Coach Kill suffers another seizure

[CaptainMusky]

No I do not. Again. Use your unending time on your hands to do some research on the subject other than a few quotes. I know people that have suffered seizures their entire life.

[Big Dave2]

No I do not. Again. Use your unending time on your hands to do some research on the subject other than a few quotes. I know people that have suffered seizures their entire life.

You are not the only one who knows people with epilepsy.

If you think Kill is not endangering his life by continuing to put himself in the most stressful of situations, YOU are the one who needs to do a bit of research.

[JBMasterAngler]

Also take into consideration, recruiting. Not that other coaches need too many reasons to dissuade recruits from coming to Minnesota, but Kill's health is certainly a handy weapon to use to convince a kid to not come here.

[CaptainMusky]

If coaches use that as a tactic to dissuade someone from going to the u of m then they either don't have enough strength for winning the recruit in the first place or they are just plain dirty.

[CaptainMusky]

I have no doubt that the true medical professionals (aside from those here because they're obviously many competent folks SMH) will get this under control with carious meds like is the case with millions of others including those I know.

[RumRiverRat]

He needs to resign.

[Rick]

Considering Bear Bryant used to give out swimming scholarships to his football recruits when he ran out of football scholarships...if it's not illegal or against the NCAA rules it will be used in recruiting.

[Kettle]

I have no doubt that the true medical professionals (aside from those here because they're obviously many competent folks SMH) will get this under control with carious meds like is the case with millions of others including those I know.

SMH? As in shaking my head? Medications do work the majority of times yet many people on medications still have seizures, typically called a break through seizures. I can guarantee the coach is on medications. Medications do not solve the problem 100% but can help a substantial amount. I do not have an opinion on if he should retire or not it is his choice and I'm sure he thinks about his health and his team often in regards to this matter. Like Big Dave stated some people with seizure disorders do have limitations for safety for them and others, you can lead a perfectly normal life and be as full functioning as the rest of the population. Personally I have had seizure(s) contributed to an infection at one point in my life but do not have epilepsy so I can understand to a certain point, in my career I have treated well over 300 seizure patients some seizing when I get to them and some postictal, with that being said I do feel for these people. I wouldn't be surprised if Kills seizure disorder puts an end to his career prematurely.

Kettle

[CaptainMusky]

SMH as in shaking my head yes. There are clearly folks here projecting medical advice when they are not qualified to do so. I feel exactly as you that he is likely taking meds (folks in the know have commented as such) and sometimes it takes some "trial and error" to get the right cocktail as each person is different or has different triggers.

[Farley]

Yeah some people have epilepsy and it practically goes unnoticed. Some are head football coaches for big 10 teams that go very noticed. I was at the game and saw him convulsing and watched him get carted off the field. It was longer than the others. Dont know if they are getting worse or what but I think #1 He should quit for his own health, #2 it does hurt recruiting.

[Huskie]

I've followed the gophers for many years, mostly football and basketball. My take on coach Kill's situation is that the opinion of only two groups of people matter. One is Kill and is family, of course with the guidance of his medical professionals. If they feel he can continue to do the job that he has done for years, so be it. Granted, coaching the Gophers is more stressful than most. Second, would be the powers at the U. If they are convinced that Jerry has them moving in the right direction, in spite of the seizures, and that includes recruiting, I am fine with it. If either of the parties think that it is time for a change, then lets move on. The opinion of the rest of us really doesn't matter that much.

[harvey lee]

I believe this would be between the Gopher's and even more he and his family.

I had Grand Mal siezures for years from an accident and med's would not control them. In the end, I had a brain surgery done at Mayo clinic or St Mary's actually to stop them years ago. I could do everything a non siezure person could do short of driving a vechile as the State would pull ones license for a year until you were siezure free for 12 months. As long as I was not near any dangerous equipment then I was about free to do as I pleased.

If Jerry has petty mal siezures and the neuro docs figure he is ok coaching and he and his family are fine with that, then I guess that would be thier decision whether he should continue or not.

Stress could be causing these and maybe not, again the neuro doc's could tell that from tests. I would guess the med's are not controlling these as he would not be having them if the med's worked.

If he is fine with coaching and his family is and the Doc's feel he will not harm himself, then go for it.

Many factors we do not know. I would not wish any type of siezure on my worst enemy, it's a tough medical condition to go through for any period or for that matter his entire life.

I would never tell another how to handle thier medical situation as we simply do not know all the facts.

I feel so sorry for any person that has to go through these seizures as they are ugly espically the Grand mal type. I never knew when I would have one so it was pretty easy for me but for my wife, it scared the living h$ll out of her each time I had one for 13 years.

It can be a life changer for anyone with this issue but each person and thoier family has to decide how to handle this.

We can all say what he should do but until you have gone through it, you cannot say what is best for him.

One cannot say, my life is over and stop living the life you want to live. You have to decide what you can do safely and then go for it and hope for the best.

[LABS4ME]

WOW! You guys calling for him to resign kill me! The only reason I can see the U wanting to remove him would be for PR reasons.

Am I a Dr. or a professional with eplilepsy? No... but probably as close as you can get without being one. My son has had uncontrolled epilepsy for all of his almost 20 years of life. He had a 9 year stretch of 100+ siezures a day... We have endured two 'status' events in which we had to chemically induce coams to cool his brain. We have used meds, a vagal nerve stimulator, the ketogenic diet, steroids, experimental meds etc. Some seemed to help, some do not. In the end, keeping yourself healty is paramount. My son is now down to about 5-15 per week. He is doing well. Coach Kill has become a much healthier person since he came to the U. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. He may go siezure free for a year at a time, he may begin siezing with regularity. He seems to handle it well for now where he's at. I'm sure if they became more regular he'd be forced to revisit the issue if he can coach at a high level. Coach Kill's health is most likely more in danger from a stress induced heart attack than from epilepsy taking his life. So everyone get off that band wagon. That is fear mongering at it's best.

His Drs have stated he is not in danger and Kill wants to carry on... so the only thing anyone can gripe about is that they have to witness it. Welcome to real life. Things out of perfection happen. Deal with it. He is, and we should too. Extend the guy a little extra leash and let him live his drream coaching Big10 football even as an epileptic. We should be able to live with it if he is able to live with it.

Enjoy his successes, encourage him to be all he can be, let him be a National model for epilepsy and what you can achieve with it. Don't let it scare you.

Good Luck!

Ken

[LABS4ME]

Coach Kill does not drive. He has notified the State of his siezures. He has his wife drive him everywhere. She is on board with his decision to carry on coaching.

Good Luck!

Ken

[CaptainMusky]

Labs, thank you so much for your post and honesty with your personal situation. I cannot imagine the helplessness you must feel/felt when dealing with this for your child.

I agree with you 100% in the assessment on Kill's job status.

[RumRiverRat]

Considering Bear Bryant used to give out swimming scholarships to his football recruits when he ran out of football scholarships...if it's not illegal or against the NCAA rules it will be used in recruiting.

Yep it is going to hurt recruiting.

This team cannot afford to be hurt in that area.

[Kettle]

I was at the game and saw him convulsing and watched him get carted off the field. It was longer than the others. Dont know if they are getting worse or what

As odd as this may sound, typically emergency medications (the ones used to stop seizures) are not given until someone has been seizing for 5 minutes. It is just what most medical directors suggest, ironically the brain can go without oxygen for 6-8 minutes w/o having brain damage. So with that being said, it is common for paramedics to witness someone having a seizure get an IV and wait the five minutes to have it stop on its own before giving versed. I think it has something to do with the type of neurological exams Dr.'s do and would rather have emergency medications not given unless it is a status seizure (one that doesn't stop in relative time.)

Labs4me is a prime example of a everyday citizen that has had to deal with this, I often run into children with different medical conditions and although I am a medical professional they are typically more knowledgeable on their child's condition, I think that it is awesome how parents go to the lengths they do for their children. Labs4me I'm glad to hear your sons condition has improved.

I guess in regards to Kills situation only time will tell what will happen to his career, and for his and his players sake I hope it all gets straitened out.

Kettle

[LABS4ME]

Kettle,

I think we need to be a little clearer in your description of why they wait 5 minutes to give the meds.

I would say in almost every siezure case the brain is not being oxygen deprived. In almost every case, the patient is breathing through the siezure.

I think the hope is that the brain will quiet down and quit the cross firing on it's own and thus not having to give Valium or whatever sedative they choose to quiet the activity. There is a slight amount of damage done to the brain with each siezure. Sustained siezures (either long in length or a high qty clustered) will have a greater impact on brain damage then short controlled siezures which is what everyone is witnessing. Thus the desire to wait 5 minutes. There is no discernable damage done in the short siezures. At that point (5 min) they do want to break the siezure through meds. WIth my son the threshhold was moved down to an order of rectal valium at 3 minutes because he has gone into status twice. We do not want to risk that again. 24-48 hours of non-stop siezures does cause brain damage. we are all trianed to administer the dose and we do not call the docs or hospital unless we initially fail to break the siezure. Even then, they have given orders to admin another half dose and they break. 1/2 day of post dictal groginess and life goes on... I don't want to sound glib about it, but it really is just everyday life to us... I'm sure it is the same for Coach Kill.

Again I am not a DR., but my guess is Kill's siezures are not life threatening on there own. The fall would most likely be a factor for injury... it may be uncomfortable for many to witness, but in the end I hope that this helps people not to be afraid of seeing a siezure.

I do not see how it WILL hurt recruiting. 40 years of sub-mediocrity with less than stellar coaches hurts recruiting. A coach who does not hide behind his disability but rather is open about it and shows he WILL work through the adversity because HE BELIEVES in the path he is taking the team, will most likely garner points from families and recruits who have character. Those who are in it for only the limelight and quick path to the NFL will always take the offer from the Ohio States, Floridas, LSU, Oregons, Alamabama etc. and we never had a chance at them epilepsy or not.

Good Luck!

Ken

[Rippinlip]

Labs, Harvey,

Not only touched by your stories and others, but to actually see how many people are affected and live "regular" lives.

Our daughter has epilepsy, it started out as Absonse and have progressed/regressed.

We have been down a long road like many others including coach Kill.

Doctors, research and medicines are amazing in this field.

Our daughter like everyone that has epilepsy understands her restrictions probably more than we can.

With that said, coach Kill has no issue doing his job, than why should we?

He is not harming anyone, including himself.

Are they going to be players that look at this differently? Sure.

Do you think the players that do not choose the "U" will really state it was because of the coach Kill or its Minnesota (not such a power house in the NCAA)

By the way, the University is STANDING BEHIND COACH KILL!

[flipper]

If there are players that do not want to come to Minnesota because Coach Kill has an illness I would say we do not want them here anyway. Kudos to the U for standing behind the coach!

[JBMasterAngler]

The gophers want players that can play! They don't care if they have good character or not! And if those players start saying "we're not coming to Minnesota because of coach Kill's health", guess who's gonna be packing their bags? It sounds bad, but that's the truth!

I disagree that Kill is healthier since he's come here. He's had 4 seizures now since becoming the gophers' coach. Before he came here he went 5+ years without having a single seizure. I think this whole thing sucks, because I really like Kill, and think he's a good fit here. But unfortunately I see this ending sooner than it should, and without a happy ending.

[CaptainMusky]

The gophers want players that can play! They don't care if they have good character or not! And if those players start saying "we're not coming to Minnesota because of coach Kill's health", guess who's gonna be packing their bags? It sounds bad, but that's the truth!

I disagree that Kill is healthier since he's come here. He's had 4 seizures now since becoming the gophers' coach. Before he came here he went 5+ years without having a single seizure. I think this whole thing sucks, because I really like Kill, and think he's a good fit here. But unfortunately I see this ending sooner than it should, and without a happy ending.

how conveniently you neglected to mention his own admission that prior to coming to the u of m he was far more prepared with plans and treatment in place. When coming here he tried to take it all upon himself. He admitted all of this in an interview.

[Big Dave2]

None of this will matter in 3-4 years anyway when he has failed to win more than 2-3 Big 10 games per year and everyone starts calling for his head.

[RumRiverRat]

If there are players that do not want to come to Minnesota because Coach Kill has an illness I would say we do not want them here anyway. Kudos to the U for standing behind the coach!

The only thing that matters in college football is winning. Having good character players is very low on the list of priorities.

The gophers are not a big time college program.

They may have a bunch of great student athletes with good character, but that means absolutely nothing if they do not win.

[LABS4ME]

Who said the gophers were only looking for recruits with character. Sheesh. I said he will most likely garner (gain) points with recruits that have character. I never once said thAt us only what they were after. I just believe men w character WILL have the ability to look past a disability. Especially if he is open and upfront about it. Those without character will judge him and his program because of it.

I agree winning is everything to college football. I believe Kill understands thus and his doing his best with a program that was on shambles.

So carry on reading portions of what is posted...

[LABS4ME]

Kill is healthier. Lost a lot of weight, lowered his cholesterol and if I remember, blood pressure too. He is healthier. The amount of seizures is not the only yardstick of health. And 4 seizures is not a long yardstick. Good for the U for sticking by him.

[LABS4ME]

Sorry for the fat fingering... Bad grammar. I'm on the phone trying to type

[CaptainMusky]

I like the guy. I find myself liking him even more now. He has been successful everywhere he has been doing more with less no question in my mind he can do it here. he has barely had 2 recruiting classes so coaching wise the proof will be next year IMO.

[zepman]

You realistically need about 4 years (at Minnesota) to prove your program is making strides...you'll either trend up or down.

Expectations are the key for every program...I believe the ultimate goal for the Gophers is to get back to the Rose Bowl. Most "fans" will be happy with an upward trend with Kill after 4 years...it'll take longer than that to reach the Rose Bowl.

I also believe the majority of the fan base "buys-in" to Jerry Kill...I'm hoping he's trending UP after the 4th year!!

[RumRiverRat]

Kill has had more seizures than Big 10 Wins since he has been coach of the gophers......or something like that according to Jim Souhan.