Jerry Kill's health has been a weekly topic this season, since Minnesota's first-year head coach suffered a seizure on the sideline at the end of the Gophers' loss to New Mexico State on Sept. 10. Kill has suffered numerous seizures since, but said Tuesday that if his health ever became a hindrance, he'd quit his position as the Gophers' head coach.
"My situation is something that is going to be with me the rest of my life, so it is what it is, and so I deal with it," Kill said during his regular Tuesday press conference. "But it's not going to affect my job, and it hasn't, and if it ever does, then I won't be the head coach at the University of Minnesota. I'm not going to cheat the University of Minnesota and I'm not going to cheat our fans, I'm not going to cheat anybody. I've never done that in my whole life. I'd walk away from it."
Kill suffered another mild seizure Saturday on the plane home from the Gophers 28-13 loss at Northwestern. He said he was fine and actually returned to work on Sunday. He wasn't hospitalized and said he'll coach the season finale against Illinois this weekend.
Since his seizure on Sept. 10, Kill and his family have been working with doctors to make sure he's getting the proper medication to minimize the seizures, which Kill has suffered for years. He has yet to miss a game because of his illness and likely, when the season ends, he'll have more time to devote to controlling his seizures. So then, at the very least, he can spend his press conference talking more football and less health-related issues.
"I know my health situation is something that can be controlled, and every once in a while something might happen, but I'm not going to let that define who I am or anything like that," Kill said. "I'll just keep plunging along. I'm in pretty good health; you come out to practice I can still get after people's tail end pretty good, and I'm pretty scrappy, so I think I'll be fine. I think I'll be fine. I don't think the good Lord is ready for me, believe me. I'm too ornery."
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Graham Watson is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow her @Yahoo_Graham.