Jerry Kill...is he the right guy?

Donate To GopherHole
S

Sid Hartman

Banned
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
962
Reaction score
0
Points
16
I like Jerry Kill and want him to succeed, but I would be curious to hear if people have confidence in him taking this program to the next level. I know Minnesota is an after through for football and we have not been relevant for 50+ years but are we ok with being average every year.

I will admit that Kill came into a mess and did well to clean out a lot of the bad apples and improved academic performance. But just watching him and his staff I have questions on their scheme and vision for the program.

You are not going to win on talent alone so you need to come up with a scheme or concept that you can hang your hat on...before today i would have said power running. Where are some jet sweeps...or some swing passes to Berkley Edwards (probably not the best idea to run him up the middle on his limited touches). The QB position has been an utter joke and every QB they throw in there looks worse than the guy before. We hear all the time about how he developed Harnish and Lynch at NIU...you are in the Big Ten you should be able to recruit a QB that could be at least average.

Waving the white flag before halftime down 24-0 is concerning...punting on 4th and 1 with 51 seconds left down 23 is a joke (I know game was out of hand at that time).

I know I am going to get bashed for posting this but oh well
 

I thought he was a close, personal friend of yours?!
 

I like Jerry Kill as a person and coach, and believe he could be the right guy to take us to the next level, but I can see his loyalty to his staff... Ahem Limegrover ahem... And his stubbornness regarding play-calling being his downfall.
 

Kill is a great guy, but I don't think he's a great coach. He is too loyal to his ways and his coaches. Limegrover is terrible, and you have to just blame Kill for entrusting a Big Ten offense to Limegrover. As a head coach, you also have to be a great leader and be able to make the touch decisions... such as getting a new OC.
 

He's the right guy. 1 game isn't going to persuade me to think differently. I'm certainly willing to at least see how the rest of the season plays out before even thinking about changing my opinion.
 


No; do not believe he can elevate the program to where I'd like it to be.

#2years
 


Yes he has brought this program back to a respectable level and I have confidence in him to continue to elevate the program especially if the facilities upgrade comes through.
 

The question I had at is hiring still remains, is it possible to overcome a talent gap while attempting to run a similar ground and pound employed by far more successful programs in our division?
 




jaymil said:
I think you said 2 years around this time last year right??? So that would make it #1year. We'll see.
Click to expand...

Nope; have always said I didn't think he'd be HC past the 2015 season. The only thing is, Jerry isn't the only stubborn guy at the U.

Oh well. The Big Ten offers a lot of up-for-grab games.. maybe they can pull a string of games out and put together a good season.

Edit:
goldengophers said:
The question I had at is hiring still remains, is it possible to overcome a talent gap while attempting to run a similar ground and pound employed by far more successful programs in our division?
Click to expand...

It's a fair and intelligent question. I think the answer is 'no' and the stubbornness of Kill won't allow him to adapt and grow enough.

Sadly, the Brewster hire I believe DID give Minnesota a chance because of the recruiting. Didn't work out, but there was a higher ceiling with Brewster than with Kill.
 

So then what would it cost to get the right person into this program to elevate this program to where you would like it to be?

Go ahead. Name prices, steps, and who that person would be.

The largest error made in the running of this program was NOT firing Mason or hiring Kill. The error as not hiring a Kill like coach immediately following the firing of Mason. We are only in Mason-like land at this point.

I do believe that Kill, at this point, has much more drive to succeed at Minnesota than Mason did at the same time in his career.

It strikes me that that Kill is more of the head to make Minnesota a winning program rather Mason, who at the same time seemed to be more of the mindset to pack-up bags and move to tOSU.

I think the Land O Lakes money will go a long, long way to improving Minnesota football. Kill will benefit from that.



Gopher Warrior said:
No; do not believe he can elevate the program to where I'd like it to be.

#2years
Click to expand...
 




Our roster isn't a catastrophe.

We don't gave a QB, which is a catastrophe.
 

i believe that kill can fix the brewster mess but we arent going to be a top 4-5 team year in and year out with kill. hope im wrong
 

Jerry Kill is the right guy. The program has an identity and a philosophy. Offenses and offensive coordinators are lightning rods for criticism, and we all acknowledge improvement is necessary. The play of the defense and special teams in refreshing. Improvement is happening.
 

Studwell55 said:
Our roster isn't a catastrophe.

We don't gave a QB, which is a catastrophe.
Click to expand...

Pretty much. This team has some good players in it, and I feel like the offense has finally started bringing in some guys who can become good playmakers. But with the QB spot still in flux, we're never going to see this team reach its potential. I'll admit, the offensive line was troublesome as well, but this was the type of game where you'd like to see the QB lead the offense through the struggle by simply being efficient when the shots were there and not turning the ball over. Unfortunately, the exact opposite happened today.

If he never gets the QB spot fixed, then no, he won't end up being "the right guy", cause that's a critical component that's failing right now.
 

Nort Man, You so hit the nail on the head. Ml was not even recruited as a qb and starts over two recruited qb's, I.e pn and cs. Pn sucked so I agree with his benching, but cs is a lot better than everything I read. The fact that the coaching staff named ml the starter shortly after last season, shows to me a certain amount of closed mindedness that impedes their ability to objectively evaluate the qb position. As a result, we have ml starting over cs. Cs should start over ml next week. He is an actual qb.
 


I doubt the answer is on the roster right now.

Would love to be wrong.

Wish Phil had stayed.
 

Yes. We have a QB problem and you can't fix that in a year by signing a free agent off the street. It will take them time to develop someone, be it Leidner or another player.

This is the same rationale we went into the Tim Brewster era with -- and it made us glad to beat FCS teams. Kill has room to improve, but I am happy with the job he is doing and I think he can continue to be successful here.
 

Love how this topic seems to come up whenever there is a loss. I'll be dead and buried before the gophers ever run the table... Get over it. They laid an egg today... Move on
 

GO4INLALALAND said:
Man. You so hit the nail on the head. Ml was not even recruited as a qb and starts over two recruited qb's, I.e pn and cs. Pn sucked so I agree with his benching, but cs is a lot better than everything I read. The fact that the coaching staff named ml the starter shortly after last season, shows to me a certain amount of closed mindedness that impedes their ability to objectively evaluate the qb position. As a result, we have ml starting over cs. Cs should start over ml next week. He is an actual qb.
Click to expand...

Not to rip Streveler, but has he really shown enough for us to make the assumption he's better than Leidner? The TD pass to Williams was fine, a little behind Maxx, but it was effective. He's a better athlete than Mitch, no doubt about that. His pass to Maye on an out route on 3rd down was behind him and underthrown. It was a bad pass. If we started Streveler today and ran the same plays, does he really do better than Mitch? I'm not convinced. The argument I could see to starting Chris is he's a better runner. We could go full read-option mode and run the ball 80% of the time and grind out yards that way. I haven't seen anything from Streveler to suggest he's a better passer than Leidner. Just because our starting QB is struggling doesn't mean the backup is the answer.
 

Put an average "Power 5" QB on this team and we win 9 games. Put an above average one (Conner Cook?), and we challenge for the B1G. As it stands, I see 6 or 7 wins again. SJSU, Purdue, Illinois are gimmes. NW is likely. Iowa goes either way. Importance of QB play can't be overstated.
 

MGGopher said:
Put an average "Power 5" QB on this team and we win 9 games. Put an above average one (Conner Cook?), and we challenge for the B1G. As it stands, I see 6 or 7 wins again. SJSU, Purdue, Illinois are gimmes. NW is likely. Iowa goes either way. Importance of QB play can't be overstated.
Click to expand...

This. Kill will be fine as long as he can find a solid QB.
 

McGopherFan said:
So then what would it cost to get the right person into this program to elevate this program to where you would like it to be?

Go ahead. Name prices, steps, and who that person would be.

The largest error made in the running of this program was NOT firing Mason or hiring Kill. The error as not hiring a Kill like coach immediately following the firing of Mason. We are only in Mason-like land at this point.

I do believe that Kill, at this point, has much more drive to succeed at Minnesota than Mason did at the same time in his career.

It strikes me that that Kill is more of the head to make Minnesota a winning program rather Mason, who at the same time seemed to be more of the mindset to pack-up bags and move to tOSU.

I think the Land O Lakes money will go a long, long way to improving Minnesota football. Kill will benefit from that.
Click to expand...

Kill still falls well short of Mason. Mason beat every Big Ten team and won 10 games in one season. Until the next coach does that, they fall short of Mason.
 


With the benefit of historic fact of Brewster's record to rely on, could you give us any example where what was said on signing day equaled more success on Saturdays in the fall?

The answer the talent gap is to close it. You think that Brewster's recruiting could accomplish that, even in the face of history, which showed otherwise. There seems to be some stubbornness at play in thinking that Kill's recruiting is only equal to that of Mason. I think there has been some increase in talent on the field (possibly running backs excepted) under Kill relative to Mason. Or, since some eschew comparing former coaches to current, I think that Kill continues to improve his own recruiting during his tenure here.

Perhaps the most likely coach to be successful in Minnesota would be a perfect blending of positive attributes of Kill and Brewster. Of the two, the better blend lies with Kill. Unless Limegrover has some sort of Michigan epiphany soon, I wonder if a bigger name Offensive Coordinator with some Brewster-like fertilizer skills might be what takes the program over the top.

Gopher Warrior said:
Nope; have always said I didn't think he'd be HC past the 2015 season. The only thing is, Jerry isn't the only stubborn guy at the U.

Oh well. The Big Ten offers a lot of up-for-grab games.. maybe they can pull a string of games out and put together a good season.

Edit:


It's a fair and intelligent question. I think the answer is 'no' and the stubbornness of Kill won't allow him to adapt and grow enough.

Sadly, the Brewster hire I believe DID give Minnesota a chance because of the recruiting. Didn't work out, but there was a higher ceiling with Brewster than with Kill.
Click to expand...
 

I hope that day is coming when the advantage to Mason is no longer true. The early records are in the books, and nothing can change that.

I happen to like Coach Mason, but there are several instances (some repeated) that made it time for him to go.

It is a matter of speculation, but it is all we have; what do you think Kill could have done with the Minnesota Program if he (or someone in his fold) would have been the coach immediately post Mason?

Sparlimb said:
Kill still falls well short of Mason. Mason beat every Big Ten team and won 10 games in one season. Until the next coach does that, they fall short of Mason.
Click to expand...
 

Godotguy said:
Jerry Kill is the right guy. The program has an identity and a philosophy. Offenses and offensive coordinators are lightning rods for criticism, and we all acknowledge improvement is necessary. The play of the defense and special teams in refreshing. Improvement is happening.
Click to expand...

What's our identity?
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom