Jerry Kill Named Rutgers OC: Latest Contract Details and Reaction

Former Minnesota head coach Jerry Kill is returning to the sidelines. The 55-year-old was named Rutgers' next offensive coordinator, a little over a year after retiring from coaching. 

Rutgers announced the hire Monday after Ryan Dunleavy and Keith Sargeant of NJ Advance Media reported the news Sunday night. Kill most recently served as an associate athletic director at Kansas State during the 2016 season.

Sam Hellman of ScarletReport.com reported Kill signed a three-year contract starting at $600,000 and rising $25,000 each year.

“I am excited to welcome Jerry and his family to Rutgers,” Rutgers head coach Chris Ash said in the program release. “Jerry brings years of experience and tremendous leadership to our offense. He is a veteran Big Ten coach and a proven winner. Our players and coaches will benefit from his wealth of knowledge.”

The move marks the first time since 1993 that Kill will serve as an assistant coach. He previously held head coaching positions at Saginaw Valley State, Emporia State, Southern Illinois, Northern Illinois and Minnesota. Health issues caused him to retire midway through the 2015 season with the Gophers, specifically epilepsy, which led to issues on the sideline.

“This is not the way I wanted to go out,” Kill told reporters at the time of his retirement. “But you all know about the struggles, and I did my best to change. But some of those struggles have returned, and I don’t want to cheat the game.”

Kill has only served as an offensive coordinator once in his career, during a stint at Pittsburg State from 1991 to 1993. He played linebacker as a player during college and then started his coaching ascent working on the defensive side of the ball.

Minnesota's offenses were also never particularly explosive under Kill. The Gophers ranked 44th or worse in Football Outsiders' offensive metrics in each of Kill's five seasons, including three campaigns outside the top 70. Four of Kill's five seasons saw his leading passer throw for fewer than 2,000 yards, and the development of running back David Cobb was his only real notable work on the offensive side.

Kill was also not known to make offensive play calls; he had two assistants leading that charge late in his Minnesota tenure. 

Health issues notwithstanding, Kill's relative lack of a resume as an offensive guru makes this an interesting hire.

The Scarlet Knights went 2-10 under first-year coach Chris Ash, but there's little reason to believe he's under any real pressure in 2017. The school gave Ash a five-year contract to leave his post as Ohio State's defensive coordinator. If there were a push behind the scenes to get rid of Ash, perhaps adding an assistant with two decades of head coaching experience would make more sense.

But in this case, it seems more likely that Kill was itching for a coaching return and found the first attractive job that made sense. He spoke to Kellis Robinett of the Wichita Eagle about lifestyle changes he made at Kansas State that have helped him feel healthier. 

"I would say I feel about 90 percent better than I did a year ago," Kill said. "I would probably still be coaching had I felt this good then. But I have changed a lot. I went from two-and-a-half hours of sleep for 12 years to six hours of sleep now. That is a huge deal."

Perhaps lessening his workload from head coach to assistant will be enough to keep Kill healthy enough to stay on the sidelines for good. 

Follow Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) on Twitter.