Turns out, Thomas Hammock isn't the only member of Jerry Kill's coaching staff to have experience with the Gophers after all.
Kill adds former Gophers assistant, four from NIU to staff
Bill Miller is returning the the U coaching staff after previously serving here in the 1980s.
December 21, 2010 at 7:03AM
Bill Miller, who coached defensive backs for the Gophers under John Gutekunst from 1986 to '88, has been appointed assistant head coach by Kill and will be in charge of the team's linebackers. Miller has worked at nearly a dozen universities, including some of the top programs in college football, in his three-decade career, and "I think everybody in the country knows Billy in one way, shape or form," Kill said in a statement announcing the hire.
The new Gophers coaching staff also added four more members of Kill's staff from Northern Illinois, bringing to eight the number of assistant coaches hired so far. Added Monday were Jim Zebrowski to coach quarterbacks; Rob Reeves, NIU's running backs coach whose responsibility switches to H-backs and tight ends at Minnesota; Jeff Phelps as defensive line coach and Pat Poore in charge of receivers.
The four newcomers from NIU took part in the Huskies' 40-17 victory over Fresno State in the Humanitarian Bowl on Saturday, a game that Kill said illustrates the direction he hopes to take the Gophers. Northern Illinois racked up 503 yards in the game, 300 of them through the air, while holding the Bulldogs to an average of 2.1 yards per rushing attempt.
"A lot of people got to see a good group of them coach in the bowl game," Kill said. "They're great coaches. They understand exactly what I expect and what I want."
They join Hammock, the running backs coach who is the only holdover from Tim Brewster's staff, and NIU's former coordinators -- Tracy Claeys (defense) and Matt Limegrover (offense) -- who retain the same positions at Minnesota.
Reeves played quarterback for Kill at Saginaw Valley (Mich.) State in the mid-1990s, and has been on his staff ever since at Emporia (Kan.) State, Southern Illinois and Northern Illinois. Poore, a former head coach at Iowa Wesleyan, joined Kill's staff at SIU in 2001, while the other two NIU veterans are more recent additions to Kill's inner circle. Phelps coached at NIU two seasons before Kill arrived and was kept on by the new coach, while Zebrowski, a former head coach at Lakeland (Wis.) College, was hired at NIU last year.
Two standouts for Minnesota were Tori McKinney (17 points) and Annika Stewart (20), as Prairie View A&M fell to 2-6.
