Putting the drama to bed before the game even kicked off, PJ Fleck chased dow Jerry Kill and shook his hand ahead of the highly-anticipated meeting between the current and former Gopher football coaches on Thursday night in Minneapolis.
P.J. Fleck and Jerry Kill just chatted for a few minutes near midfield during pregame — yep, they shook hands a few times. All seems good. pic.twitter.com/4t5U8tFI8h
— Danny Spewak (@DannySpewak) September 2, 2022
The drama hit full speed when Kill told KARE 11’s Randy Shaver last week that he wasn’t sure if he’d shake Fleck’s hand in his return to Minnesota for the first time since resigning due to complications from epilepsy in 2015.
“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,” Kill told Shaver. “But, you know, hey, I’m not going to… you know, I’m proud of Minnesota.”
Kill downplayed his comments after practice Tuesday night, telling a New Mexico TV that the media blew his comments out of proportion.
“They’re going to try to blow things to where people, they’re going to make as big a deal as they can. It’s something to talk about,” Kill said. “I hope somebody’s making some money off of it.”
Tonight after New Mexico State practice, Jerry Kill spoke at length about the postgame handshake (will they or won't they?) with PJ Fleck and the affinity he still has for Minnesota. Said he and his family "never recovered" from his exit in 2015 for health reasons. Take a listen. pic.twitter.com/wZWpcZNq8i
— Colin Deaver (@ColinDeaver_) August 31, 2022
In 2019, Kill went on a national radio show and claimed Fleck doesn’t care about his players while also expressing frustration for how he feels Fleck handled the baton the Gophers gave to him in 2016 after Kill’s longtime friend and coach Tracy Claeys was fired after one year as interim head coach.
As for the handshake, despite Kill’s comments, Fleck said he was going to shake Kill’s hand no matter what.
“There’s a tradition of 100 years ago of coaches meeting at midfield,” Fleck said. “I’ve been a head coach for 10 years, and I’ve never not shaken a head coach’s hand in my entire career … I might have had to go find a guy.”
The Gophers were 36.5-point favorites over New Mexico State, where Kill is in his first season as head coach.
Related; Brian Murphy: PJ Fleck can turn Jerry Kill’s whine into a whimper
