On Oct. 28, 2015, Jerry Kill announced his retirement as Minnesota’s head football coach in a teary-eyed news conference. Battling seizures as a result of his epilepsy, Kill stepped down under his doctors instructions.
And that, he figured, would be the end of his long coaching career.
“I had reached the point where there was nothing left at all,” he told ESPN.com earlier this month.
Less than a year and a half later, though, Kill is back working in the game he loves, if in a slightly different capacity. In December, Rutgers hired the former Big Ten coach of the year as its offensive coordinator.
The move came with some serious question marks. The pressure and stress of coaching certainly contributed to Kill’s health problems in the past, which included a seven-game leave of absence from Minnesota in 2013 after a series of seizures. Yet the 55-year-old Kill is moving forward with no hesitations.
“I’m sure some people are like, ‘What the hell is he doing?'” Kill said. “But the way I look at it is, you only have one life. There’s no do-overs. And, hey, I don’t feel like I’m done helping kids.”
Besides, Kill has reason to believe things will be different this time around.
After stepping down from the Golden Gophers, he took some time to relax in Florida. He then went back to work on controlling his epilepsy.
A big breakthrough was teaching himself how to sleep. Kill estimated that he slept an average of only three hours a night in the previous 12 years, as he was unable to keep his mind from spinning when he lay down in bed. He began practicing meditation, which helped him get much more rest.
He also altered the way he eats, going to a low-carb diet. Those changes, he said, have kept him seizure free for the past year.
Kill said he had several offers to get back into coaching right after he left Minnesota. They included a call from Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh, who told him he could have any part-time role he wanted with the Wolverines. But Kill wasn’t ready to go back to work until May 2016, when he took a job as an assistant athletic director at Kansas State, where he worked closely with the football program and head coach Bill Snyder in an administrative capacity.
“Going to K-State was one of the greatest things I ever did,” Kill said. “It allowed me to test drive myself a little bit, health-wise.”
Reinvigorated by that job, Kill decided he was ready to coach again when Rutgers’ Chris Ash called about his vacant offensive coordinator position.
“When I heard through the coaching Dumanbet rumor mill that he might want back in, I reached out right away,” Ash said. “The obvious question was, ‘What type of shape are you in?'”
The two went over what Kill’s schedule would look like. Ash insists that his coaches go home on Wednesday and Thursday nights during the season. There will still be long work days, but Kill assured Ash that he’s properly managed his condition and could handle the load.
Now an assistant coach for the first time since 1993, Kill won’t have as much on his plate as he did when he was a head coach. He was stretched in many directions at Minnesota, where he often had to be the face of the entire athletic program through some administrative disarray and lead a major fundraising campaign.
“You’ve got a problem every day when you’re the head coach,” Kill said. “Your mind’s never going to stop, because there’s always a problem.”
Kill has another motivation for getting back into football. He knows his elevated profile as a coach can help raise more awareness and money for people with epilepsy.
He has his own foundation, Chasing Dreams. It supports such projects as Camp Oz, a summer camp for Minnesota kids with epilepsy, and instructing schools how to respond to and care for students who have seizures. Kill also wrote a book, “Chasing Dreams: Living My Life One Yard at a Time”; all proceeds from sales go to the foundation.
He also promotes the social media campaign #TackleEpilepsy, which was tied in with the NFL during the Super Bowl.
Join me to #TackleEpilepsy this football post season. Show your game face to
support a $26,000 donation for @EpilepsyFdn. https://t.co/sk0F7BiiWf
— Jerry Kill (@JerryKillCoach) February 5, 2017
Once reluctant to discuss his health in detail, Kill is now using the platform he has with football to bring as much attention as possible to epilepsy. He knows that every time Rutgers plays on TV this season, for example, the announcers will likely tell his story. He embraces the role of public advocate.
“His willingness to speak out and share the struggles and successes he’s had living with seizures is inspiring to all,” said Phil Gattone, president and CEO of the Epilepsy Foundation. “He is inspirational and courageous as he continually moves forward with the challenges ahead of him. He is changing the world and its view on epilepsy as he rises above his own personal circumstances to help and give hope to others.”
Kill’s immediate coaching challenge is a tall one. The Scarlet Knights had one of the worst offenses in the country last season, finishing 127th out of 128 FBS teams at just 15.7 points per game. It’s a major rebuilding job. Then again, Kill’s entire career, from small schools like Saginaw Valley State to places such as Northern Illinois and Minnesota, has been about rebuilding.
“These are the things I’m used to doing,” he said.
Ash, in just his second year as a head coach, appreciates the experience and knowledge that Kill brings to the staff.
“People assume he’s a sounding board for you as a head coach and he does bring that,” Ash said. “But more than anything, it’s the way he attacks his job. He goes out and attacks it the way he wanted his assistants to do when he was a head coach. That’s a great thing for me, because it’s one less thing I have to worry about.”
Kill isn’t worried that his health will derail him this time around. He wants to be a shining example of someone living with epilepsy and still realizing their dreams.
“My life’s good, but some of these young people are having 40-50 seizures a day and there’s no answer,” he said. “So we need people to help. And it’s a lot easier to help when you have a platform to do so.”
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