Shama: Big Ten Expert: Gophers Kill ‘Great Coach’

per Shama:

"Big Ten Expert: Gophers Kill ‘Great Coach’

Gophers football notes:

Big Ten Network analyst Chris Martin raves about Minnesota coach Jerry Kill. “He’s one of the best coaches out there,” Martin said. “He’s won every place he’s been.”

Martin told Sports Headliners before last Saturday’s game against Wisconsin that he “truly believes Kill is a great coach.” The Gophers are 5-17 during the last two seasons and the program hasn’t won a Big Ten title since 1967, but that doesn’t damper Martin’s enthusiasm for Kill and his staff. “I know he will get them back on top,” Martin said.

He also described defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys and offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover as “brilliant.” Those two, along with Kill and the other coaches have the Gophers playing with maximum effort, according to Martin, a former defensive back for Northwestern.

“They play harder than anybody in the Big Ten,” Martin said.

Martin played for the Chicago Bears when Greg Schiano was an assistant coach there in the 1990s. He believes Schiano, now head coach at Rutgers, could be in the “conversation” as the next Penn State head coach. Schiano was an assistant at Penn State before he joined the Bears.

Injured Gophers defensive back and kickoff returner Troy Stoudermire is a senior and hasn’t played since the fourth game of the season but he might receive a medical redshirt allowing him to play next season.

At least one pro scout was at Saturday’s Minnesota-Wisconsin game. Gophers wide receiver Da’Jon McKnight is the one Minnesota senior who might be chosen in next year’s NFL draft."

http://www.shamasportsheadliners.com/

Go Gophers!!

Kill may turn out to be great for the Gophers, but I would take anything Chris Martin said with a grain of salt. He also called Nick Toon the "premier" receiver in the Big Ten.

Most football writers around the country seem impressed with Kill.

I will say that during the Brewster tenure, once we started playing in November the team's energy and enthusiasm took a noticeable nose dive. It does seem that under Kill, this team is still playing hard in November. This could bode well in the future when we are (hopefully) winning.

GO4INLALALAND said:

I will say that during the Brewster tenure, once we started playing in November the team's energy and enthusiasm took a noticeable nose dive. It does seem that under Kill, this team is still playing hard in November. This could bode well in the future when we are (hopefully) winning.

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Horton was 0-2 in October, 2-1 in November.

Ski U Mah Gopher said:

Horton was 0-2 in October, 2-1 in November.

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He said Brewster tenure, not Horton.

Brewster was 5-9 in October, but only 1-10 in November overall.

cfb120 said:

Kill may turn out to be great for the Gophers, but I would take anything Chris Martin said with a grain of salt. He also called Nick Toon the "premier" receiver in the Big Ten.

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Maybe i'm wrong, but I think Toon is right up there with McNutt, Jenkins, Ebert and Cunningham.

I don't see much difference between those players. I know his stats aren't quite as good, but he plays with a QB who spreads the ball around and on a team that isn't passing a ton after a lot of their halftimes.

I have seen a different level of effort out of the team under Kill, almost a frantic energy about them. Even when they have been brutal this year.

I can't help but remember watching NIU and SIU highlights when kill was hired.
a few points that struck me:
Offensive line was athletic and almost surgical in their blocking.
Defense line was always penetrating.
Offense was well executed and had a fast paced rhythm.

One of the most striking things was watching film of SIU when they beat Indiana in 06',SIU when they beat NIU in 07', and watching NIU play wisky in 09'. In all those games they were down big and came back to win or scare the bejesus out of the team(wisky).

06 SIU @ indy down 21-7 in the third, came back to win 35-28
07 SIU @NIU down 28-7 in the third quarter won 34-31
09 NIU @ wisky down 28-6 in the 4th, came within 10 yards of tying the game with 1:43 left

Three very big games in Kill's career, all won/almost by not giving up, fighting til the end, and probably outhustling and out competing superior competition that may have rested on their laurels.
I expect this type of team to be built here eventually, I expect we'll be happy with the results.

RodentRampage said:

Brewster was 5-9 in October, but only 1-10 in November overall.

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Those kinds of stats are sort of meaningless to me.
Was the win against Michigan St have been better if it occured 5 hours later?

Don't get me wrong, we had some end of the year gross games but we have a lot pre-November as well. We also had some good games played late in the season that didn't end in wins (Brew year 1 vs. Sconny, the 12-0 loss to Iowa was played hard).

BleedGopher said:

per Shama:

"Big Ten Expert: Gophers Kill ‘Great Coach’

Gophers football notes:

Big Ten Network analyst Chris Martin raves about Minnesota coach Jerry Kill. “He’s one of the best coaches out there,” Martin said. “He’s won every place he’s been.”

Martin told Sports Headliners before last Saturday’s game against Wisconsin that he “truly believes Kill is a great coach.” The Gophers are 5-17 during the last two seasons and the program hasn’t won a Big Ten title since 1967, but that doesn’t damper Martin’s enthusiasm for Kill and his staff. “I know he will get them back on top,” Martin said.

He also described defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys and offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover as “brilliant.” Those two, along with Kill and the other coaches have the Gophers playing with maximum effort, according to Martin, a former defensive back for Northwestern.

“They play harder than anybody in the Big Ten,” Martin said.

Martin played for the Chicago Bears when Greg Schiano was an assistant coach there in the 1990s. He believes Schiano, now head coach at Rutgers, could be in the “conversation” as the next Penn State head coach. Schiano was an assistant at Penn State before he joined the Bears.

Injured Gophers defensive back and kickoff returner Troy Stoudermire is a senior and hasn’t played since the fourth game of the season but he might receive a medical redshirt allowing him to play next season.

At least one pro scout was at Saturday’s Minnesota-Wisconsin game. Gophers wide receiver Da’Jon McKnight is the one Minnesota senior who might be chosen in next year’s NFL draft."

http://www.shamasportsheadliners.com/

Go Gophers!!

Click to expand...

This makes it seem like he is saying Coach Kill was 5-17 the last two seasons instead of it being 3-9 under Brewster/Horton, and 2-8 under Kill.