Minnesota’s Kill takes a step back from coaching after latest seizure
Since Jerry Kill was diagnosed with cancer in 2005, he's resisted taking any time away from the football field. Until now.
Minnesota announced Sunday that Kill has readmitted himself into the hospital to resolve lingering seizure issues after suffering another seizure Sunday, barely two weeks after suffering a seizure on the sideline near the end of the Gophers' home opener against New Mexico State. While Kill has suffered from seizures for many years, the most recent episode has set off a chain of seizures he hasn't been able to control.
While Kill returned to coach in their game against Miami (Ohio) last week, and was on the sideline again Saturday for the Gophers' loss to North Dakota State, he admitted that he'd had 20 subsequent seizures in the six days following the initial incident.
"I guess everybody knows, from having cancer, I have a seizure disorder; and when you get your medication, you get dehydrated;" Kill said during his press conference last week. "And then they put medication in you; and you put different kinds of medication in your body, it don't work too good sometimes and it ain't worked too damn good this time.
"So they need to get it figured out. And that's my wife's job and that's why I've been married 29 years. She's a hell of a woman and she's trying to get it figured out. We've got good medical people here and they will eventually get it figured out."
Kill suffered two seizures while the coach of Southern Illinois in 2001 and 2005. The hospital trip in 2005 ultimately revealed Kill had kidney cancer, which is now in remission.
Kill has been admitted to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. The school did not announce a timetable for Kill's return and didn't announce an interim coach for this weekend's game against Michigan, but Kill stressed in a statement that he was making his health a priority.
"The seizures continue to be a concern for me and my family," Kill said. "Rebecca and I have made the decision to do what it takes to find a solution. I hope to be back to work soon, but we believe that taking some time away to get a handle on this is the right thing to do."
