Minnesota head coach Jerry Kill used to coach in the Mid-American Conference.

He served as the head coach at Northern Illinois for three seasons, compiling a 23-16 record and leading his team to three consecutive bowl games.

Sound familiar?

In his three seasons at Toledo, Illinois head coach Tim Beckman was 21-16 and led his team to two straight bowl games.

When Minnesota fired Tim Brewster during the 2010 season, candidates such as Boise State’s Chris Petersen, Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen, current Michigan and then-San Diego State head coach Brady Hoke and former Oregon coach Mike Bellotti were mentioned.

A new stadium and an underwhelming roster so bad, labeling it as a work in progress would be a compliment, didn’t interest any of the “shoot-for-the-sky” candidates. So now-retired Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi tabbed Kill in December 2010 with the job of turning the program around.

Fast forward to December 2011. Illinois’ reported and speculated list of coaching candidates may not have included as many prominent names, but Chris Petersen’s name was thrown around, as well as then-Houston. now-Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin’s. Interpretation: Money talks, but not even enough to take the Illinois job.

Nevertheless, coaching the Illini wasn’t appealing to any of those aforementioned candidates, and Illinois athletic director Mike Thomas plucked the visor-clad man with a plan from Toledo.

As a 3-9 record in Kill’s first season indicates, the slow start that was expected in Minneapolis was underway, though the Golden Gophers did beat the Illini 27-7 and finished the regular season with a 2-6 conference record, which was the same tally the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl champion Illinois Fighting Illini had.

An 0-6 finish to the regular season will do that to you. See ya, Zooker.

I mean come on, he won Coach of the Year in 2007 and brought talented players to Champaign. The NFL Draft speaks to that, but a 34-51 record overall? I digress.

One year later, with career-long quarterback project MarQueis Gray starting at wide receiver and true freshman Philip Nelson running the offense, Kill’s Gophers are 5-4, with Saturday’s game against an Illinois team their best chance to clinch bowl eligibility for the first time since 2009.

With an Illinois team that hasn’t won since Sept. 15 and Michigan State and Nebraska left on the schedule, the easiest path to win No. 6 needn’t further be validated.

In Kill’s first season as Minnesota’s head coach, the Gophers didn’t have a six-game losing streak, but they did lose four in a row, drop a game to an FCS opponent at home and in convincing fashion too (37-24 to North Dakota State) and had their fair share of lopsided losses.

They were blown out 58-0 at Michigan and manhandled by Wisconsin 42-13.

The script the 2011 Golden Gophers wrote seems eerily similar to Illinois’ 2012 version.

The strides Minnesota’s made in 2012 may not be possible for Beckman in 2013 partly because of the loss of seniors Terry Hawthorne, Michael Buchanan, Graham Pocic and Hugh Thornton, but an offseason of changes, a new recruiting class and junior college transfers can’t possibly make this team any worse.

Let’s be clear. Jerry Kill hasn’t turned Minnesota into a team that’s substantially worth watching, but he already has improved by two victories from last year and hasn’t played Illinois yet.

But his improvement with a similarly and mysteriously confusing lack of what I like to call “6-6” success is noticeable this season.

With Election Day just over the horizon, what better chance to say Kill’s mild turnaround at Minnesota gives Beckman hope.

Dan is a senior in Media. You can reach him at [email protected] Follow him on Twitter @WELINandDEALIN.