‘He is the right guy for this program’: QU introduces Killday as new football coach

QUINCY — Jason Killday has never been a job chaser.

“Occasionally, you see something you kind of raise your eyebrow to and think, ‘That’d be interesting,’ said Killday, who spent the last eight seasons as the offensive coordinator with the Truman State football program after six seasons on the Quincy University staff. 

“My goal has always been to do the best I can do where I am and opportunities will find you.”

An opportunity finally did.

And when QU athletic director Josh Rabe called to discuss it, Killday felt compelled to listen.

“It’s the first time in a long time I thought, ‘Yeah, that’s something I’m ready to do,’” Killday said.

Rabe agreed.

“At the end of the day, his ideals and his beliefs in what this football program is, should and what it will become aligned with this administration more than anyone we vetted,” Rabe said. “At this time, he is the right guy for this program.”

Wednesday’s announcement made it official. One week after Gary Bass resigned following seven seasons as QU’s football coach, Killday was introduced as the next head coach, bringing him back to a place he feels right at home.

“It’s a home away from home,” said Killday, who grew up an hour from Quincy in Winchester, Ill., and played quarterback at Illinois College in Jacksonville before getting into coaching. “I don’t have to worry about where to go get something to eat or where’s the nearest coffee joint. I know those things.”

He also knows how to win, as evidenced by the last eight years in Kirksville.

Since joining Gregg Nesbitt’s Truman State staff in 2016, Killday helped the Bulldogs go 59-24 with nine victories in each of the last four seasons. The Bulldogs won a Great Lakes Valley Conference championship in 2016 and made three America’s Crossroads Bowl appearances.

Offensively, Truman State averaged 26.7 points or more in seven of the past eight seasons, including four consecutive seasons averaging 31 or more points. 

It’s similar to the success Killday had at Quincy. He served as an assistant coach from 2010-15 and was the offensive coordinator in 2014 when the Hawks went 6-5 and averaged 28.6 points per game. Nic Lonergan, who blossomed under Killday’s tutelage to become QU’s all-time leading passer, threw for 2,806 yards and 15 touchdowns that season.

Killday also was instrumental in recruiting some of QU’s best players of the past decade or so, including quarterback Robbie Kelley and All-American linebacker Cody Leonard.

“He knows the lay of the land and he’s known in the high school coaching circles,” Rabe said. “It will allow him to hit the ground running as far as recruiting guys.”

With such a crucial date looming — the NCAA Division II national signing day is February 7 — Killday and the staff he is assembling need to hit the ground running as soon as the holidays pass. That makes his familiarity with QU and the school’s inner workings a help. 

“When you take a new job, there’s the piece of starting a new job and how that works administratively and all those things you don’t know that you have to figure out,” Killday said. “There’s some anxiety there. At least some of that I know and understand here.”

Members of the QU staff who will be sticking around, like defensive coordinator Michael Pannone, will help with that, too.

“It’s time to get going,” Killday said. “There’s no time to waste.”