Most of the offseason is focused on the player additions and tweaks to the roster. Unless there’s whole-scale changes, little attention is paid to coaching staff tweaks. Going from season one to season two of his tenure, Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell made one big change and several tweaks to his coaching staff. In advance of training camp, here’s a review of those coaching changes.
Out
Defensive Coordinator: Ed Donatell
Inside Linebackers: Greg Manusky
Assistant Quarterbacks: Jerrod Johnson
Assistant Defensive Line: A’Lique Terry
Assistant Linebackers: Sam Siefkes
Assistant Defensive Backs: Roy Anderson
Assistant Special Teams: Ben Kotwica
In
Defensive Coordinator: Brian Flores
Inside Linebackers: Mike Siravo
Assistant Quarterbacks: Grant Udinski
Assistant Defensive Line: Patrick Hill
Assistant Inside Linebackers: Thad Bogardus
Assistant Defensive Backs: Michael Hutchings
Defensive Assistant: Imarjaye Albury
Assistant Special Teams: Dalmin Gibson
Firing Ed Donatell after a terrible defensive season and hiring Brian Flores is the big coaching change. It’s probably the Vikings most significant change of the offseason. Flores has a long, strong NFL coaching resume. He started his professional football career as a scout with the Patriots. He shifted to the team’s coaching ranks and started a steady and fairly quick climb. He was the play-caller that shut down the explosive Los Angeles Rams offense in Super Bowl LIII. That got him a head coaching opportunity with the Miami Dolphins. Now he’s in Minnesota and tasked with a big defensive turnaround. Mike Siravo has been coaching since 1998. Most of that experience was at the college level with Matt Ruhle. Siravo followed Ruhle to the Carolina Panthers in 2020 to coordinate run defense and coach linebackers. Siravo and Flores crossed paths at Boston College. Siravo was a graduate assistant. Flores was a student and linebacker. Grant Udinski is an internal hire as he spent last season as an assistant to Kevin O’Connell, working on special projects. Thad Bogardus coached outside linebackers for the Los Angeles Rams in 2022. He’d been working with that team’s linebackers or defensive linemen since 2017. So, he shared some time in Los Angeles with Kevin O’Connell. Prior to joining the Rams, Bogardus was a defensive assistant for the Denver Broncos from 2015-16. He earned Super Bowl rings with the Broncos and Rams. The Vikings plucked Patrick Hill, Michael Hutchings, and Dalmin Gibson from the college ranks. Each is young with a promising coaching future in front of them. The Vikings swiped Hill from Deion Sanders’ freshly completed Colorado coaching staff. Gibson was the special teams coordinator and defensive ends coach at Southern Illinois. Hutchings was coaching outside linebackers at Western Kentucky.
2023 Minnesota Vikings Coaching Staff
Head Coach: Kevin O’Connell
Assistant Head Coach: Mike Pettine
Offensive Coordinator: Wes Phillips
Defensive Coordinator: Brian Flores
Special Teams Coordinator: Matt Daniels
Offense:
Quarterbacks: Chris O’Hara
Assistant Quarterbacks/Chief of Special Projects: Grant Udinski
Run Game Coordinator/Running Backs: Curtis Modkins
Receivers: Keenan McCardell
Assistant Receivers/Quality Control: Tony Sorrentino
Pass Game Coodinator/Tight Ends: Brian Angelichio
Offensive Line: Chris Kuper
Assistant Offensive Line: Justin Rascati
Pass Game Specialist/Game Management Coordinator: Ryan Cordell
Quality Control: Derron Montgomery
Defense:
Defensive Line: Chris Rumph
Assistant Defensive Line: Patrick Hill
Outside Linebackers/Pass Rush Specialist: Mike Smith
Inside Linebackers: Mike Siravo
Assistant Inside Linebackers: Thad Bogardus
Defensive Backs: Daronte Jones
Assistant Defensive Backs: Michael Hutchings
Defensive Assistant: Imarjaye Albury
Quality Control: Lance Bennett
Special Teams:
Assistant Special Teams: Dalmin Gibson
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