By Jim Henry

jhenry@joplinglobe.com

It didn’t take long for Jerry Kill’s reunion in southwest Missouri to kick in.

Kill, the head football coach at Webb City High School for two years and the new head coach at Northern Illinois, spoke at last weekend’s annual Four-State Football Clinic at the Holiday Inn in Joplin.

Flying into Tulsa, he was picked up at the airport by John Roderique, Kurt Thompson and Rick Utter.

“I coached Kurt and John at Pittsburg State, and Rick and I were very close friends when he was the counselor at Webb City,” Kill said. “Tom Gosch is here (at the clinic), and he was the athletic director who hired me. Ron Lankford and Jim Pawlus, and Coach (Jim) Frazier was at Missouri Southern ... tremendous memories.

“I’ve always said, and I’ve said it publicly — and no disrespect to anywhere I’ve ever been — the best two years of my life were at Webb City. I had a great time and chemistry with the kids and the community. That’s something they can never take away from me. I’ll never forget my time here at Webb City. It was a great time for me.”

Valentine’s Day

Kill wasn’t on the Northern Illinois campus in DeKalb, Ill., on Feb. 14 when a former student killed five students and injured 16 others before committing suicide.

“I was flying to Florida to see a booster, to help raise money for an indoor facility,” Kill said. “When one of our assistants called me and said there had been a shooting on campus ... I turned around and went back. I don’t think there is any protocol or anybody who can really describe something like that. ... Our university has handled it tremendously. Our police force was on the scene in 29 seconds. It could have been a lot worse situation.

“It humbles you. In our society today it could happen anywhere. It could happen right here. It’s scary, but it has brought our community together. It’s brought our university together. ... People from Virginia Tech (where there was a shooting in 2007) have come to our university and helped us through it.

“We’ll get through it. It’s not an easy thing. We sit about an hour and 45 minutes from Chicago in a setting just like Joplin, Mo., no different. You just don’t think things are supposed to happen like that. Unfortunately there are a lot of disturbed, unique problems in our country that we need to address. It used to be when people got mad, they would go throw eggs at the school or your house. Now they shoot you.”

Leaving SIU

After seven years as head coach at Southern Illinois, Kill left days after the Salukis lost in the playoffs to become Northern Illinois’ coach.

“The big thing is I knew I really wanted to stay in the state,” he said. “They called, and I visited with them, and it’s an opportunity to be a Division I head coach. I have a tremendous amount of financial security for my family.

“And, probably the most important thing, we have a cancer fund we established in Southern (Illinois). We have a lake house in Southern, and I knew we could stay in the state system and still chase a dream about coaching at every level.

“Sometimes the good Lord just has a plan for you, and everything in my life just kind of fell into place.”

Kill was diagnosed with cancer two years ago.

“Through that, I ran into a lot of people who financially struggled to help their families keep going,” he said. “So my wife (Rebecca) and I started a fund together. We kept the money in Southern Illinois because there are so many people who don’t have it, and we had the resources to help them. This (job at NIU), I’m only 5 1/2 hours down the road from Southern, so I can still be a part of that. ... After being diagnosed with cancer, I know life is not forever, so I want to accomplish as much as I can.”

The decision wasn’t easy for Kill to leave Carbondale and the Salukis.

“We embraced Carbondale like we’ve embraced everywhere we’ve been,” Kill said. “My wife is still living there right now. We haven’t made the transition yet, and our kids have grown up there. It’s the longest we’ve ever been anywhere. We love Southern Illinois, and we’ll go back some day. We have a lake house there, a little two-bedroom place with a basement, simple. Some day I’ll do that.

“And maybe come back here and coach some high school football, be an assistant. I tell Coach Roderique all the time to save me a position. I want Richard Correll to stay in the business long enough that Richard and I can coach together again.”