Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer turns 60 today.
It doesn't seem possible for a terrific football coach to only be entering his third season as head coach on his 60th birthday. Mike Zimmer has walked a very long football-coaching path. One that should have led to a head coaching job well before his 58th birthday. The Vikings and their fans are so lucky that at least five other teams weren't bright enough to hire him.
Mike Zimmer started his football coaching career in 1979 as a defensive assistant at the University of Missouri. He climbed the college coaching ranks through the 1980s before jumping to the Dallas Cowboys in 1994. He was part of the Super Bowl-winning coaching staff that first year as the defensive backs coach. He coached the Cowboys defensive backs for six years before moving up to defensive coordinator in 2000. He's been one of the best architects of defenses in the league ever since. With the Cowboys from 2000-06. The Atlanta Falcons in 2007. The Cincinnati Bengals from 2008-13. It was that single year in Atlanta in which he truly won my heart as a steely-eyed football coach. That was the year that Falcons head coach Bobby Petrino bolted the team after a 3-10 start for the University of Arkansas. Zimmer had some choice words for a cowardly head coach that notified his players by placing a note in their lockers. That immediately put him on my Vikings radar. His appearances on Hard Knocks warmed me even more. But it was his effective, aggressive, and unpredictable defenses that were his greatest appeal. Some team had to hire him. For whatever reason, one did. Incredible.
Mike Zimmer may have been turned down for head coaching jobs as many as five times over the years. There were rumors that he was offered the University of Nebraska job in 2003. If it was offered, he obviously didn't take it. That was probably the closest he'd been to a head coaching job. Why weren't NFL teams banging on his door? By the mid-2000s he'd already been coaching in the league for more than a decade. He'd been coaching football for about 25 years. He'd accomplished more as an assistant coach than many youngsters that were getting their shots. Some more than once. Eric Mangini comes to mind. Steve Mariucci as well. Each is a fine coach but each was fired twice before Zimmer was hired once. Some have speculated that he's too blunt, whatever that means, and that he hasn't interviewed well. Maybe that's just an excuse that gets batted about but I don't get a team that puts appearances above coaching ability when they are looking for a head coach. Zimmer's last rejection came from the Tennessee Titans in January of 2014. They hired Ken Whisenhunt instead. Another coach that was hired twice before Zimmer was hired once. Zimmer was on his way to his interview with the Vikings when he was notified by the Titans of their decision. He was so devastated by the news that he nearly dropped the Vikings interview. He just couldn't take the disappointment anymore. Who can blame him? He was nearly 60. He'd been coaching for 35 years. Maybe he was just meant to be a football coaching grunt. An assistant-coaching-lifer. There are worse things. At least he's still coaching football. At least he has the opportunity to make football players better football players. After all, it really is the coaching that he truly loves.
Thankfully, Mike Zimmer took one more coaching interview.
On January 15, 2014, the Minnesota Vikings announced Zimmer as their ninth head football coach. On that day I felt better about the Vikings coaching situation than I've been since Bud Grant was calling the shots. And Zimmer had yet to even coach a game. In his introductory press conference, Zimmer said that he wanted to build a football team that the fans would enjoy watching. A team that would make them proud. Mission accomplished, Coach. It's going to be a fun ride.
Happy Birthday, Mike Zimmer.
No comments:
Post a Comment