Former Southern Illinois and Minnesota head football coach Jerry Kill is returning to the Salukis' program, but this time as an ambassador for the school he took to five straight Football Championship Subdivision title games.
Kill has dealt with epilepsy his entire career, and the demands of coaching jobs have played a role, including his departure from Minnesota in 2015, when he abruptly retired from coaching.
He then went on to an associate athletic director role for Kansas State in 2016, but returned to coaching shortly after, signing on to be the offensive coordinator at Rutgers for the 2017 season. Kill said he had several seizures while with the Scarlet Knights. He had one in the football office on Sept. 10, 2017, and then quietly stepped away on Sept. 19.
The former Salukis coach is still highly regarded at Southern Illinois -- he served as head coach from 2001 to '07 and won the Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year Award in 2004 and the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award in 2007. In his new role, he will also assist in fundraising for athletics, and serve as a special assistant to the chancellor, beginning in mid-March.