Father and Sons

Happy Fathers Day!

With Father's Day here it felt like a fine time to look at the fathers and sons working together in the National Football League. There's a bunch of them. This topic has actually been on mind since new Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer put the finishing touches on his coaching staff earlier this year. He hired his son, Adam, to coach the linebackers. The two Zimmers worked together last year with the Cincinnati Bengals. Father as the defensive coordinator. Son as the assistant defensive backs coach. Adam has paid some dues on his own in the league as he was with the New Orleans Saints from 2006-09 and the Kansas City Chiefs from 2010-12. Mike Zimmer hired Norv Turner as offensive coordinator. That move brought Norv's son, Scott, over as quarterbacks coach. Like the Zimmers, the Turners worked together last year in Ohio. Father as the offensive coordinator of the Cleveland Browns. Son as the receivers coach. Scott also paid some coaching dues on his own. He was with the Carolina Panthers for two years prior to joining his father in Cleveland. Scott also coached at the college level with Oregon St. and Pitt. At the press conference announcing Mike Zimmer as the Vikings coach, ancient Minnesota scribe Sid Hartman was inspired to mention a conversation that he had with Bill Parcells. In that conversation Parcells said that you can't go wrong when you hire a coach's son. Mike Zimmer is the son of a long-time high school coach. Adam Zimmer is the son of a long-time NFL coach. So is Scott Turner. I think that I agree with Bill Parcells.

The Vikings aren't the only NFL team with fathers and sons coaching together. There are six other combinations:

Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Lovie Smith-head coach
Mikal Smith-safeties coach

Cincinnati Bengals
Marvin Lewis-head coach
Marcus Lewis-defensive assistant

Kansas City Chiefs
Andy Reid-head coach
Britt Reid-quality control

St. Louis Rams
Jeff Fisher-head coach
Brandon Fisher-assistant secondary coach

New England Patriots
Bill Belichick-head coach
Steve Belichick-coaching assistant

Seattle Seahawks
Pete Carroll-head coach
Nate Carroll-assistant receiver coach

It's somewhat interesting that Norv Turner is the only non-head coach to be working with his son.

Happy Father's day to the fathers working with their sons in the NFL and to all fathers everywhere.