There's a reason why everybody around the Minnesota football program and even outsiders rushed to embrace Jerry Kill. There's a reason why Golden Gophers students created the "JerrySota" slogan and why he was almost universally respected among his fellow coaches.
Sure, Kill had the ability to turn previously moribund programs into winners throughout his career. Even better than that, though, people related to him. There was nothing slick or invented about Kill. He was a true, by-your-bootstraps success story who never forgot his roots.
As Minnesota interim athletic director Beth Goetz put it Wednesday morning, "They don’t come any more authentic than Jerry Kill.