Pulling for a coach

Posted at 11:01 AM on September 29, 2011 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Health, Sports

As far as I can tell, there aren't many people who haven't been charmed by Jerry Kill, the football coach for your University of Minnesota Gophers. He's quite a character and seems to be a likeable guy. And you have to respect a man who won't talk to Sid Hartman.

But the dark side, as we now know, is Kill has a health problem of unspecified sort, which caused him to collapse at the end of one game this year, and sent him to Mayo Clinic after another game last weekend, taking what was reported as a leave of absence from the program for as long as it took to find out what's wrong.

When he returned to the practice field yesterday, he said the report that he'd "checked himself in" at the Mayo, was incorrect, as was the report of a leave of absence. And he insisted that doctors are tweaking his medication to prevent the estimated 20 seizures he has a week, which he indicated in a news conference a week or so ago.

Still, his quote -- reported in the Star Tribune today -- is cringe worthy to anyone who's had a father or uncle or brother with a serious medical problem who declared, "it ain't nothin'."

"I can't take two weeks off. I can't take three weeks off. Minnesota hired me to turn a program around, so that's what I'm trying to do. I can't do it not being here. If I have to be a little different at practice or whatever, that's fine. But I have to be here."

That comes on the heels of a news conference on September 20 that set a new local record for tough talk from a coach in Minnesota:

It's hard to hear those words without thinking about a 2009 study that said men with "macho attitudes" are less likely to seek health care, or the analysis of that study that suggested that -- at least for the health problems cited -- they were right.

We have to take the coach at his word, believe that he has his priorities in order, and assume he's not in any life-threatening danger. There's zero evidence that we know more about the threat to the coach's health than he and his family do, nor that we're in a better position to decide what's best for him.

But on Sunday morning, for example, Twitter lit up with concern for the guy and a hope that he can get whatever medical problems he has under control, regardless of what it means on Saturday afternoons.

That concern in Gopher Nation does not appear to be because it needs him to fix a football program, a testament to how quickly he's worked his way into Minnesota's heart.

Minnesota wants a winner, but this ain't Texas.

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Comments (4)

20 seizures a week?!?

What better person to show that it ain't always about winning or losing? Sometimes it's about doing the damned best that you can with what you've got.

And the fact that he won't talk with Sid makes this guy all the more endearing.

Posted by Jim Shapiro | September 29, 2011 12:01 PM

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20 seizures/week? Why don't I heard the word 'epilepsy' anywhere? Is it still taboo? Maybe the Epilepsy Foundation of Minnesota should get him to do some PR work, that having seizures doesn't mean the end of your professional/social life.
btw - does he still have a valid driver's license? I have to put up w/ annoying paperwork to keep mine.

Posted by Elizabeth T. | September 30, 2011 12:00 AM

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I wish Coach Kill all the best and I hope he gets things back in order health wise. This weekend's game is nothing compared to what's headed his way Oct. 29th.

FREE FLOYD!!!!!!!!

Posted by Jake | September 30, 2011 6:01 AM

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Yes---Coach Kill is most definitely an epileptic. Is it 'taboo'---yeh, in far too many circles and corners of the world. Is it something that cannot be controlled? Not with the right doctors and the right meds.

I know Mayo is suppose to be the best---but for my money he should go to MINCEP; in St. Louis Park. That's where I went when my seizure disorder was out of control and MeritCare's TNI could not help me. MINCEP is an amazing place and if they can't find an answer---it isn't to be found.
Good Luck Coach. We're all pulling fo you.
SA

Posted by Soo Asheim | October 2, 2011 7:06 PM

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