Head coach: Leslie Frazier (fifth season with the Vikings, first as the full-time head coach).
Coordinators: Bill Musgrave, offense (first season with the Vikings); Fred Pagac (sixth season with the Vikings, first as the full-time defensive coordinator); Mike Priefer (first season with the Vikings).Position coaches: Jeff Davidson, offensive line (first season with the Vikings); Karl Dunbar, defensive line (6); Ryan Ficken, assistant wide receivers (5); Jeff Imamura, defensive assistant/linebackers (6); Craig Johnson, quarterbacks (1); Jimmie Johnson, tight ends (6); Diron Reynolds, assistant defensive line (3); James Saxon, running backs (1); Matt Sheldon, assistant defensive backs (2); Ryan Silverfield, assistant offensive line (4); Mike Singletary, special assistant to the head coach, linebackers (1); Kevin Stefanski, assistant quarterbacks (6); George Stewart, wide receivers (6); Martin Streight, assistant strength and conditioning (5); Cameron Turner, assistant to the head coach (1); Chris White, assistant special teams (3); Joe Woods, defensive backs (6). The breakdown: Leslie Frazier’s indoctrination into the head coaching fraternity was a difficult one, to say the least, fueled by player dramas and unparalleled stadium and weather delays. After a devastating knee injury at the pinnacle of the Chicago Bears’ 1985 Super Bowl championship run ended Frazier’s playing career as a starting cornerback, he began building his coaching résumé. He went from starting up a football program at small Trinity International University, learning administrative and management skills that are serving him well as a head coach, to an assistant at the University of Illinois. In 1999, his NFL coaching career began as Andy Reid gave him an opportunity with the Philadelphia Eagles working with defensive backs. That led to a defensive coordinator position with the Cincinnati Bengals, and he moved to become Tony Dungy’s special assistant with the Indianapolis Colts before coming to Minnesota as the Vikings’ defensive coordinator in 2007. While Frazier proved he can coach defensive backs and coordinate a defense – he continued the early success of former defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin’s Tampa-2 scheme for almost four seasons – last year proved to be the biggest challenge. He endured a tumultuous first 10 games as former head coach Brad Childress’ assistant and defensive coordinator while the Vikings dealt with the consistent on and off-field drama that follows Brett Favre and the debacle that brought Randy Moss back to Minnesota before his surly attitude had him butting heads with Childress, who released the receiver after only four games. The headlines and stormy waters were all too much for owner Zygi Wilf, who fired Childress after 10 games in 2010 and promoted Frazier to interim head coach. Unfortunately for Frazier and the Vikings, the hits kept coming, although this time it was Mother Nature – not Favre, Childress or Moss – creating the unwanted suspense. In a three-week span, the Vikings endured numerous obstacles. The collapse of the Metrodome roof about seven hours before a scheduled game there caused them to play “home” games at Detroit’s Ford Field and TCF Bank Stadium. That was followed by a two-day delay of game because of an expected storm in the Philadelphia area, bringing on the first Tuesday night game in NFL history. Through it all, including the end of Favre’s ironman starting streak, Frazier remained calm, at least outwardly, and guided the Vikings to a 3-3 record after they started the season 3-7. His calming presence finally landed him a full-time head coaching job after seven job interviews since arriving in Minnesota. Now Frazier’s challenge will be building a winner with a quarterback position and offensive line that remains in flux. He remains soft-spoken, but proved he can make the difficult decisions when he released talented but often aloof left tackle Bryant McKinnie, who showed up to training camp well overweight, saying McKinnie didn’t fit the direction the Vikings wanted to go. That move sent a message to the veterans, even as Frazier insists that wasn’t the purpose. Frazier was also faced with the task of revamping his coaching staff. After taking the job, he allowed coordinators Darrell Bevell (offense) and Brian Murphy (special teams) to go elsewhere, with them taking the same positions in Seattle and Carolina, respectively. In their place, Frazier hired former Atlanta Falcons quarterbacks coach Bill Musgrave to coordinate the offense and former Broncos special teams coordinator Mike Priefer to do the same job in Minnesota. The Musgrave hire will be especially important, as the offensive scheme is changing, the starting quarterback is changing (Donovan McNabb for at least this year and presumably Christian Ponder in the future), and star running back Adrian Peterson is entering the final season of his contract. Peterson is also among the players with a new position coach. The loud and energetic Eric Bieniemy is now at the University of Colorado, replaced by the more reserved James Saxon. On the offensive line, former positions coaches Pat Morris and Jim Hueber are replaced by Jeff Davidson, who is teaching new techniques and moving from a predominantly zone-based blocking scheme to more man and power blocking concepts. Frazier also made a change at quarterbacks coach, where Craig Johnson replaces Kevin Rogers. With no offseason practices to get players acclimated to the numerous changes, Frazier and company face an uphill battle in their inaugural season. He insists this isn’t a rebuilding year, but all the pieces will have to fall into place in short order to be competitive in one of the NFL’s toughest divisions. Future head coach? Frazier was the obvious internal hire for the Vikings, and it brought about the promotion of linebackers coach Fred Pagac to defensive coordinator, which in turn prompted Frazier to hire Singletary as his linebackers coach. It creates an interesting dynamic with Frazier’s former teammate with the Bears, who was also a head coach with the San Francisco 49ers, becoming his special assistant and working closely with Pagac. Frazier and Singletary make it clear that this is Pagac’s defense, but the ability of the two intense personalities to closely work together will go a long way to determining each of their futures. Pagac has the experience and some qualities desired in a head coach while Singletary has already had his shot there. Will either of them be able to reach the next level in the future? What’s clear is that Frazier has leaned on Singletary’s experience already. “The big thing we’ve talked about is some of the things that we do in meetings and how we conduct meetings,” Frazier said of Singletary. “There are some things that he learned from some of the team meetings that helped me, and I’ve tried to incorporate some of my thoughts and comments with our team based on some things that he experienced back in San Francisco.” Frazier says: “I thought our game-day operations with the coaches for the first time working together went smoothly, just in talking with Fred and Mike Priefer, along with Bill Musgrave, it went fine. Communication was very good, which is always a concern – how well we’ll be able to communicate on the headsets, but that wasn’t an issue. The coordinators were able to get the information they needed to be able to do what they had to do, so off to a good start in that regard. Part of it is we’ve got real good chemistry on our staff and hopefully we’ll have success, which also helps with chemistry. But right now the chemistry is real good.”
Source:
