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BEYOND THE PRESSBOX

No time to Kill

New coach on a mission to turn around Aggies

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Jerry Kill, the new head football coach at New Mexico State University, credits football with saving his life.

Now, he wants to help save the football program at his new school.

Kill, 60, was introduced as the new coach at New Mexico State on Monday, Nov. 29. He succeeds Doug Martin, whose contract was not renewed. Martin went 25-74 over nine years, including a mark of 2-10 this year.

 Martin’s tenure included a 2017 trip to the Arizona Bowl where the Aggies won their first bowl game since 1960. But it has been tough sledding for the football program ever since.

Kill has survived stage 4 cancer and has battled epilepsy for most of his adult life. He had to retire as head coach at the University of Minnesota in 2015 because of a variety of health issues, but now he is back, ready to tackle the next challenge in his life.

“I still believe the game of football and the players saved my life,” Kill said during his introductory news conference. “It gave me something to look forward to every day. I would tell you this: None of us get any do-overs in life. You only get one life.”

Kill said he took the New Mexico State job, viewed as one of the toughest places to win in the country, for several reasons.

He likes challenges, he has known Athletics Director Mario Moccia for years from their time together at the University of Southern Illinois and he loves football and being around the players.

“My motto is: Take it one day at a time,” Kill said.

During a 23-year career as a head coach at the NCAA Division II, FCS and FBS (college football classification subdivision) levels, Kill has compiled a 154-101 record, including six bowl-game appearances.

He is mostly known for his stint at the University of Minnesota, where he guided the program to three straight bowl-game appearances from 2012-14, including the school’s first New Year’s bowl in more than 50 years.

But that run of success was halted by health issues. He took some time off, walked on the beach, wrote a book and now has his health back.

In the past few years, Kill has served as an assistant coach at Rutgers, Virginia Tech and most recently as assistant to the head coach and then interim head coach at Texas Christian University after his good friend, Gary Patterson, was fired midway through this season.

While serving as interim coach, Kill went 2-2 at TCU, with a victory over nationally ranked Baylor.

He says he’s lost 20 pounds, is sleeping better and has no health issues.

“I have the best doctor in the country and maybe the world,” he said. “I have a little chip on my shoulder and I think our players have a little chip on their shoulder too. I want to show people: ‘You counted the old man out. You were wrong.’”

Kill has a history of turning around downtrodden football programs – at Southern Illinois, Northern Illinois and then Minnesota.

“My daddy always taught me: ‘I heard what you are saying. I will trust what you do,’” Kill said. “For me to tell you what we are going to do, you won’t believe them anyway. This is all I’ve done my whole life (turn around football programs).”

“You take over at Minnesota and then go to Ann Arbor and we beat Michigan,” he added. “Nobody expected us to do that. … I’ve always taken tough programs and turned them (around).”

Kill says he won’t have a lot of rules for his players – be on time, act right, go to class.

“If you are going to ask me what type of kids we are going to recruit, we are going to recruit tough kids,” he said. “We are going to recruit people that can relate to us – hardnosed, tough, blue collar, guys who roll up their sleeves.”

To play for Kill, you also have to love the game of football but be fast on the gridiron.

“The secret to coaching is I’ve gotten bailed out by people who can run,” Kill said.

“‘Hey, coach, that was a great call,’” he said. “No, it wasn’t. The guy made a heck of a play ’cause he is fast.”

Kill says football is a hard game but is the “greatest game ever invented” because of the life lessons it instills.

And now, Kill wants to pass those lessons on at New Mexico State.


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