Just as the second half of the University of Minnesota's football game at TCF Bank Stadium against Western Illinois got underway, Gophers coach Jerry Kill had an epileptic seizure and was taken to a hospital. Assistant coaches and players kept calm and carried on, as the Gophers won the game. They knew the drill. Unfortunately, so did we. This is the third time Kill's had a seizure during a game since becoming coach.
The following day, the Minneapolis Star Tribune put Kill's seizure on the front pages of both the news and sports sections. The latter was devoted to a column by Jim Souhan, who asked uncomfortable questions about the lack of leadership in a crisis provided by athletic director Norwood Teague, and the wisdom of having a man with epilepsy coach a major college football team. As for coverage of the game itself, the Strib buried it inside the Sunday sports section along with the latest Twins loss and Vikings game-day minutiae.
Souhan, meanwhile, got tons of angry e-mails from Kill's supporters and others threatening to cancel their newspaper subscriptions--and not always in a "Minnesota Nice" manner. Souhan has a right to express his opinion, even if he had to make one of those "non-apology" apologies as a peace offering to all those easily offended individuals who want to put "differently abled" folks on pedestals. (We're not sure if this was Souhan's idea or his bosses)
Teague finally did address the situation in his Monday media conference, mostly saying he has Kill's back. Well, what did you expect him to say? From the moment the Gophers hired Kill to resurrect their moribund football program, they put themselves in a box. Knowing Kill's medical condition, they couldn't very well fire him for as long as he remains under contract--not even if the reason is the team's continued losing. The University of Minnesota being a federal-and-state funded institution, they'd be in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Medically speaking, Kill has a good situation here in the Twin Cities for his epileptic treatment. He works with doctors on medications and other ways to control his seizures. He has some of the best medical facilities in the world at his disposal, including the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. And he has the support of family, friends and university colleagues.
Kill certainly can coach football for as long as he's physically able. He just happens to be at a program that has been perpetually struggling to compete with the likes of Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin in the Big Ten Conference. One wonders what would happen if Kill had been coaching at a Southeastern Conference school, where they take college football far more seriously than they do in Minnesota?
Is Kill's medical condition a distraction to recruiting? It has been no better and no worse since the glory days of Bernie Bierman and two Rose Bowl appearances. More than fifty years after the Gophers last set foot in Pasadena, their poor records and mediocre bowl appearances have done more to send potential recruits elsewhere than anything Kill's done.
When it comes to national and local media coverage, Kill is a distraction. They tend to forget that there is a game to be played, not an ongoing human interest soap opera. When ESPN covers a Gophers game, they're as likely to devote a good chunk of it to Kill's condition as they are to covering the action on the field. (Same goes for any game involving Penn State, although epilepsy hardly compares with child sexual abuse, ruined lives and prison terms.) And if Kill does happen to have a seizure during the game, that's all the media will talk about regardless of what the final score is.
Jerry Kill's Gophers, whether he's on the sidelines or not, has a 3-0 non-conference record so far this season. He will be back on the sidelines for this weekend's game at home against San Jose State, and will be there for the upcoming Big Ten schedule. Without incident, we hope.
As for the University of Minnesota's athletic department, they made an unspoken deal with Kill that may have gone like this: In exchange for you coaching our football program, we understand that it will occasionally be overshadowed by episodes caused by your medical condition. And we promise to stand by you. That is what the University and Gopher football fans will have to live with for as long as Kill is coach.
UPDATE (10/10/13): After another seizure forced Kill to miss the Gophers' last game at Michigan (which they lost), he's decided to take a leave of absence to tend to his health. Defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys will take over the team until Kill decides he's well enough to come back, whenever that may be. Why not take the rest of the season off, Jerry? You should know firsthand that being an epileptic is not an easy thing to fix.
Without Kill around, more people might notice that there's less to this Gophers squad than meets the eye. They've already lost to Iowa and Michigan in Big Ten play, and the rest of the schedule doesn't look very good.
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