Charley Walters: Jerry Kill still not over Minnesota departure
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Nearly seven years ago, an angry Jerry Kill, who had rebuilt the Gophers football program after the Tim Brewster coaching debacle, for the record said he would not be “stepping foot back in the (Gophers) stadium,” nor would he be “stepping back into the university.”
In 19 days, a still-spirited Kill will step back in the Gophers stadium as the first-year coach of the New Mexico State team that will be Minnesota’s season-opening opponent.
Kill, who coached the Gophers to a 29-29 record during five seasons (2011-15), made his comment after the Gophers fired his longtime assistant-best friend and successor, Tracy Claeys, after Claeys had coached Minnesota to a 9-4 record in 2016.
“I made that statement when Tracy got fired,” Kill told the Pioneer Press last week from Las Cruces, N.M.
“Yeah, I had hard feelings over that. I think anybody would. It’d be like your best friend getting fired. How you going to feel about that? I’m a very loyal person — he got fired when he was 9-4. Nobody in college football understands that move when a guy’s 9-4 and gets fired.
“Well, how was I supposed to react? Was I supposed to say, ‘That’s OK?’ I’m loyal to the people who have been loyal to me. I love the people of Minnesota. When I said I won’t be coming back, I meant to that stadium and that athletic department. I didn’t mean I wouldn’t come back to Minnesota. I love Minnesota. I’d live there again. That’s not an issue.”
On Friday, the Pioneer Press reported that a civic group, the Twin Cities Dunkers, this week had canceled a scheduled Kill speaking engagement after having invited him to appear the morning of the Gophers-New Mexico State game on Sept. 1.
Kill, a highly emotional, straight-talking personality, said he still hasn’t gotten over having left Minnesota.
“My life’s never been the same since I left, not at all,” he said. “But it was out of strong loyalty for someone who worked for me for 23 years.”
Claeys was fired after supporting a team boycott following the suspension of 10 players alleged to have had a role in a sexual assault case without due process. After a university investigation, four of those players were expelled.
“(Claeys) never recovered from that, never has, never will,” Kill said. “Mentally, when something like that happens to you, sometimes you can move on. He’s done that. He’s raising cattle and doing all kinds of stuff. He’s traveled and looked at other programs, stayed (in football) that way. But sometimes stuff happens that you don’t understand.
“The treatment of Tracy was terrible, and the way it was handled was terrible. That’s what I’m totally ticked off about.”
Kill, whose boundless energy helped raise millions of dollars for the Gophers’ $166 million Athlete’s Village facilities (still not close to being paid off), also was bothered that Claeys’ successor, P.J. Fleck, talked about the need to change the perception of the program and its culture.
“Like he was having to change the complete culture,” Kill said.
As for Fleck, Kill said, “I don’t have time to worry about him right now — I’ve got a lot of other things to worry about.
“My deal is this: We haven’t had a huge part in (Gophers success), but we have had a part changing that program around. And when (Fleck) came in, it was like we didn’t do anything. That’s a hard statement to take for somebody who’s poured his guts into it. People forget about that, and that hurt. And that’s coming from a guy who worked for me.”
Fleck was an assistant to Kill at Northern Illinois in 2008-09.
Kill, asked about Fleck during a 2019 radio interview, said Fleck was about about Fleck, “not about the kids. I said that’s my take on P.J. Fleck.”
Kill, now 60, said he’s grown older and wiser. Of Fleck’s performance at Minnesota (35-23 entering his sixth season), Kill said, “I’ll give him credit. The guy took the job and continued to work at the job to where it got better and better and better. He’s done a great job of recruiting — he’s a good recruiter. I have no problem with what he’s done — he’s done a good job and has continued to take it where it needs to go. I’m not going to knock him down for what he’s done.
“As for my personal feelings, I’m not taking him to dinner. I’ll tell you that.”
Kill resigned as Gophers coach in 2015 due to health issues from epilepsy. He remains strong-minded. He said his health now is “great. I’m as healthy as I’ve been. I’ve dropped 20 pounds. I’ve had no seizure issues. I had a little bout with melanoma cancer three or four years ago. It wasn’t the most perfect situation, but I got radiation and was fine. Hell, I’ve been running and eating right. I wouldn’t have (taken the New Mexico State job) if I didn’t feel good. I’ve changed my whole way of doing things.”
He said he intends to coach “as long as I can and stay healthy.”
Kill’s team is a 37.5-point underdog against Minnesota. New Mexico State is ranked No. 129 of 131 Division I football teams in the country, per cbssports.com.
“I certainly get it, that’s for sure, because we’re starting from scratch,” Kill said.
The Minnesota game (the Gophers are ranked No. 32 nationally) was scheduled when McKinley Boston, the former Gophers athletics director, was AD at New Mexico State (2004-2014).
“McKinley’s probably a really good guy, but he wasn’t too smart to do this,” Kill said. “We’re going to play Saturday night (against Nevada) here, then in four days we’re going to play a Big Ten team (Minnesota) on Thursday night there. That’s not smart.”
Kill knows what he’ll be up against when his Aggies come to Minneapolis.
“Here’s the thing we’ve got to get out of that game: We’ve got to get out without getting physically beat up and not having any players left,” he said. “I care about our players staying healthy.”
It’s unclear whether there will be a pregame handshake between Kill and Fleck.
“I don’t know what I’ll do,” Kill said. “I’ll see what he does.”
DON’T PRINT THAT
Pssst: Thirty private jets — unannounced — representing NFL owners landed at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport last Tuesday, causing consternation among airport officials. Owners flew into town to approve the $4.65 billion sale of the Denver Broncos.
The only owners not landing in Minneapolis were the Vikings’ Zygi and Mark Wilf, who flew into the St. Paul Downtown Airport. The Wilfs fly in separate jets for family safety reasons.
The convergence of NFL jets in Minneapolis without time to prepare meant the Metropolitan Airports Commission had to scramble to assist in finding space to park the planes on a remote-like ramp.
By the way, composite wealth of the NFL owners assembled in Minneapolis, including the Wilfs in St. Paul, was estimated at $75 billion.
The Vikings have never invested significant money on backup QBs. If starter Kirk Cousins becomes incapacitated during the regular season, with Sean Mannion and Kellen Mond currently the backups, the Vikings’ season seemingly would be over.
Meanwhile, Cousins, out of Sunday’s exhibition game in Las Vegas for a second time with COVID-19, is the seventh-highest paid NFL player this year, with $40 million coming on the field, and $2.5 million in endorsements, per Forbes’ new research.
Cousins, who turns 34 on Friday, endorses nine business brands, including Dapple Labs, Adidas, Honda and Verizon.
Packers QB Aaron Rodgers, 38, ranks No. 3 at $53 million — $42 million on the field, $11 million in endorsements, which includes 12 brands. Rodgers lost a Prevea Health endorsement last year after it became public that he had not been vaccinated for COVID-19.
The recent signings of wide receivers Deebo Samuel ($73.5 million, three years with the 49ers) and DK Metcalf ($72 million, three years with Seahawks), should mean a deal in excess of those for Vikings wideout Justin Jefferson if he plays well and stays healthy this year.
“It will be a king’s ransom,” a person in the know said.
Jefferson’s new contract could affect who the Vikings deem to pay and don’t pay in 2023. It could even cause the Vikings to move up to draft a QB and trade Cousins next year to free up money for Jefferson.
The Vikings remain unsettled at center. It wouldn’t be surprising if they trade a lower-round draft pick if a center elsewhere becomes available the next two weeks. Center Garrett Bradbury, 27, won’t be cut because he’s guaranteed $2.3 million this season.
It appears unsigned ex-Viking Everson Griffen’s NFL career is over. He’s 34.
The Vikings’ lone exhibition home game is next Saturday against the 49ers. It’s unknown how much regular QB Trey Lance from Marshall, Minn., will play. He was nearly perfect in Friday’s 28-21 exhibition victory over the Packers.
Minnesota, which at one time produced eight NFL on-field officials, now has three in the league: Fred Bryan from Minneapolis, Dave Meslow from Mahtomedi and Jeff Seeman from Chaska.
Rickey Foggie, 56, the former Gophers QB who was the QB coach at St. Thomas Academy the last three seasons, has become offensive coordinator and QB coach at DeLaSalle.
That was Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Dumba and Ryan Hartman from the Wild at Canterbury Park the other day.
Tom Kelly, who turns 72 on Monday and who led the Twins to two World Series championships (1987, 1991), next becomes eligible for the managers’ portion of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., in 2023.
The Twins, after their trade deadline acquisitions, are projected to win 84 games, per fivethirtyeight.com, with playoff chances now at 50 percent.
Unless the Twins can get Carlos Correa, 27, to agree to a deal in the $175 million range over seven years or so, it still appears the shortstop hitting .263 with 13 home runs will be elsewhere next season.
Nate Peterson, the left-hander who struck out 87 in 42 innings, including 20 in one game, for Lakeville North his senior season in 2018, then fanned 102 in 80 innings for the University of Chicago last spring, has signed with the Brewers for their ACL rookie affiliate in Phoenix, Ariz. He received a $167,000 signing bonus as Milwaukee’s eighth-round draft pick, No. 252 overall.
It’s unclear whether former Hopkins basketball star Paige Bueckers of Connecticut, out for the season due to an ACL tear, will still receive the estimated $1 million from her name, image and likeness (NIL) arrangements.
Noted Gophers orthopedist Elizabeth Arendt the other day in Colorado Springs became the third female to be inducted into the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine Hall of Fame.
Another distinguished orthopedist, John Steubs, is retiring after 38 years in private practice. Steubs remains with the Twins as an orthopedist and teaches part-time at the University of Minnesota.
The storied Old Timers Hockey Association Camp Confidence Learning Center fundraiser golf tournament is Monday at Oak Glen with Brad Buetow, Jamie Langenbrunner, Mark Parrish and Winny Brodt-Brown among notables participating.
St. Olaf-bound Solvei Berg-Messerole, the former Two Rivers girls hockey star, is the Minute Men Athletic Foundation’s 2022 $5,000 scholarship winner.
Troy Merritt, the Spring Lake Park grad who shot a pair of 65s the first two days of the FedEx St. Jude tournament in Memphis, will receive a bonus of $185,000 deferred to a PGA retirement pension for his No. 64 final FedEx rankings. Payout for winning the FedEx playoffs is $18 million.
Happy birthday: Paul Molitor from St. Paul turns 66 on Aug. 22, the same day as fellow Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski, who’ll be 83.
Ex-Twin Josh Donaldson, with a $92 million, guaranteed four-year contract, is batting .226 with 11 home runs for the Yankees. In exchange for the clubhouse nuisance, the Twins got Gio Urshela (.268, 11 homers) and Gary Sanchez (.215, 11 homers).
The Dodgers, who outscored the Twins 18-8 in winning two games in Los Angeles last week, have a run differential of 236. The Twins’ run differential is 17.
OVERHEARD
Timberwolves investor Alex Rodriguez on rumors he and partner Marc Lore will consider trying to move the franchise to Seattle, where Rodriguez was a popular baseball player with the Mariners, if Target Center is deemed inadequate: “We’re all in with Minnesota, and our intention is to stay here and build a world-class organization for decades. The answer is no to Seattle and no to everything else, from my perspective.”
