Jerry Kill Lands New Job at Vanderbilt

Former Minnesota Gophers head football coach, Jerry Kill, has accepted a new off-field staff role at Vanderbilt, as reported by Pete Thamel (ESPN). Kill led the Gophers from 2011-2015 but was forced to step down on October 28, 2015, due to ongoing health issues.

Sources: Vanderbilt football is in the process of hiring longtime college head coach Jerry Kill to a staff role. It's expected to be an off-field consulting role where he'll work with head coach Clark Lea and OC Tim Beck.

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 11, 2024

In 2018, he took an assistant role at Southern Illinois before moving on to Virginia Tech, TCU, and eventually returning as a head coach at New Mexico State in 2022.

Jerry Kill’s Record Year at New Mexico State

On November 24, 2021, Kill was announced as the head coach at New Mexico State University. In his first season, the Aggies secured their second bowl game victory since 1960, finishing with a 7-6 record. Jerry celebrated the success with a tattoo on his right arm after the Quick Lane Bowl win.

Related: PJ Fleck Determined to Stop Jerry Kill from Burning Bridges Back to Dinkytown

In year 2, Kill’s Aggies took another step forward, finishing with a 10–5 record just the second double digit win season in school history. Wow, life for Big Jer’ must be going really well down south, huh? Well… maybe not.

Kill Resigns and Rules Out Future Head Coaching Roles

Kill’s exit surprised many, given that he successfully reconstructed the football program, leading the Aggies to consecutive bowl games. But in his post game presser following the Aggies 37-10 loss in the New Mexico Bowl, Kill blew his top on over rival New Mexico University not letting his team use their indoor practice facility earlier in the week.

THREAD At end of NM Bowl presser, NMSU head coach Jerry Kill went on rant discussing Diego Pavia's incident @ UNM facility, saying he was punished for it. Kill then went on to call out UNM AD Eddie Nunez for not allowing NMSU to practice in indoor facility this week. pic.twitter.com/HlUhf6rT7b

— Colin Deaver (@ColinDeaverTV) December 17, 2023

A week later, on December 23rd Kill announced he was stepping down as head coach at New Mexico State. In Kill’s resignation presser, he said he would never be a head coach again. “As far as what plans I have down the road, and I’ll never be a head coach.”

Related: Jerry Kill Just Can’t Help Himself…

Former Minnesota Gophers head coach off to the SEC

Kill’s role at Vandy will be off the field but speculation suggests the move was influenced by his offensive coordinator at NMSU, Tim Beck, being hired by the Commodores for the same job. So, Jerry reunites with his former OC in the SEC, as they take aim at once again rejuvenating a struggling program that hasn’t experienced a winning season since 2013.