It worked for Ohio State, but will it work for NIU?

In 2001 Ohio State hired Jim Tressel as its new football head coach. The move promoted a Division I–AA coach to the Division I–A level. In 2007, NIU hired Jerry Kill as its new head football coach. Just like the Buckeyes, the Huskies’ move promoted a former Division–IAA coach to the next level.

Tressel went 135-57-2 during his 15–year stay with Youngstown State. Since then, he has gone 73-15, beat Michigan all but once, and won a national championship.

Kill, like Tressel, has also found success at the Division I–AA level. The former Southern Illinois coach compiled a 55-32 record in seven seasons and made the Football Championship Series playoffs five times. Granted, NIU doesn’t quite produce the same caliber recruiting class as Ohio State, but the precedent for making the jump successfully has been set by Tressel.

In any case, with rumors of former NFL coaches, former Football Bowl Subdivision coaches and others interested in the job, students and alumni ask: Was hiring Kill the right move by NIU?

If history is any indicator, it should be.

Kill has proven to be a winner at all levels of football, from high school to college. Also, the 46-year-old is the right age to stay at NIU for the long haul. Unlike a young Urban Meyer – who jumped from Bowling Green to Utah and then to Florida – Kill, if successful, can make NIU his last stop.

The Kansas native also has something that some candidates didn’t have: head coaching experience. The Huskies needed someone with the ability to step into the program right away. If NIU had hired a coordinator, even from a more prominent program, the team still wouldn’t have acquired the established leadership skills Kill brings to the table.

But the thing NIU athletics director Jim Phillip got right with this hire is Kill’s character.

Kill is a man who believes in taking care of his players on and off the field. He respects his staff, his opponents and most of all, the game.

Character, however, doesn’t equate to wins. And in the crazy world of college football, it’s about what you’ve done lately.

Nevertheless, Jerry Kill has what it takes to make NIU a force in the MAC again.

History is in his favor.

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