Best of Minnesota Sports 2014: Best Coach Poll
Nov 29, 2014; Madison, WI, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers head coach Jerry Kill prior to the game against the Wisconsin Badgers at Camp Randall Stadium. Wisconsin won 34-24. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
Here at Sporting Sota, we are taking time to highlight the best and brightest in Minnesota sports from this year. Of course, we cannot do this ourselves, so that’s where you, our readers, come in. The first vote was for the Best Game of 2014, and I will be writing a post on the winner of that poll later today.
Next we have Best Coach. Let’s run through the candidates:
Jerry Kill
The Gophers football program has been mediocre at best, and a punch line at worst for the past 50 years. Fifty! There is a reason making a New Year’s Day Bowl for the first time since 1962 is such a big deal, as we touched on here. The man at the controls of the turnaround is Jerry Kill. The Gophers have been slowly but surely winning more games, and even more importantly, more conference games, every season he has been on campus in Minneapolis. Not only that, but the only rivalry trophy not in the Golden Gophers trophy case is Paul Bunyan’s Axe. The next steps for the program under Kill are to win a bowl game, beat Wisconsin, win the West Division and to hopefully win the conference for the first time since the 1960s. I am personally a big believer in Kill, so if he gets the practice facilities upgraded and stays, I really believe the sky is the limit for the Gophers.
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Mike Zimmer
At the time of this writing, Mike Zimmer has a losing record and the Vikings have only the most remote of chances to make the playoffs in his first year. Still, I believe he belongs on this list for a few different reasons. First, The Adrian Peterson saga could have easily derailed the season into total chaos, which Zimmer has not allowed to happen. Second, our rookie quarterback who has been turning the corner is playing in front of an offensive line whose starters from opening day are either out due to injury, have played terribly, or are John Sullivan. The final reason is that Zimmer is considered a genius when it comes to schemes and game plans on the defensive side of the ball. While the Vikings defense is far from dominant, they have been very respectable, a year after being the worst defense in team history.
Mike Yeo
Sadly, the Wild are the only professional team to make it to the playoffs the last couple of years in these parts. More than that, the Wild were the first team in the state to get out of the first round of the postseason since the Vikings in 2009. Unfortunately there have not been many opportunities to even win playoff games or series, but that’s another sad story for a different day. So far this season the Wild have been underachieving slightly, but have also been ravaged by the injury bug. I still fully expect the Wild to make the playoffs again, and hopefully make a run once there.
So there are the candidates. If you feel like I am leaving a deserving candidate out, vote for “Other” and tell me about it in the comments. Lete your voice be heard, vote, and look out for a post on the winner in a week.