Rutgers assistant Jerry Kill hospitalized after 'minor seizure'
Rutgers offensive coordinator Jerry Kill was hospitalized after suffering a “minor seizure” on Sunday morning.
Scarlet Knights head coach Chris Ash told reporters Monday that Kill was bumped into by an Eastern Michigan player on the sideline during Saturday’s game. Kill, who stepped down from his position as head coach Minnesota in October 2015 due to health reasons including epileptic seizures, had headaches after the game, Ash said, and had a minor seizure the following morning.
Ash said Kill is “fine” and expects to coach in the team’s upcoming game against Morgan State.
“Coach Kill had a minor medical setback. He’s going to be fine. Saturday in the game, early in the game, after the first drive, he got tumbled up on [QB Kyle Bolin’s] late hit on the sideline. He was really discombobulated a little bit in the first half from it. Had some headaches Saturday night,” Ash said.
“This isn’t confirmed or has not necessarily been identified as the reason yet but he had a minor seizure [Sunday] morning. But he’s fine. He’s still waiting to get released from the hospital but he’ll either be back here this afternoon or tomorrow, whenever he feels up to the task.
“It’s a minor setback, and fully anticipate he’ll be back with us here shortly after he recovers from it. But no concerns about him not being able to do that, just so we’re all clear. He feels great. It’s one of those things where life situations or medical situations come up with a lot of people and this happened yesterday.
Because of Kill’s medical history, Ash said he and the Rutgers staff had “contingency plans in place” if Kill were to miss time.
“Obviously because of the medical history of Jerry, we’ve had contingency plans in place if something like this were to happen and this was a long-term situation that would cause him to miss work,” Ash said. “Right now, we’re pretty confident and feel like that’s not going to be the case.”
After Kill left Minnesota, he landed a role as an administrative assistant at Kansas State the following May. In December 2016, Kill was announced as Rutgers’ offensive coordinator for Ash’s second season as head coach. Upon his hire, Kill said his time away from coaching allowed him to get his health in order via a new diet and exercise routine. At his introductory Rutgers news conference, Kill said he had been “seizure-free for a long time.”
Kill had a 29-29 record as Minnesota’s head coach. Before his time with the Gophers, Kill was the head coach at Northern Illinois, Southern Illinois, Emporia State and Saginaw Valley State. Overall, Kill has a 152-99 record as a college head coach with a 52-45 mark at the FBS level.
Rutgers, 0-2 after a disappointing home loss to Eastern Michigan on Saturday, hosts FCS Morgan State at 3:30 p.m. Saturday before beginning Big Ten play.
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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
