Mike Zimmer never met Jerry Kill until the Vikings hired him in January 2014 and the two became the highest-profile football coaches in Minnesota.
But he related to Kill’s journey from the backwaters to the University of Minnesota, two middle-aged men from middle America who shared the title of coaching lifer until Kill resigned Wednesday.
“It’s disappointing to have another great coach that you respect, and the things he’s done, retire,” Zimmer said Wednesday at Winter Park. “(By) the same token, I’m glad he had the fortitude to do it when he felt like he needed to do it.
“We’re all going to miss him in the Twin Cities, and I’m sure the U of M faithful will miss him, as well. He’s an awfully good football coach. He’s got that program going in the right way. I wish him not only good health, but I might join him someday. Sooner the better, maybe.”
Zimmer, 59, has been coaching a decade longer than Kill, 54. He grew up outside Chicago and was a star high school quarterback whose playing career was cut short by a neck injury as a freshman at Illinois State.
Although he was an NFL assistant coach, Zimmer was familiar with Kill’s success at Southern Illinois and then Northern Illinois before he came to the Gophers in 2011.
“He’s a little bit like me,” Zimmer said. “The steps he had to take to be where he is, it’s hard for him to make that decision. The University of Minnesota was a dream for him, and he’s got it going the right way.”
The news reverberated in the locker room among the Vikings’ three former Gophers — punt returner Marcus Sherels, safety Brock Vereen and wide receiver Isaac Fruechte.
“Yeah, it’s unfortunate,” said Vereen. “But for someone who’s spent his whole life doing everything for everyone around him, I guess I’m just happy that he finally gets to do what’s best for him. And I’m very thankful for everything that he’s given to the university.”
Fruechte said Kill was like “a father figure to me.”
“We were really close. We talk every week even still,” he said. “Coach Kill is near and dear to my heart. This is kind of tough for me, and I know a lot of guys are having trouble with it. (But) you’ve got to take time, you’ve got to get healthy.”
Zimmer, a widower whose wife died in 2009, coached 35 years and was turned down for four NFL head coaching jobs before landing the ultimate gig in Minnesota.
He expounded about how the demands on a head coach can be exhausting, from managing and motivating 53 players and designing weekly game plans to accounting for decisions as the public face of the franchise.
“It’s a tough, tough profession, especially with the people … they want you to win so bad, they’re behind you,” he said. “I’ve always said everybody knows how to do a coach’s job. I can’t go in and tell (surgeons) how to operate, but everyone knows how to do a coaching job.”
Follow Brian Murphy at twitter.com/murphPPress. Murphy talks Vikings with Chad Hartman at 2:35 p.m. Mondays on WCCO-830 and 9:30 a.m. Fridays with Mackey and Judd on 1500-ESPN.
