MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Vikings have picked Mike Zimmer to be their new head coach, according to a person with knowledge of the process.
The person spoke Wednesday to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because Zimmer’s contract had not been completed and the team had not announced the hiring of the Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator. Zimmer will be the ninth head coach in the franchise’s 54-year history, replacing Leslie Frazier, who was fired Dec. 30 after the team finished 5-10-1 this season.
General manager Rick Spielman interviewed at least seven candidates, and he and Vikings owners Zygi Wilf and Mark Wilf settled on the one who was widely considered around the league to be the most overdue for a head coaching job. Zimmer has been an NFL defensive coordinator for the last 14 seasons, including six with the Bengals, and he has interviewed for several head coach vacancies in recent years, including this month with Tennessee.
“Today is one of the happiest and yet saddest days for me. Happy Coach Zimm finally gets to be a head coach and spread all of his knowledge,” Bengals cornerback Terence Newman said on Twitter.
The Bengals were third in the league in yards allowed and fifth in points against this season, though they lost in the first round of the playoffs for the third straight year. Tweeted linebacker Rey Maualuga: “Gonna miss you coach Zimmer! Wish you nothing but the best in Minnesota. You brought out the best in each of your players! So honored to have been coached by you!”
The 57-year-old Zimmer played at Illinois State and spent 14 seasons coaching in the college ranks before being hired in 1994 as an assistant with Dallas. He got a Super Bowl ring the following season as defensive backs coach.
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Then he became defensive coordinator of the Cowboys in 2000 and spent seven seasons at that post, the last four under coach Bill Parcells. Zimmer led defenses in Dallas that operated in both the 4-3 and 3-4 alignments, including the 2003 group that surrendered the fewest yards in the league.
The Wilfs, natives of New Jersey, grew up as New York Giants fans and are admirers of Parcells from his days coaching that team.
After one tumultuous year as the defensive coordinator for Atlanta, when Falcons coach Bobby Petrino quit midseason in 2007, Zimmer went to Cincinnati to work for coach Marvin Lewis. In 2009, when his wife, Vikki, unexpectedly died, Zimmer was named the winner of several NFL assistant coach of the year awards.
Zimmer has a fiery personality, as evidenced by his profanity-laced appearances on HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” which featured the Bengals in 2009 and 2013. That overt intensity is a contrast to Frazier, who went 21-33-1 in three-plus seasons with one appearance in the playoffs.
Frazier was a popular figure in the locker room and throughout the organization, but as a former defensive coordinator his area of expertise became the team’s biggest downfall. Despite a carousel at quarterback, the aged, injury-depleted defense was mostly responsible for the sorry showing this season. The Vikings allowed an average of 30 points per game, the most in the league, and 397.8 yards per game, the second-most.
Five of the seven reported candidates who interviewed for the vacancy had defensive backgrounds: Seattle defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, Cleveland defensive coordinator Ray Horton, Arizona defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, San Francisco defensive line coach Jim Tomsula and Zimmer. The other two were offensive coordinators: Seattle’s Darrell Bevell and San Francisco’s Greg Roman.
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