When the final seconds tick off the clock at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis next week, eyes will be watching to see if former Gophers football coach Jerry Kill will shake the hand of current Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck.
In a Zoom interview with KARE 11’s Randy Shaver, Kill made no indication that he’s let go of whatever it is that bothers him about Fleck. And will Kill shake Fleck’s hand?
“I wish I knew what was going to happen when I get there and everything and, you know, we’ll let it play out and so forth. But, you know, hey, I’m not going to… you know, I’m proud of Minnesota,” Kill said.
In a 2019 interview on SiriusXM’s Big Ten Today, Kill peppered Fleck with a series of verbal jabs. In his 2-minute rip session, Kill accused Fleck of treating Kill’s former coaching staff at Minnesota poorly, being all about himself and even bringing up Fleck’s first wife.
“He coached with me, but after that, he changed a lot. I’ll just be honest with you guys. People that have known him before — When he got with [Greg] Schiano, his personality changed a lot. And I knew his first wife, and he just changed a bunch. And then once he became a head coach, I mean, I helped him get the job at Western Michigan, and I just think sometimes, ego gets carried away,” Kill said.
“And when he went into Minnesota and treated the people the way he treated my guys and telling ‘em he had to go in and completely change the culture, and it was a bad culture and bad people, you know, he made it sound like we didn’t know what we were doing, and I took it personal. You just don’t treat people that have been with you and helped you career and you don’t even talk to him, you know, once you get the job.”
All of that will be part of the storyline when the Gophers face New Mexico State in the season opener Sept. 1.
Kill resigned from Minnesota due to health reasons in 2015, Tracy Claeys took over as the interim head coach and was given the permanent job only to be fired following a 9-4 season in 2016. Then came Fleck.
In the SiriusXM interview, Kill also bashed Fleck’s routine of running from one end of the field to the other between quarters, then claimed Fleck doesn’t care about his players.
“Do I still root for the Gophers? I do,” said Kill. “Do I enjoy him running up and down the sideline? No. Do I think that he’s about the players? No. He’s about himself. You can’t tell me. You’ve watched him. You listen to his interview, you think he thinks about the players?”
Kill, who turned 61 this week, did admit in his interview with Shaver that Fleck has “done a good job” with the Gophers.
