Here's giving Kill, NIU the attention they deserve

In terms of timing, Northern Illinois couldn't have picked a worse time to introduce Jerry Kill as its football coach.

By conducting its news conferences Thursday, the same day Major League Baseball unveiled its headline-seizing Mitchell Report, the Huskies received far less coverage than the announcement deserved.

Now there's a little time to analyze the decision, here goes: In terms of the actual hire, Northern Illinois couldn't have picked anyone better.

Why do I believe this? Because you get closest to the truth about a college coach when you talk to high school coaches, since all they care about is their kids being treated well and getting a fair shot.

But when you can find a high school coach whose son played for the man? It doesn't get more honest than that.

Longtime Benet coach Gary Goforth, whose son, Phil, spent five years in Kill's program and graduated Saturday with a business management degree, couldn't be more complimentary of the man.

(For the record, Phil Goforth served as SIU's third-leading receiver each of the last two seasons, but he rarely saw the field and never caught a pass in the three years prior to that. That suggests he, and his father by extension, experienced the full range of ups and downs that are most college football careers).

"Northern Illinois' gain is Southern Illinois' loss," Gary Goforth said in an e-mail. "What you see is the genuine person. He will not mince words or color it up for you. He will tell you like it is. I think Phil had the utmost respect for Coach Kill."

Apparently, that held true even when Kill made an example of Phil. According to Goforth, his son showed up eight minutes late for a class and was forced to run after practice.

"He is a very strong disciplinarian," Goforth said. "His team will go to class or they will pay a heavy price for not going."

That sounds like it jibes with Kill's news conference declaration that "I won't win any popularity contests, probably."

"We want a hard-hat, lunch-pail team," Kill said Thursday. "I think what you put into life is what you get out of it. We're going to work hard. I told some young people in here today, 'You better do something during Christmas, because when you get back, we're going to get after it.' "

"I'll push 'em to the limit. … We're not in it for a popularity contest, we're in it to make people better."

While those quotes portray Kill as a taskmaster, he also drew smiles when he dubbed himself "a recruiting machine."

While at SIU, though, that machine didn't spend a ton of time reaping recruits from the Chicago area that has served Joe Novak and his staff so well over the last 12 years.

On this year's roster, just 16 of the 99 guys on the list hailed from north of I-80. To be fair, the Salukis hit this area harder in recent years.

Kill and his staff also found success in Florida and Louisiana, as well as with Division I-A transfers. Some say he benefited from taking in a few questionable kids.

Goforth, though, says that worked both ways.

"He does believe in second chances, which has paid huge dividends for him and his football team," he said. "It's amazing what a little faith and belief in a young man can accomplish.

"On the other hand, there were players kicked off permanently, suspended for a few games and suspended for a season."

If those are to be Kill's standards at NIU, especially if they're joined by the same academic demands and consistent winning at SIU, the Huskies have found the perfect balance for college football's modern era.

Just try not to win the school's first Mid-American Conference title since 1983 on the same day Barry Bonds pleads guilty to something.