Jerry Kill finally had made it to the top, big-time college football. Years of tireless work at smaller outposts led him to the Big Ten, a professional pinnacle for a man with small-town roots.
He could've basked in the moment before his first home game as Gophers football coach in 2011. It was his time, his program, his chance to enjoy the fruits of his labor that got him to this point.
Instead, Kill asked someone else to lead his team onto the field that day.
He invited 10-year-old Mia Gerold, a courageous young girl diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer, to hold his hand and run with him as they led the Gophers into TCF Bank Stadium that day.
That is Jerry Kill to his core.
Selfless, compassionate, loving — the exact opposite of the ornery coach we often viewed storming the sideline.
Kill has a heart bigger than Texas and today that heart is broken.
Jerry Kill is no longer a football coach.