Kill adds 4 NIU coaches, plus top assistant

Bill Miller

    To update the last post: Jerry Kill has announced the addition of five coaches to his staff -- Bill Miller as assistant head coach and linebackers coach, Jim Zebrowski to coach quarterbacks, Rob Reeves, whose responsibility switches to H-backs and tight ends, plus Jeff Phelps as defensive line coach and Pat Poore in charge of receivers. All but Miller were on      Kill's staff at Northern Illinois and took part in Saturday's 40-17 victory over Fresno State in the Humanitarian Bowl.

     The new hires, to join Gopher coaching holdover Thomas Hammock, who handles running backs, and former NIU coordinators Tracy Claeys (defense) and Matt Limegrover (offense), leave Kill with at least one on-field coaching position to fill.
     Miller's resume is a long one, beginning with a stint with the Gophers under John Gutekunst. He was a graduate assistant under Jimmy Johnson at Oklahoma State, and has coached on the staffs of Chris Ault (Nevada), Nick Saban (Michigan State) and Butch Davis (Miami).
     Reeves was Kill's quarterback at Saginaw Valley (Mich.) State in the mid-1990s, and has been on his staff ever since, working for Kill at Emporia (Kansas) State, Southern Illinois and Northern Illinois. Poore, a former head coach at Iowa Wesleyan, joined Kill's staff at SIU in 2001, while the other two NIU veterans are more recent additions to Kill's inner circle. Phelps coached at NIU two seasons before Kill arrived, and was kept on by the new coach, while Zebrowski, a former head coach at Lakeland (Wis.) College, was hired at NIU just last year.
     In addition to the new coaches, Kill announced he will retain Gopher graduate assistants Daryl Agpalsa (offense) and Jesse Nelson (defense).