Jerry Kill--New Rutgers Offensive Coordinator
On Monday, December 19, head coach Chris Ash made the rumors of the past couple of days official when he held a teleconference formally naming Jerry Kill the new offensive coordinator for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team. Follow this link for the official press release on scarletknights.com.
Most recently an associate athletic director at Kansas State, Kill is best known as having been the 2014 Big Ten Coach of the Year during his almost 5-year stint at the University of Minnesota.
Kill has a reputation of turning around struggling programs, a feat he accomplished at Southern Illinois, Northern Illinois, and most notably with the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Having to leave Minnesota for health reasons, much has been written about his bouts with cancer and epilepsy. About his health, Kill said, as written in Ken Corbitt's Topeka Capital-Journal article, “I needed some time to get it situated and see the right people and get on the right diet and right regime and be able to get healthy. I’ve lost 25 pounds on a specific diet for seizure patients, I’m taking less medication and K-State has been the difference. I know how to take care of myself better."
My take on his health is that he seems to have a good handle on it. He's a man with a family who had a very good job at Kansas State. It stands to reason that he's spoken with his doctor about how to continue to take care of himself as he returns to coaching. To me it's a nonissue.
Stylistically, he will continue the power spread offense at Rutgers, but certainly he'll put his own mark on it. Based on what the Minnesota offense did with Kill at the helm, Rutgers is likely to run a bit more. However, the Golden Gophers stats during his tenure show that he also adjusted a bit based on his personnel. When star tailback David Cobb was carrying the ball for Minnesota in 2013 and 2014, the Golden Gophers offense was a bit more run heavy. In 2015, with Cobb having moved on and as quarterback Mitch Leidner began to assert himself as a reliable passer, Minnesota's passing yards per game went up. Of course, 2015 is the year Kill stepped down. But his team in 2012 also averaged more yards per game passing (169.5) than rushing (151.9). My guess for next year is that the Rutgers offense will run a bit more than pass with the mobile quarterbacks on the roster, plus the return of senior tailbacks Robert Martin and Josh Hicks. In addition, Rutgers will be breaking in a lot of young receivers, and it will take some time for all of those fresh players to get acclimated.
Coach Kill will be pulling in a starting base salary of $600,000, easily more than the $450,000 his predecessor received. Of course, Kill is much more experienced and has had far greater success at the Power 5 level. His salary is well in line with what other Big Ten OC's are receiving, and at the moment Kill is also the QBs coach, a separate position at many B1G schools. Also, with Kill's experience it will be like having another head coach on staff whose expertise Coach Ash can call upon when needed.
As of right now, the change from Mehringer to Kill has not affected recruiting as the verbal commitments are still intact. Part of the reason is clearly because Kill's coaching history is impressive. I also think it doesn't hurt that the current QB commit for 2017 trains with one of Kill's former college quarterbacks. And I think any offensive commit will wisely take the chance to speak with Kill before making any judgments.
In sum, I'm excited to see how the Rutgers offense will develop over the spring and summer, and I'm super stoked about this hire. Congrats to Chris Ash for bringing in such a well-regarded coach, and good luck to Coach Kill as he settles in On the Banks.
**This has been a very busy past few weeks for me and I'm behind on some RU news. My general plan is to blog once a week in the off-season. But I will be following up with another post tomorrow or Friday to discuss the recent NCAA NOA.
Most recently an associate athletic director at Kansas State, Kill is best known as having been the 2014 Big Ten Coach of the Year during his almost 5-year stint at the University of Minnesota.
Kill has a reputation of turning around struggling programs, a feat he accomplished at Southern Illinois, Northern Illinois, and most notably with the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Having to leave Minnesota for health reasons, much has been written about his bouts with cancer and epilepsy. About his health, Kill said, as written in Ken Corbitt's Topeka Capital-Journal article, “I needed some time to get it situated and see the right people and get on the right diet and right regime and be able to get healthy. I’ve lost 25 pounds on a specific diet for seizure patients, I’m taking less medication and K-State has been the difference. I know how to take care of myself better."
My take on his health is that he seems to have a good handle on it. He's a man with a family who had a very good job at Kansas State. It stands to reason that he's spoken with his doctor about how to continue to take care of himself as he returns to coaching. To me it's a nonissue.
Stylistically, he will continue the power spread offense at Rutgers, but certainly he'll put his own mark on it. Based on what the Minnesota offense did with Kill at the helm, Rutgers is likely to run a bit more. However, the Golden Gophers stats during his tenure show that he also adjusted a bit based on his personnel. When star tailback David Cobb was carrying the ball for Minnesota in 2013 and 2014, the Golden Gophers offense was a bit more run heavy. In 2015, with Cobb having moved on and as quarterback Mitch Leidner began to assert himself as a reliable passer, Minnesota's passing yards per game went up. Of course, 2015 is the year Kill stepped down. But his team in 2012 also averaged more yards per game passing (169.5) than rushing (151.9). My guess for next year is that the Rutgers offense will run a bit more than pass with the mobile quarterbacks on the roster, plus the return of senior tailbacks Robert Martin and Josh Hicks. In addition, Rutgers will be breaking in a lot of young receivers, and it will take some time for all of those fresh players to get acclimated.
Coach Kill will be pulling in a starting base salary of $600,000, easily more than the $450,000 his predecessor received. Of course, Kill is much more experienced and has had far greater success at the Power 5 level. His salary is well in line with what other Big Ten OC's are receiving, and at the moment Kill is also the QBs coach, a separate position at many B1G schools. Also, with Kill's experience it will be like having another head coach on staff whose expertise Coach Ash can call upon when needed.
As of right now, the change from Mehringer to Kill has not affected recruiting as the verbal commitments are still intact. Part of the reason is clearly because Kill's coaching history is impressive. I also think it doesn't hurt that the current QB commit for 2017 trains with one of Kill's former college quarterbacks. And I think any offensive commit will wisely take the chance to speak with Kill before making any judgments.
In sum, I'm excited to see how the Rutgers offense will develop over the spring and summer, and I'm super stoked about this hire. Congrats to Chris Ash for bringing in such a well-regarded coach, and good luck to Coach Kill as he settles in On the Banks.
**This has been a very busy past few weeks for me and I'm behind on some RU news. My general plan is to blog once a week in the off-season. But I will be following up with another post tomorrow or Friday to discuss the recent NCAA NOA.
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