Kill leaving NIU to take over as Minnesota coach

Once an athletic director sees Jerry Kill win on his home turf, apparently he can't run a program without him.

In September 2007, Kill led Southern Illinois to a win at Northern Illinois. Three months later the Huskies hired Kill to be Joe Novak's successor.

This September, Kill led NIU to a 34-23 victory at Minnesota for his second road triumph over a Big Ten school in as many years.

On Sunday night, Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi tabbed him to replace the fired Tim Brewster.

The 49-year-old Kill, who won't coach NIU at the uDrove Humanitarian Bowl on Dec. 18, agreed to a five-year deal and will be introduced as Minnesota's coach at 2 p.m. Monday. He must pay a $400,000 buyout to NIU.

Kill is expected to bring most, if not all, of his NIU assistants with him to Minnesota. That gets sorted out Monday as Kill's hiring was a bit of a whirlwind situation.

Maturi called NIU athletic director Jeff Compher on Saturday for permission to talk with his coach. Word of Kill's decision didn't leak until shortly before the team's banquet Sunday night.

He finished with a 23-16 record in almost three full seasons at NIU.

“I think there's definitely a lot of mixed emotions on the team,” said Huskies junior quarterback Chandler Harnish. “Everyone's just kind of, ‘What's going on right now?'”

Compher, whose son C.J. is a redshirting freshman fullback on NIU's squad, took Kill's decision well.

“When you have a coach as good as Coach Kill,” Compher said, “and you have a staff that's been together for as long as he's had them, you've got to expect opportunities to come along.”

Kill is the third NIU coach to jump from DeKalb to a BCS-level job.

Bill Mallory went to Indiana after leading the Huskies to the 1983 MAC title and a California Bowl title.

Jerry Pettibone left for Oregon State in 1990 after posting three consecutive winning seasons.

While the program dipped after Mallory and Pettibone departed, Compher believes NIU's current status will enable him to hire another stellar coach. Coordinators Tracy Claeys and Matt Limegrover will be among those considered if they don't follow Kill to Minnesota.

“This is a transition where we're handing over what I think is, maybe, one of the best teams in the country to the next coaching staff,” Compher said. “It's a very unique situation because it's not a question of rebuilding.

“It's a question of continuing and maintaining and making sure we keep the program at the top of the league.”