Vikings Announce Mike Zimmer As Their Next Head Coach

Update:

It’s official- Vikings name Mike Zimmer the 9th head coach in franchise history. pic.twitter.com/MJtCCfHeXD

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) January 16, 2014

 

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ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that the Minnesota Vikings are hiring Bengals DC Mike Zimmer as their new head coach.

• Jay Glazer adds that the decision to hire Zimmer came at the last moment as they needed to get approval from the owners.
• Adam Caplan mentions that Zimmer could target Bengals LBs coach Paul Guenther as his defensive coordinator.
• Ed Werder mentions that Norv Turner could interview for the Vikings offensive coordinator position.

Minnesota met with Zimmer for a second interview on Tuesday, which was the only follow up meeting with one of their candidates. Zimmer has been considered the favorite for a few weeks now, so it’s really not surprising to see them get this deal done before he left town Wednesday morning.

Zimmer is widely regarded around the league as one of the best defensive coaches in the game and he certainly deserves credit for taking guys that no one wanted and turning them into regular contributors. Zimmer’s ability to develop players had to be one of the selling points for the Vikings considering that they have five first-round picks in the past two years.

It will be interesting to see who they target for offensive coordinator given that Zimmer is likely to oversee the defense.