Minnesota Football Coach Jerry Kill Retires Due To Seizures
Some bad news for University of Minnesota football fans today–venerable head coach Jerry Kill has retired effective immediately due to his ongoing problem with seizures related to epilepsy. The 54 year old coach has struggled with epilepsy and its side effects since 2005. He’s tried to coach through the problem but at this point he says that he ‘has no more energy’ to continue his fight.
Kill has suffered with a number of seizures in the past year and he said that he attended practice on Tuesday after suffering two seizures. He retired ‘effective immediately’ at a hastily arranged press conference on Wednesday morning where he said that he has no regrets: “I don’t want to be a liability. I don’t want somebody to have to worry about if I’m going to drop on the field. I don’t want to coach from the press box. I want to coach the way I coached my whole life. I don’t have any more energy. None. I’ve left it all here in the great state of Minnesota. And I have no regrets.”
Kill took a leave of absence and missed 7 games during the 2013 season. The timing of his retirement came at the advice of his doctor. Epileptic seizures are thought to be brought on by a variety of things, among them ‘stressful situations’. ‘Stressful situations’ is pretty much the job description of a college football coach. Kill said that he didn’t go out the way he wanted to and that he’s unsure about what happens now: “This is not the way I wanted to go out. But you all know about the struggles. And I did my best to change. But some of those struggles have returned. And I don’t want to cheat the game. And I ain’t going to change. I know somebody will ask, ‘Coach, what are you going to do?’ I don’t know. I ain’t done anything else. That’s the scary part.”
Defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys has worked with Kill for most of his coaching career and took over during his leave of absence in 2013. He’s been named the interim head coach until the end of the season when the program can sort things out and name a permanent replacement.