The way it ended still bothers him.
“Because the people treated me so good,” he said. “I was on a good roll. You can’t control what happens to you with a health situation. I’ve had to battle that stuff my whole life. …
“I was at the pinnacle, and we had things going and working on the new facility [Athletes Village]. I hit my head against that wall so hard. I gave every ounce I could to Minnesota. I mean every single ounce. Eventually, you’ve got to be able to sleep and you’ve got to be able to eat and I wasn’t doing any of it. All I could do was think about Minnesota football, and I gave everything I had. I look back at it and if I had been able to stay healthy, who knows what would happen.”
I’ve always wondered if Kill should have asked to take a leave of absence rather than retire abruptly. He brought up that theory unprompted in our phone conversation.
“I know a lot of people said you could have taken a year off,” he said. “That would have killed recruiting. It would have killed the program. You can’t take a year off and then come back, not with recruiting. I did what I had to do, and I didn’t cheat Minnesota.”
The desire to coach returned as his health improved.