Lincoln Journal Star: Was Jerry Kill on Nebraska's radar?

per the LJS:

It doesn't seem a far-fetched notion.

A close friend of Jerry Kill said Thursday the former Minnesota football coach was considered for Nebraska's head coaching position in late 2014 after Bo Pelini was fired.

"When (Pelini) got fired, Jerry wanted to come to Nebraska," said Carl Mauck, a longtime NFL offensive line coach who's retired and lives in Lincoln.

"Nebraska talked to his agent," Mauck said. "Jerry knew I was coming up here (to live in Lincoln). He asked me, 'What do you think about that job?' I said, 'Do you have to ask? If I were you, I'd take it in a heartbeat.'"

http://journalstar.com/sports/huske...cle_094b462a-d123-11e5-be65-331b0bbbcfe6.html

Go Gophers!!

Depending on how next year goes that might have been a better choice except for his whole leaving the game thing.

BleedGopher said:

per the LJS:

It doesn't seem a far-fetched notion.

A close friend of Jerry Kill said Thursday the former Minnesota football coach was considered for Nebraska's head coaching position in late 2014 after Bo Pelini was fired.

"When (Pelini) got fired, Jerry wanted to come to Nebraska," said Carl Mauck, a longtime NFL offensive line coach who's retired and lives in Lincoln.

"Nebraska talked to his agent," Mauck said. "Jerry knew I was coming up here (to live in Lincoln). He asked me, 'What do you think about that job?' I said, 'Do you have to ask? If I were you, I'd take it in a heartbeat.'"

http://journalstar.com/sports/huske...cle_094b462a-d123-11e5-be65-331b0bbbcfe6.html

Go Gophers!!

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JK media machine is busy shakin the tree. Now what's that ol possum up to?

Jerry Kill would have gone from one of the most well-liked coaches in gopher history to one of the most hated if he made that switch.

Jerry Kill said more then once that Minnesota is his last head coaching job and I believe him over anyone writing for any newpaper in the country ...

If it's and buts were candy and nuts everyone would have a Merry Christmas. File this under the 'irrelevant'/who cares category .


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Deckergopher said:

Jerry Kill said more then once that Minnesota is his last head coaching job and I believe him over anyone writing for any newpaper in the country ...

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Kill had a history of leaving for better gigs when available. NE is a better gig. If true, it doesn't surprise me a bit. What he said on this subject AS COACH of MN has zero credibility. I mean, what was he going to say?

No major program in their right mind would hire a coach with Kills very public health problems.

Sportsfan24 said:

No major program in their right mind would hire a coach with Kills very public health problems.

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Well played [emoji1305]

Spoofin said:

Kill had a history of leaving for better gigs when available. NE is a better gig. If true, it doesn't surprise me a bit. What he said on this subject AS COACH of MN has zero credibility. I mean, what was he going to say?

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Jerry Kill just seemed like a man of his word...

The stress of the Nebraska job would have been a bit more intense than Minnesota, I just don't see how it would ever have been a good choice for Kill.

We'll never know not that it has ever stopped what we do best on GH which is to speculate and jump to conclusions with little or no facts.

I think this is credible and Kill would have taken that job, and I would not have been upset with him for doing it. Kill was motivated to move up, highly motivated,, and he would have left Nebraska for the next upgrade. His ties to the old Big 8 and Kansas also might have made UNL a big deal. He alluded to his view of that place in the post game interview after the win in Lincoln in 2014.

I used to think that Kill and his wife really liked Minneapolis and would stay here a long time. They seemed to like living in an upscale urban area, which was a big departure from most of the stops he had in his coaching career. I saw Kill and RK walking all the time around St. Anthony Main and the Stone Arch Bridge. I saw him at JD Hoyt's and other North Loop places more than once.

The fact that Kill slipped out of town as fast as he could have after resigning is fairly telling. Kill more than likely did not have the affection for this area I assumed, unless there is some ugly feud behind the scenes we do not know about. I was at JD Hoyts about five weeks ago on a Saturday night sitting at the 'upper" back bar. My GF was wearing a Gold Gopher zip up shirt, and when Pat the GM/host stopped by he saw what she was wearing and pointed out that Jerry K was sitting up front and it "was his last night in town" and that he had just sold his house. Sure enough, it was Jerry sitting with Rebecca and a couple that looked like Gopher blue blood booster types. Later I read that he really did leave town.

This whole thing with Kill selling his condo seems really odd. It seems that Kill was very popular with the big money guys, general boosters, and former players (Jim Carter types), yet he still bailed out so fast. I cannot understand why he would not at least hold on to a condo (400K or so?) so he could keep a presence in town and work the angles. Glen Mason, a guy many would expected to bail out and move away, apparently loves it here. I thought Kill would settle into a similar niche. I am sure if he was worried about making some money, regardless of any U of M offer, these guys would have done some things for Kill. If Kill wanted to do some consulting, and commentary on TV, living here with a hub airport would have been perfect. Having his 'lake house" in Illinois, and a Florida beach place should have made keeping a presence here easy. Kill heading for the hills really does not make any sense

Maybe dealing with the loss of his coaching life is so hard for him that he just needs to get away, or he is really pissed off about something. I guess we will know soon enough.

I do not know at all , but the situation does not really add up. I think that he is going to find a way to get healthy again, and then eventually talk himself into trying to coach again somewhere, as head coach. He is wired to coach and I probably would try to do the same thing eventually because like Kill I am stubborn and ...

MNGoldenGophers1 said:

We'll never know not that it has ever stopped what we do best on GH which is to speculate and jump to conclusions with little or no facts.

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You forgot get angry, cast aspersions and make ultimatums.

Back to the original topic. Wait!What? is right (thought I never would right that), clearly he doesn't want to go quietly into retirement. But why? What is he looking for?

Yes, his surrogates seem to be out there pushing some mushy agenda, so why? Running off to Rantoul Il or some beach house does not seem to be in line with his surrogates putting up a fight for him here. What is really happening here?

Possible if not entirely plausible, I think. There's no denying that he is ambitious, so I could kind of see it from that perspective, but then again it's a little hard to imagine why he or Rebecca would have wanted to buy in to that particular level of stress given his health and at that stage of their lives, especially since at that point he had Minnesota trending up, but as others have said it really doesn't matter.

As per why he bolted the Cities, who knows? I know that if I could afford to maintain a second or third home in the Twin Cities, I would absolutely do so, but I have quite a bit of history there whereas Kill did not, and maybe it's something as simple as he's not really a city type.

It is a bit curious that his buddy brought that up right now, as it just seems so irrelevant, because they hired Riley and Kill has retired. I don't know if there's some kind of agenda there in bringing that up or if it was just some off the cuff remark, but anyway, I'm glad he stayed here until retirement, because if he'd bolted for Nebraska I'd have felt very disappointed in him.

Seany said:

Possible if not entirely plausible, I think. There's no denying that he is ambitious, so I could kind of see it from that perspective, but then again it's a little hard to imagine why he or Rebecca would have wanted to buy in to that particular level of stress given his health and at that stage of their lives, especially since at that point he had Minnesota trending up, but as others have said it really doesn't matter.

As per why he bolted the Cities, who knows? I know that if I could afford to maintain a second or third home in the Twin Cities, I would absolutely do so, but I have quite a bit of history there whereas Kill did not, and maybe it's something as simple as he's not really a city type.

It is a bit curious that his buddy brought that up right now, as it just seems so irrelevant, because they hired Riley and Kill has retired. I don't know if there's some kind of agenda there in bringing that up or if it was just some off the cuff remark, but anyway, I'm glad he stayed here until retirement, because if he'd bolted for Nebraska I'd have felt very disappointed in him.

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I truly can't believe folks are buying this (Nebraska?)

While there is no doubt Jerry did a adequate job coaching at the U, he was a far better manipulator (for the lack of a better worded). Do not believe for one second any major football school would hire Kill. His illness would limit or down right prevent him from recruiting top tier recruits and possible the school from terminating him. I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying it is what it is.

What does annoy me is the constant.......never mind. Let's just say he left when it became apparent the stepping stone wasn't going to lift him up any higher.....IMO.

Before his health issues imploded forcing him to resign, he said this was his last gig and I believe him. Rebecca wanted to stay here. But, that all changed.

The Nebraska thing was simply conversation between friends IMHO.

Why he sold his house and not keep a presence here we can speculate all we want.

It must be painful to be here and not be the head coach anymore. Hopefully, he takes time to heal and who knows the door to Minneapolis is open.

It did not help having negative media types like Reusse and Souhan the two biggest nut jobs hounding him.

oak_street1981 said:

I think this is credible and Kill would have taken that job, and I would not have been upset with him for doing it. Kill was motivated to move up, highly motivated,, and he would have left Nebraska for the next upgrade. His ties to the old Big 8 and Kansas also might have made UNL a big deal. He alluded to his view of that place in the post game interview after the win in Lincoln in 2014.

I used to think that Kill and his wife really liked Minneapolis and would stay here a long time. They seemed to like living in an upscale urban area, which was a big departure from most of the stops he had in his coaching career. I saw Kill and RK walking all the time around St. Anthony Main and the Stone Arch Bridge. I saw him at JD Hoyt's and other North Loop places more than once.

The fact that Kill slipped out of town as fast as he could have after resigning is fairly telling. Kill more than likely did not have the affection for this area I assumed, unless there is some ugly feud behind the scenes we do not know about. I was at JD Hoyts about five weeks ago on a Saturday night sitting at the 'upper" back bar. My GF was wearing a Gold Gopher zip up shirt, and when Pat the GM/host stopped by he saw what she was wearing and pointed out that Jerry K was sitting up front and it "was his last night in town" and that he had just sold his house. Sure enough, it was Jerry sitting with Rebecca and a couple that looked like Gopher blue blood booster types. Later I read that he really did leave town.

This whole thing with Kill selling his condo seems really odd. It seems that Kill was very popular with the big money guys, general boosters, and former players (Jim Carter types), yet he still bailed out so fast. I cannot understand why he would not at least hold on to a condo (400K or so?) so he could keep a presence in town and work the angles. Glen Mason, a guy many would expected to bail out and move away, apparently loves it here. I thought Kill would settle into a similar niche. I am sure if he was worried about making some money, regardless of any U of M offer, these guys would have done some things for Kill. If Kill wanted to do some consulting, and commentary on TV, living here with a hub airport would have been perfect. Having his 'lake house" in Illinois, and a Florida beach place should have made keeping a presence here easy. Kill heading for the hills really does not make any sense

Maybe dealing with the loss of his coaching life is so hard for him that he just needs to get away, or he is really pissed off about something. I guess we will know soon enough.

I do not know at all , but the situation does not really add up. I think that he is going to find a way to get healthy again, and then eventually talk himself into trying to coach again somewhere, as head coach. He is wired to coach and I probably would try to do the same thing eventually because like Kill I am stubborn and ...

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I think that is possible. It's tough giving up something you've worked your whole life for. Being around the program is a constant reminder you can't do what you love to do anymore.

Seany said:

Possible if not entirely plausible, I think. There's no denying that he is ambitious, so I could kind of see it from that perspective, but then again it's a little hard to imagine why he or Rebecca would have wanted to buy in to that particular level of stress given his health and at that stage of their lives, especially since at that point he had Minnesota trending up, but as others have said it really doesn't matter.

As per why he bolted the Cities, who knows? I know that if I could afford to maintain a second or third home in the Twin Cities, I would absolutely do so, but I have quite a bit of history there whereas Kill did not, and maybe it's something as simple as he's not really a city type.

It is a bit curious that his buddy brought that up right now, as it just seems so irrelevant, because they hired Riley and Kill has retired. I don't know if there's some kind of agenda there in bringing that up or if it was just some off the cuff remark, but anyway, I'm glad he stayed here until retirement, because if he'd bolted for Nebraska I'd have felt very disappointed in him.

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Why keep a home in TC when you don't work here. Not sure what kind of home he had but has no income at this time so maybe can't afford it. Remember he was making a million plus. Good luck Jerry.

hungan1 said:

Before his health issues imploded forcing him to resign, he said this was his last gig and I believe him. Rebecca wanted to stay here. But, that all changed.

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Every coach at every program says there is no where they would rather be then their current school. They also all say they have no intention of leaving, saying anything else would just turn the fan base against you.

We will never know if Kill meant it or not but his track record suggests if a better job came along he would have taken it. The reality is he was multiple years from being a legit candidate at any of those places that would have been an upgrade over what he had at Minnesota so even if he was interested in the Nebraska job, I would say odds are very good that they had little to no interest in him for the opening.

MNVCGUY said:

Every coach at every program says there is no where they would rather be then their current school. They also all say they have no intention of leaving, saying anything else would just turn the fan base against you.

We will never know if Kill meant it or not but his track record suggests if a better job came along he would have taken it. The reality is he was multiple years from being a legit candidate at any of those places that would have been an upgrade over what he had at Minnesota so even if he was interested in the Nebraska job, I would say odds are very good that they had little to no interest in him for the opening.

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Nebraska did hire Mike Riley. Just saying.

Whether or not he would have left MN for a better gig is debatable but I have a hard time believing that he would have left for a program in the same conference division.

die hard gopher said:

Whether or not he would have left MN for a better gig is debatable but I have a hard time believing that he would have left for a program in the same conference division.

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I don't know, that was literally the only program I could have seen him leaving for. Still Midwestern, better resources, better facilities, similar culture. Where else would he have gone? I never saw him fitting in at MI, for example. WI wasn't an option since he couldn't pronounce it properly: "Wes-consin".

That said, I kind of doubt this is true. They hired Mike Riley 5 minutes after firing Pelini. It's not like they had a lot of time to talk to potential candidates. They had to have decided on Riley pretty quickly.

My guess is one guy on their committee called Kill's agent, Kill's agent said he wasn't interested, someone else heard about it, told Kill he should take the job, meanwhile the committee as a whole never actually considered him and had already decided on Riley.

But why this is coming out now is bizarre to say the least...

Lakeville Goldy said:

I don't know, that was literally the only program I could have seen him leaving for. Still Midwestern, better resources, better facilities, similar culture. Where else would he have gone? I never saw him fitting in at MI, for example. WI wasn't an option since he couldn't pronounce it properly: "Wes-consin".

That said, I kind of doubt this is true. They hired Mike Riley 5 minutes after firing Pelini. It's not like they had a lot of time to talk to potential candidates. They had to have decided on Riley pretty quickly.

My guess is one guy on their committee called Kill's agent, Kill's agent said he wasn't interested, someone else heard about it, told Kill he should take the job, meanwhile the committee as a whole never actually considered him and had already decided on Riley.

But why this is coming out now is bizarre to say the least...

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Nebraska's AD outright said Riley was the only guy he wanted and was his only candidate.

So any interest probably came from some boosters or fans or some other BS.

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:

<b>Nebraska's AD outright said Riley was the only guy he wanted and was his only candidate.</b>

So any interest probably came from some boosters or fans or some other BS.

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When did he say this? After hiring Riley? Well then, there it is, no chance that statement was BS.

Spoofin said:

When did he say this? After hiring Riley? Well then, there it is, no chance that statement was BS.

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If Nebraska wanted they could interview nearly everyone and their mom, that doesn't seem to be the case. Their AD has been pretty consistent about his story on hiring Riely. Nebraska fans all seem to believe it.

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:

If Nebraska wanted they could interview nearly everyone and their mom, that doesn't seem to be the case. Their AD has been pretty consistent about his story on hiring Riely. Nebraska fans all seem to believe it.

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And every NFL team from the start of time has gotten the guy they really wanted in the NFL draft. To believe Riley was their first and ONLY choice is naive, IMO. Kinda like believing Kill would NEVER have left MN for another coaching job because he said it.

Spoofin said:

And every NFL team from the start of time has gotten the guy they really wanted in the NFL draft. To believe Riley was their first and ONLY choice is naive, IMO. Kinda like believing Kill would NEVER have left MN for another coaching job because he said it.

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Well he was hired only 4 days after Pelini was fired so there wasn't much time in between to bring in a number of candidates. Riley was obviously at the top of Eichorst's list.