Former Minnesota head coach Jerry Kill named permanent AD at Southern Illinois
Former Minnesota head coach and Rutgers offensive coordinator Jerry Kill has been named the permanent athletic director at Southern Illinois. The school made the announcement on Thursday afternoon.
The Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees approved Kill’s move from acting athletic director to the permanent position. He had served in the acting role since April 2018. Prior to that, he held the title of special assistant to the chancellor.
“We are grateful for Coach Kill’s strong leadership and effective management of Intercollegiate Athletics and his continued role in working on enrollment and outreach for the SIU Carbondale campus,” Chancellor John M. Dunn said. “I have received considerable positive feedback from a wide range of campus constituents regarding Coach Kill’s stewardship and I am excited about his continued service to our campus.”
Kill is quite familiar with SIU, serving as the head coach of the football program from 2001-07. In seven seasons with the Salukis, Kill’s teams compiled a 55-32 record and won at least a share of the Gateway Football Conference title three straight seasons 2003-05. Southern Illinois won at least nine games in each of his final five seasons, reaching the NCAA FCS Playoffs each of those years.
After coaching at Southern Illinois, Kill landed a job at Northern Illinois, where he spent three seasons. In 2011, he was named the head coach at Minnesota where he spent the next four-and-a-half years. He was 29-29 in five years, guiding the Gophers to three bowl appearances in that time.
Kill retired from his post midway through the 2015 season due to medical issues. He stepped away from football entirely for a few years. After a few years away from the game, Kill was coaching again, serving as the offensive coordinator at Rutgers in 2017.
Following the 2017 season, Kill stepped away from coaching again.
In addition to his duties as a head coach and assistant coach over the years, Kill also was also an associate athletic director at Kansas State in 2016.