Minnesota Gophers athletics director Joel Maturi confirmed that Jerry Kill has been selected as the next head coach of the Golden Gopher football team, after signing him to a five year contract Sunday night. The decision came after a fairly long campaign, from which names like Mike Leach and Randy Shannon surfaced. All of the speculation and conversation came to a close as Gopher fans collectively let out an exhale of disappointment. Social networking and forum discussions reeked with questions as the decision was first made public on Facebook and Twitter. Jerry who?
Jerry KillâÄôs tenure in Illinois led to three straight bowl appearances and his résumé portrays him as a very traditional college football coach. Kill is a proven winner. He even brought his Northern Illinois Huskies to TCF Bank Stadium this fall to play the Gophers, where they prevailed 34-23.
My verdict sits on the fence as of now, and only time will tell whether Maturi has succeeded in finding a program-boosting head coach. I can sympathize with Gopher fans who feel they have been betrayed by the University of Minnesota, because of the statement that came promising a big name coach.
You can also look at this move in an optimistic way, seeing the promise in a coach with energy and a proven history of winning. Maturi did what he thought was the safe move for a struggling program; he grabbed an upstart proven winner from a lesser conference and gave him his shot at glory. Only time will tell us if the guts shown by Maturi will result in success. He had better hope for the best, or it could be his own head.