Minnesota Golden Gophers News: Coach Jerry Kill Retires Immediately Due To Health Reasons [VIDEO]

Jerry Kill, Minnesota football coach, has retired due to epilepsy.

Kill said Wednesday he has had seizures this season after going more than a year without an episode. He declined to say when they actually occurred, but said he was at practice Tuesday after having two seizures.

"I don't want to be a liability," Kill said on Wednesday in a report from ESPN. "I don't want somebody to have to worry about if I'm going to drop on the field. I don't want to coach from the press box. I want to coach the way I coached my whole life."

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"With his wife, Rebecca, tearfully watching near the side of a university stage," according to Star Tribune, "Kill told a stunned audience that his seizures had returned, he hadn't slept more than three hours a night in weeks, he had quit taking some of his medication and that he doesn't 'have any more energy.'"

The former Minnesota coach has been battling epilepsy since 2005 after recovering from kidney cancer. He also took a seven-game leave of absence in 2013 after a series of seizures.

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"This is not the way I wanted to go out," Kill said. "But you all know about the struggles. And I did my best to change. But some of those struggles have returned. And I don't want to cheat the game. And I ain't going to change."

He was 29-29 at the school since arriving in 2011 and was 156-102 overall in his coaching career.

"I know somebody will ask, 'Coach, what are you going to do?' I don't know. I ain't done anything else. That's the scary part."

Interim athletic director Beth Goetz has stated, Tracy Claeys, Minnesota's defensive coordinator, will take over as interim coach for the rest of this season. Claeys also served as acting head coach during Kill's absence in 2013.

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