Sunday Sound Off 12/5

Your "Kill"ing Me
Minnesota Gophers Athletic 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 in. 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 Kill coached Northern Illinois to a 10-2 record this season, which was good enough for a berth in the Mid-American Conference Championship game. In three seasons with the Huskies, Kill's record was 23-16 overall. Furthermore, his tenure in Illinois led to three straight bowl appearances and his resume portrays him as a very traditional college football coach. His previous stops include Saginaw State and Southern Illinois. Although be it in weaker programs, Kill is a proven winner, as 14 of his 17 seasons as a coach had more wins than losses. He even brought his Northern Illinois Huskies to TCF Bank Stadium this fall to play the Gophers, where they prevailed 34-23.

The Verdict
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 those Gopher fans who feel they have been betrayed by their own university, 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. We can all hope that a big star will walk into that press conference tomorrow at 2, but that just is not the reality of our situation. 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.