MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota has hired Northern Illinois coach Jerry Kill to take over its struggling football program.

Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi confirmed the decision Sunday night.

Kill went 23-16 and led the Huskies to bowls in all three of his seasons there. Northern Illinois went 10-3 this season, including a 34-23 victory at Minnesota that laid the groundwork for Gophers coach Tim Brewster to be fired.

Minnesota went 3-9 and 2-8 in the Big Ten this year. Brewster was fired in October after the team started 1-6 in his fourth season on the job. Interim coach Jeff Horton finished the season with wins over Illinois and Iowa.

Kill went 6-7 in his first year in DeKalb, Ill., and 7-6 last year before the breakout season in 2010. The Huskies lost to Miami of Ohio in the Mid-American Conference championship game on Friday and were ranked as high as No. 24, the first time Northern Illinois has been in the AP Top 25 poll since 2003.

Kill will not coach Northern Illinois in the uDrove Humanitarian Bowl against Fresno State on Dec. 18 in Boise, Idaho. Athletic director Jeff Compher said he has not yet determined who will coach the team or which members of the coaching staff will remain for the bowl.

Compher was informed within the last 24 hours that Minnesota was interested, and Kill would be leaving. But even that did not blindside him because of the success Kill has had at Northern Illinois.

"He'll bring the same skills that he brought here, that hard hat mentality," Compher said. "He'll work hard on the recruting trail, he'll have a great relationship wtih players. ... He will do a fantastic job."

Kill inherits a program in shambles.

Maturi made a big gamble when he hired Brewster, a tight ends coach for the Denver Broncos at the time who had no previous experience as a head coach or coordinator in college or the pros, to take over for Glen Mason.

It was a disaster from start to finish. Brewster went 0-10 in trophy games, butted heads with Maturi on several occasions and wasn't able to capitalize on brand new TCF Bank Stadium, a shimmering $300 million project that was supposed to put the once-proud program back on the map.

Brewster's lack of success quickly took the shine off the wonderful new stadium, with the student section half-empty for most games and a lack of energy and excitement that was supposed to have been created when the Gophers moved back to campus after more than two decades of playing in the Metrodome.