Thanks to Sid, we finally have definition of job Jerry Kill wanted at U

There was a sad aspect to Jerry Kill's reaction when he faced mild criticism early last season for a questionable coaching decision and then a terrible performance by his fifth Gophers football team.

The Gophers opened the schedule as sizable underdogs against TCU. They came up a big effort in front of a fired-up crowd at TCF Bank Stadium, but the final possession was a very unimpressive effort.

Asked about it in the postgame media session, Kill answered curtly and then said, "I guess I'm just not a very good football coach.''

Two weeks later, the Gophers were back home against Kent State, an also-ran from the Mid-American Conference. The Gophers won 10-7 in a performance so outrageously bad that the offense was booed by the U of M loyalists.

Asked about the booing, Kill said: "Maybe I need to get fired tomorrow. I don't know. We don't have an AD, so I can't get fired tomorrow …''

This juvenile display was a hard to fathom. And the later excuse that Kill's motive was to direct the attention away from struggling quarterback Mitch Leidner was one of the dumbest things heard in Minnesota sports during the 2015 calendar year.

Kill was pouting, and considering his heroic status in these parts, there was both disillusionment and sadness in seeing that.

The bottom line seemed to be that he was a hard-charging coach who could not continue to charge hard and hope to avoid complications with his epilepsy.

I wrote a blog on Kill for startribune.com that morning in which an attempt was made to be both analytical and sympathetic – and was criticized almost unanimously for not being sympathetic enough.

That was a minor example of the fondness and the sadness that the public felt for Kill.

Certainly, it was much easier to understand Kill's strange sensitivities from earlier in the season after hearing him talk about his struggle as he retired as Gophers coach in late October.

To me, there is another sad spectacle being played out with Kill at this moment. It isn't sad in the crushing emotional way that it was on Oct. 28, but sad in the manner which Kill is being martyred for the university's failure to provide him with the job he wanted in the athletic department.

He was offered that job – to be mostly a fund raiser, with a couple of other tasks thrown in. He didn't want it.

(Note: What I've heard about Kill and past fundraising efforts for the U was that he was outstanding with the schmooze and not with the "ask,'' which is the deal closer in fund raising or sales.)

Alternately, I have heard the job Kill wanted was something "similar to Barry Alvarez'' at Wisconsin, or as "overseer of the football program … similar to what Dan O'Brien was doing.''

Alvarez is the athletic director at Wisconsin – and a dang good one, considering the results.

If Kill wanted to be athletic director, and his epilepsy doctor approved, he should make that clear and apply. If he doesn't want to be AD, then there's no job "similar to Alvarez'' at Minnesota.

Among O'Brien's tasks was carrying messages back and forth between Kill and then-Athletic Director Norwood Teague, since Country Jer and his boss weren't exactly pals. That cool relationship turned out in Kill's favor, I guess.

It's clear that Kill would have no interest in a job with as little clout as O'Brien had as an assistant AD. And it's also unlikely that Tracy Claeys will have the same need for a buffer with the new AD, whether it's Beth Goetz or someone else, as did Kill with Teague.

No one is more upset with the university's failure to meet Kill's requirements than colleague Sid Hartman.

We are regular panelists on Mike Max's "The Sports Show'' on Channel 23 on Sunday nights.

I heard Sid's outrage on the Kill topic during the tapings of the show the previous two Sundays. The exchanges during breaks between Sid and Lou Nanne, a defender of university's stance on Kill, were downright nasty last Sunday.

"Former Gophers football coach Jerry Kill was looking for a position making him a liaison between the president and the athletic director when he interviewed with University of Minnesota president Eric Kaler and interim athletic director Beth Goetz.''

There is much more in Sid's emotional appeal in Kill's behalf. Be sure to read it.

What I appreciate most with Sid's column is that he finally laid out in a half-sentence what Kill was looking for as a job: He wanted a position making him a liaison between the president and the athletic director.

And with respect to ex-coach Kill, a guy I enjoyed in conversation, I have to say this: