Kill suffers seizure after TV show

By Gus Bode

SIU head football coach Jerry Kill is in stable condition after suffering a seizure Sunday morning following a local TV sports show, said Tom Weber, sports information director at SIU.

The 45-year-old Kill collapsed almost immediately after taping his weekly coach’s show at WSIL-TV studios in nearby Carterville, Weber said.

“Within a minute after it was done, he had a seizure,” he said.

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Though test results came back normal, Weber said doctors planned to keep the sixth-year head coach overnight Sunday.

This is Kill’s third seizure since coming to SIU in 2001, all of which have come within hours after home losses. The first occurred after losing to Missouri State University in November 2001, and the second came in October 2005 against Illinois State, the Salukis’ last home loss before Saturday night.

Kill returned to coach the next week and in January had a cancerous tumor removed from one of his kidneys.

While Kill has said in the past it is possible the two medical issues are related, Weber said doctors have made no correlation between the kidney cancer and seizures.

“I don’t think they can clearly say the kidney cancer and seizures are related,” Weber said. “They’ve never told him that the two go hand in hand.”

The weekly show is hosted by SIU marketing director Mike Trude, who declined to comment on the situation, “out of respect for Jerry and the family.”

Kill is widely credited with the program’s resurgence from a lowly Division I-AA program in 2001 to a team that has been ranked in the top 10 nationally the past four years.

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His team lost its game in Carbondale on Saturday night 27-24 to Western Kentucky University. The 5-2 Salukis play at Missouri State on Saturday, and defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys will be the acting head coach until Kill’s return.

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