Panic time?
NU loss, Kill retirement and Cannon injury news spell trouble for Gophers
By gopherguy05 | Oct 22, 2015, 3:12pm CST
Usually one close road loss isn't a cause for astronomical levels of panic. However, Saturday's one point loss to Northwestern via a last second field goal and the events that have transpired since have given us plenty of reasons to sound the alarms.
First off head coach Jerry Kill announced his retirement from coaching due to health concerns on Wednesday. Kill’s health first affected his career when he suffered a seizure in 2000 while serving as the head coach at Emporia State. In 2005, he was diagnosed with epilepsy at age 44 after suffering a second seizure while on the sidelines at Southern Illinois. Doctors also discovered that he had kidney cancer and removed a portion of his kidney. He has been in remission since.
After taking over at Minnesota in 2011, Kill suffered seizures during each of his first three seasons before going seizure-free last year. His assistants, many of whom have served under him since he coached at Saginaw Valley State from 1994 to ’98, developed a “seizure protocol” in which they divvied up his responsibilities until his was able to return to coaching. Claeys served as the acting head coach for seven games in 2013 when Kill stepped away from his head coaching duties to focus on treating his epilepsy.
Kill’s health seemed to be improving last year, as he coached the full season without issue. He told SI’s Jon Wertheim in December that he attributed it to getting his medication right as well as eating and sleeping better.
Unfortunately, Kill confirmed Wednesday that his seizures returned and said he went to practice Tuesday after having two seizures. “I probably wasn’t supposed to be there,” he said. Kill said he had avoided taking some of his medication because “I couldn’t think the way I wanted to think.” His doctors warned him that continuing to coach would jeopardize his long-term health.
“I’ve given every ounce that I’ve had for 32 years to the game of football and the kids I’ve been able to coach,” a tearful Kill said at his press conference Wednesday. He added, “When I walked off the practice field, I felt like a part of me died.”
As if the loss and Coach Kill's announcement weren't big enough blows to the season Coach Claeys took to the podium earlier today to make another painful announcement regarding QB and Heisman hopeful Cade Cannon's injury that was suffered in the first half of the loss to Northwestern.
"It's an ulnar nerve injury I'm told." Claeys explained. "What it does is it causes numbness and makes it very difficult for Cade to grip the football and it effects his ability to hold and throw the ball obviously."
Cannon reportedly ran through some drills at the end of Wednesday's practice and again this morning.
"We tried some things and the medical staff tried some things and it just wasn't effective. This is something that should heal but there's a big risk of a reinjury or making the injury worse so we're all primarily concerned with doing what's best for Cade long term. We're not ruling anything out going forward but at this time we don't expect he will be able to play again this season."
Well shit.
