Vanderbilt's hire of Jerry Kill, whose college head coaching career spans six schools and 24 seasons, is official, according to a Vanderbilt press release on Wednesday.

“I’m excited to welcome coach Kill to Vanderbilt,” Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea said in the school's press release. “He is a proven builder of strong, winning cultures. His leadership and experience will be tremendous assets as we build Vanderbilt football into the dominant program we all expect it to be.”

Kill was most recently the head coach at New Mexico State, where he led the Aggies to an overall record of 17-11. Kill resigned on Christmas Eve, eight days after New Mexico State lost the New Mexico Bowl to Fresno State.

Kill, 62, will serve as a consultant to Lea, as well as a senior offensive advisor and work with a familiar face.

On Dec. 22, Vanderbilt announced the hire of offensive coordinator Tim Beck, who'd run Kill's offenses at New Mexico State. The Aggies finished 83rd in the SP+ offensive ratings this year, and upset Auburn this season by a 31-10 score, thanks to a 414-yard, zero-turnover performance.

NMSU quarterback Diego Paiva passed for 2,973 yards this year and rushed for 928 more. Vanderbilt made a similar decision to go to a similar offense led by a dual-threat quarterback, and will build that around Utah transfer Nate Johnson, who in mid-December announced a transfer to Vanderbilt.

Kill's rebuild at New Mexico State was remarkable. Prior to his arrival in 2022, the Aggies had experienced just one winning season (7-6 in 2017) since 2002.

Kill is 71-58 as an FBS head coach, also guiding Minnesota and Northern Illinois to winning seasons. A seizure during a 2015 game at Minnesota contributed to his resignation after the season. He took a year away from football before emerging as a Rutgers assistant in 2017.

Since then, Kill has served in brief spells as a special assistant at Southern Illinois, Virginia Tech and TCU.

Kill started his head coaching career in 1994 at Saginaw Valley State before moving to Emporia State five years later.

Vanderbilt comes off a 2-10 season, Lea's third in Nashville. The Commodores face Virginia Tech in their 2024 opener on Aug. 31.