Jerry Kill joined Vanderbilt as chief consultant to the head coach and senior offensive advisor in January 2024.

In his first season on West End, Kill played an instrumental role in supporting head coach Clark Lea and offensive coordinator Tim Beck as the Commodores produced their first winning season and bowl victory in over a decade. Along the way, Vandy had its best start (6-2) since 1982, beat the nation’s top-ranked team for the first time in school history and defeated Alabama and Auburn in the same season for the first time since 1955.

Led by quarterback Diego Pavia, the offense helped Vanderbilt produce its best scoring margin since 2013 and just its fifth season with a positive scoring margin since 1975. The team’s four interceptions were the fewest on record (since 1946) and Vandy finished among the nation’s top 30 in third down conversions (28th/44.4), fumbles lost (fifth/three), interceptions thrown (first/four), red zone offense (third/93.3), tackles for loss allowed (25th/4.46), turnover margin (17th/0.69) and turnovers lost (first/seven).

Pavia earned SEC Newcomer of the Year after throwing for 2,293 yards and 20 touchdowns while rushing for 801 yards and eight scores. His rushing total was the best by a Commodore quarterback in school history and his 20 touchdown throws were fifth-most. Pavia was a semifinalist for both the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien Awards. Tight end Eli Stowers became Vandy’s first, first-team All-SEC selection since 2013 and was named third-team All-America by Phil Steele. He was a semifinalist for the Mackey Award after making 49 catches for 638 yards and five touchdowns, all team highs.

Kill came to Nashville following two seasons at the head coach at New Mexico State, where he engineered one of the best turnarounds in the country. Vanderbilt offensive coordinator Tim Beck served in the same role on Kill’s staff in Las Cruces. Kill has previously served as head coach at Minnesota, Northern Illinois, Southern Illinois, Emporia State and Saginaw Valley State. In addition, Kill has served in assistant to the head coach roles at Virginia Tech and TCU and has spent time as an administrator at Kansas State and Southern Illinois.

Kill spent the past two seasons at New Mexico State, leading the Aggies to a pair of bowl games and berth in the Conference USA championship game. He inherited a program that had won more than three games just once since 2010 and won a bowl game in his first season, then reached 10 wins and the CUSA title game in the school’s first season in the league. 2023 marked NMSU’s first 10-win season since 1960 and the bowl win in 2022 was the school’s first postseason victory since 2017.

In addition, the Aggies put an end to multiple streaks during Kill’s tenure. They defeated a Southeastern Conference team for the first time in 28 tries with a win at Auburn, won five straight home games for the first time since 2002, defeated UTEP and New Mexico on the road in the same season for the first time since 1923 and won on the road for the first time since 2018.

Prior to New Mexico State, Kill spent two seasons at TCU as assistant to the head coach and later interim head coach. He was head coach Gary Patterson’s assistant for 2020 and entered 2021 in the same role, then took over as interim head coach for four games in 2021 after Patterson was dismissed. Kill’s first game as interim head coach saw the Horned Frogs score a 30-28 win over No. 12 Baylor for their first win over a ranked team in two seasons.

Kill was in a similar assistant to the head coach role at Virginia Tech in 2019, helping the Hokies to an 8-5 record and berth in the Belk Bowl.

In 2018, he made a return engagement at Southern Illinois to serve as special assistant to the chancellor and athletics director. This followed one season as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Rutgers in 2017. Kill spent the 2016 season as associate athletics director for administration and football administration at Kansas State.

The move to administration came following a five-season stint as head coach at Minnesota which ended due to Kill’s battle with epilepsy. He took over a Golden Gopher squad which had been under .500 in four of the last five seasons and took them to three consecutive bowl games from 2012-14. Minnesota was 8-5 in 2013 and 2014, earning Big Ten Coach of the Year honors in 2014. That Gopher squad reached Minnesota’s first New Year’s Day bowl game in 53 years, falling to Missouri in the Citrus Bowl, defeated Michigan for the first time in nearly a decade and secured consecutive wins over Nebraska for the first time since the 1950s.

Kill had performed a similar turnaround effort at Northern Illinois before Minnesota, spending 2008-10 as the head coach in DeKalb, Illinois. Kill inherited a program that went 2-10 the season prior to his arrival and had been to just one bowl game in the previous 12 seasons. He took the Huskies to bowl games in all three seasons leading the program and in 2010, led NIU to its first 10-win season since 2003.

Prior to NIU, Kill was the head coach at Southern Illinois from 2001-07. There he inherited a program that had just two winning seasons over the previous 17 years. Kill went 1-10 his first season, but turned it around quickly to post a 10-2 record in his third year. In 2004, the Salukis went 9-0 against fellow FBS opponents, including 7-0 in the Gateway Conference, earning a national ranking for the final 10 weeks of the season. Kill earned the Eddie Robinson Award as FCS coach of the year. His final Saluki team in 2007 went 12-2, the second-most wins in program history, and reached the FCS semifinals, the deepest run for SIU since 1983. He was named Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year that season, the first FCS coach to earn the award.

Before Southern Illinois, Kill spent two seasons at Division II Emporia State in his native Kansas. This followed a successful five-year run as head coach at Saginaw Valley (Mich.) State. He had five consecutive winning seasons with the Cardinals, highlighted by a pair of 9-2 marks in 1997 and ’98. Both those teams led D-II in rushing.

Kill’s coaching career started at Pittsburg State in Kansas, where he served as defensive coordinator from 1985-87 and offensive coordinator from 1991-93. He was the defensive coordinator for three seasons at the NAIA level before departing to be the head coach at Webb City High School in Missouri where he coached Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy. He returned to help Pitt State in the transition to NCAA Division II and was offensive coordinator for head coach Chuck Broyles from 1991-93. In his first season, the Gorillas went 13-1-1 and won the D-II national championship. In two of his three seasons as offensive coordinator, Pittsburg State reached the NCAA final twice.

Kill played at Southwestern College in Kansas while earning his undergraduate degree there in 1984. He has been inducted into multiple Halls of Fame, including at Southern Illinois, Southwestern College and the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame.

He spends much of his off-the-field time as an advocate for epilepsy. He formed the Coach Kill Fund at Southern Illinois and the Chasing Dreams Coach Kill Epilepsy Fund at Minnesota. The National Football Foundation presented Kill with its Courage Award in 2009. He continues to assist in fundraising for the National Foundation of Epilepsy and chronicled his experiences in his 2016 book Chasing Dreams: Living My Life One Yard at a Time.

Kill has two daughters, Krystal and Tasha, and a granddaughter, Emery.

The Kill File
Hometown: Cheney, Kan.
College: Southwestern (Kan.) (education and biology, 1983)
Children: Krystal, Tasha

Playing Experience
1979-82 • Southwestern College (Linebacker)

Coaching Career
1985 • Pittsburg State •  Defensive Coordinator
1986 • Pittsburg State • Defensive Coordinator
1987 • Pittsburg State •  Defensive Coordinator
1988 • Webb City H.S. • Head Coach
1989 • Webb City H.S. •  Head Coach
1990 • Pittsburg State • Offensive Coordinator
1991 • Pittsburg State • Offensive Coordinator
1992 • Pittsburg State • Offensive Coordinator
1993 • Pittsburg State •  Offensive Coordinator
1994 • Saginaw Valley State • Head Coach
1995 • Saginaw Valley State • Head Coach
1996 •  Saginaw Valley State • Head Coach
1997 •  Saginaw Valley State • Head Coach
1998 • Saginaw Valley State • Head Coach
1999 • Emporia State • Head Coach
2000 • Emporia State • Head Coach
2001 • Southern Illinois • Head Coach
2002 • Southern Illinois • Head Coach
2003 • Southern Illinois • Head Coach
2004 • Southern Illinois • Head Coach
2005 • Southern Illinois • Head Coach
2006 • Southern Illinois • Head Coach
2007 • Southern Illinois • Head Coach
2008 • Northern Illinois • Head Coach
2009 • Northern Illinois • Head Coach
2010 • Northern Illinois • Head Coach
2011 • Minnesota • Head Coach
2012 • Minnesota • Head Coach
2013 • Minnesota • Head Coach
2014 •  Minnesota • Head Coach
2015 •  Minnesota • Head Coach
2017 • Rutgers • Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
2019 • Virginia Tech • Assistant to the Head Coach
2020 • TCU • Assistant to the Head Coach
2021 • TCU • Assistant to the Head Coach/Interim Head Coach
2022 • New Mexico State • Head Coach
2023 • New Mexico State • Head Coach
2024 • Vanderbilt • Chief Consultant to the Head Coach/Senior Offensive Advisor

Postseason Experience
1985 • Pittsburg State • NAIA Quarterfinals
1986 • Pittsburg State • NAIA Semifinals
1988 • Pittsburg State • NAIA Semifinals
1989 • Webb City H.S. • State Champions
1990 • Pittsburg State • Division II Semifinals
1991 • Pittsburg State • Division II National Champions
1992 • Pittsburg State • Division II Finals
1993 • Pittsburgh State • Division II Playoffs
2003 • Southern Illinois • FCS Playoffs
2004 • Southern Illinois • FCS Playoffs
2005 • Southern Illinois • FCS Playoffs (Second Round)
2006 • Southern Illinois • FCS Playoffs (Second Round)
2007 • Southern Illinois • FCS Playoffs (Semifinals)
2008 • Northern Illinois • Independence Bowl
2009 • Northern Illinois • International Bowl
2010 • Northern Illinois • Humanitarian Bowl
2012 • Minnesota • Texas Bowl
2013 • Minnesota • Texas Bowl
2014 • Minnesota • Citrus Bowl
2022 • New Mexico State • Quick Lane Bowl Champions
2023 • New Mexico State • New Mexico Bowl
2024 • Vanderbilt • Birmingham Bowl Champions