAND repetitions to attain muscle memory and master some basic skill sets. Some learn faster some slower. Fumbling the football, bad QB to RB exchanges, poor tackling, poor technique, some interceptions is not discipline. You simply are not brilliant in the basics.
We had a sports reporter who said Jerry kill was a high school coach because he had our young running back holding the football in his arm properly after he fumbled. That reporter shouldn’t talk about leadership anymore because he has no clue. I saw that kids eyes and his attitude on the sideline when they showed him cradling that ball on TV. I was more impressed with that then anything else I saw that game, he gets it. He is going to be a great young man. If I was younger and had the skills I would love to play football for coach Kill.
