Chuck Broyles unplugged

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Had a conversation with former Pittsburg State head coach Chuck Broyles this week. Broyles was the head coach at Pitt who hired Jerry Kill as his offensive coordinator. Kill, now the head coach at Minnesota, was part of the first-ever game in the Fargodome in 1993 when the Bison defeated the Gorillas 35-16. Here are some out-takes, if you will, of the interview.

  • On the Fargodome game: “I remember Garth Brooks outdrew us the night before. It was loud. Beachy blew his knee out and we had a couple of guys hurt in that game. It was a hard-fought game. Of course, Jerry and I were novices at the time with noise indoors. About 18,000 screaming bunch of wild and crazy fans up there. It beat the first year we played them in 1990 when we had snowballs thrown at us.”
  • On Jerry Kill: “It was a matter of time because he’s going to win. He’s going to outwork everybody. He’s a good recruiter. … We got to play Rocky and the Bison and I think they were something like 70-1 at home. That was discouraging. He has great work ethic and a passion for the game.”
  • On the Rocky Hager days: “When you start playing some of those teams, you just kind of hate North Dakota State and North Dakota. But then after you meet Rocky and visit with him, you realize you have a lot in common. Coach Thomas at North Dakota and those guys; those were good hard-fought clean battles and the safest place in those games was at the bottom of the pile. You didn’t want to be standing around watching because somebody would hit somebody. You don’t ever get to be great friends but you respect everybody. I followed the Bison when they beat KU, oh boy, what a feather in their cap. I check the scores of the Bison every Sunday morning.”
  • On Kill turning around the Gophers: “The competition level is pretty high in that conference. It all depends on the commitment from the university, that is always a plus. Coach Snyder turned around Kansas State and that is the most miraculous thing I’ve seen in my lifetime. It takes a lot of things to win. Jerry will recruit hard and I expect him to do well.”

10 thoughts on “Chuck Broyles unplugged”

  2. Is Chuck coaching anywhere right now. I remember his comments when they were here to play. I also remember Arden going down in the game. It was a freak play and we lost a lot of momentum even though we won the game.
    Thanks for the news Jeff.

  3. Who will be down by friday afternoon?? Pump it up getting close to gametime, will anyone be left in fargo?

    • Unless the population of Fargo happens to be about 8,000-12,000 … I suspect a lot people will still be in Fargo on Friday and Saturday.

    • There shouldn’t be anyone left in Fargo. This is a bigtime game and the atmosphere will be electric. This game will prove we belong with and could play in the Big10. Its sad that the game isn’t sold out yet, I’m sure it will be. Lakes, I’m already here, ready to go. Got my Bison tickets for Saturday and Vikes tickets for Sunday.

  4. Great article. I really enjoyed playing the Gorillas every time. Only missed the triple overtime game in the dark. We went down there for the next playoff loss by a safety. Great town, with great fans. They welcomed us with open wallets. If Kill is going to be anything like Coach Chuck, he will turn them around bu it will take a while. Certainly not by Saturday. The Bison are going to win by 7 to 10 with the win score between 17 and 24. It’s gonna be good.

    Heard Lakes on KFAN, we should win just by his enthusiasm..

  5. Back in the day, Chuck would run it up on his mother if he had a chance. Used to live in the Joplin area and remember the ole Chuck Broyles show. Jerry Kill has a little bit of Chuck’s unassuming awe shucks attitude when he is relaxed, but you know that Broyles was a real SOB when the media was gone and the door was closed. If there was a more dominant DII program in the 90′s than Pitt, I’d like to see them. They used to crush the MIAA and make the cry. NWMO picked it up when Pitt fell off a little.

    • Haha, yes the fan police are back. You would know more about turds than anyone since your so full of it. Any of your former Bison baseball teammates coming back to the game this weekend?

      Anyway, those Pitt. St. games back in the day were a lot of fun. Their crowd was always outstanding and their guys were some tough SOBs. Great program back in the day.