TCU’s Jerry Kill recently had, and has recovered from, coronavirus

TCU’s Jerry Kill recently contracted, and recovered from, coronavirus, according to an article from CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd. From Dodd’s piece - which ran on Monday:

TCU coach Gary Patterson revealed that special assistant Jerry Kill recently overcame a bout with the coronavirus.

Kill, 58, is one of the toughest individuals, well, anywhere. He has a form of epilepsy that has previously caused him to collapse on the sidelines. He has beaten cancer multiple times. Health concerns forced him to resign in the middle of the 2015 season as he was leading Minnesota. Now this.

“He went out to dinner,” Patterson said. “Everybody thinks it’s about the kids coming back. It’s about how you live your life doing everything else.”

As Dodd’s notes, Kill has overcome several significant health issues in the past, and he’s now adding coronavirus to the list. We don’t have many details about when Kill had the virus, or how long he was in quarantine while recovering, but as Texas is currently shutting back down a self-quarantine would be rather easy to do.

Ultimately, we’re thankful to hear that Coach Kill has recovered.

We’ve been reading stories left and right over the past few weeks of college and professional athletes contracting Covid-19, as the NCAA and pro leagues try to get things back up and running again.

Kansas State had 14 players test positive for the virus, six student athletes at Florida tested positive last week, and 23 Texas football players were in self quarantine less than two weeks ago.

Dodd’s article takes a look at one of the larger issues facing the NCAA - a lack of a standardized procedure for Covid-19 testing as we approach the 2020 season. The NCAA has released a series of considerations for schools to follow but has not provided a framework for testing and recovery as athletes return to campus.

Thus, schools and conferences are left to make these decisions on their own. Big 12 schools have been in conversation about standard protocol for their universities, but no major decisions or agreements have been made.

With almost half of the conference in Texas - a state that has seen a severe spike in cases in the last few weeks - and Kansas State also navigating player boycotts related to racist remarks made by a student, it seems relatively unlikely that the conference will come to any conclusions in the near future.

TCU has taken several measures on its own to try and protect it’s students and faculty. The leadership recently, after some debate, told faculty they were allowed to determine for themselves whether their courses would be available in-person or online this fall.

TCU has also been offering free COVID-19 testing for the last week, after 36 people were diagnosed with the virus, including six who had been on campus within two days of their diagnosis.

While it doesn’t seem like any school has gotten a firm grasp on testing quite yet, TCU is making strides to help flatten the curve and keep people safe.

In reality, all this does is lead us to keep asking the question: will we actually have college football this fall? Or any sports at all?