Stefanski news

Grimm would be awesome, but why did he retire after doing so well in Tennessee? And not end up anywhere else? Curious.

@"MaroonBells" said: Grimm would be awesome, but why did he retire after doing so well in Tennessee? And not end up anywhere else? Curious.

Coaching is such a fraternal brotherhood in the NFL.

I think a lot of times it's fit - personality fit and personal connections with staff/ownership. The "softer stuff" 

@"Vikergirl" said:

@"PurpleCrush" said: It's also being reported that if Mularkey is the hire that he might bring Russ Grimm in as the O-Line coach, which if true would be big.

I saw that. Can you imagine? I would love a good break to come the Vikings way. Ah man, it's a frustrating roller coaster sifting through the speculation and the actual details. 

@"PurpleCrush" said:

@"Vikergirl" said:

@"PurpleCrush" said: It's also being reported that if Mularkey is the hire that he might bring Russ Grimm in as the O-Line coach, which if true would be big.

I saw that. Can you imagine? I would love a good break to come the Vikings way. Ah man, it's a frustrating roller coaster sifting through the speculation and the actual details. 

The waiting part of the offseason always sucks.

@"Vikergirl" said:

@"PurpleCrush" said: It's also being reported that if Mularkey is the hire that he might bring Russ Grimm in as the O-Line coach, which if true would be big.

I saw that. Can you imagine? I would love a good break to come the Vikings way. Ah man, it's a frustrating roller coaster sifting through the speculation and the actual details. 

With Zimmer have 1-year remaining on his contract and having fired DeFilippo after less than a season, I don't see us being at the top of list for most OC candidates. There is definitely talent to work with & you'll have a good defense to compliment you, but the line is a difficult problem to solve. Given the circumstances, my preference would be to continue with Stefanski. Mularkey does have experience working with OL and his teams did alright in Tennessee, but I'm not sure about letting him run the offense. Why not a role like OL & Assistant Head Coach? I get Zimmer wanting to have a former HC on the staff to replace Sparano, I just don't think they need to be the OC.

I dunno...if I'm an OC looking for a big career move, I'd see the Vikings as a great opportunity to coach some great players (with interview emphasis being on OG improvement), with the possbilitiy of years added via more OC years and/or succeeding Zimmer if he fails to impress in this contract year.

That sounds pretty mercenary, but that's how I see it.

Mularky and Grimm would be a coup.  Adam Gase was my first choice but M &G are exactly what we need the way this team is constructed. A home run would be adding a great young mind to be passing game coordinator, short of that , Downing is a capable mind in the passing game 

People sometimes forget how great of a coach Shurmer was.  we miss him terribly

I almost think that the OL coach is going to be more important than the OC.  I don't think Zimmer being on a 1 year contract is too much of a deterrent.  If the offense does better and the team does well which it should, then everyone will get another contract, and I'm sure they can put some sort of options into the contract where they get paid more in year 1 or have an out if Zimmer gets fired.

@"purplefaithful" said:

@"MaroonBells" said: Grimm would be awesome, but why did he retire after doing so well in Tennessee? And not end up anywhere else? Curious.

Coaching is such a fraternal brotherhood in the NFL.

I think a lot of times it's fit - personality fit and personal connections with staff/ownership. The "softer stuff" 

Im in tn. Malarkey got a raw deal here. He was generally liked. Would love to see him as OC. 

This is playing out exactly like we discussed in the first Stefanski thread. Not surprised that he is leaving on his own. Zimmer handled that very poorly imo.  Mularkey makes sense for the type of scheme he will bring and the style Zimmer wants. Likes the power running game. Since our Line needs to be completely retooled, bringing in those two would make sense if he can get Grimm to come with him. It also allows him to be hands off. 

@"TBro" said: This is playing out exactly like we discussed in the first Stefanski thread. Not surprised that he is leaving on his own. Zimmer handled that very poorly imo.  Mularkey makes sense for the type of scheme he will bring and the style Zimmer wants. Likes the power running game. Since our Line needs to be completely retooled, bringing in those two would make sense if he can get Grimm to come with him. It also allows him to be hands off. 

I like Mularkey, but is "power running game" a shift away from the ZBS that Shurmur (and JDF and Stefanski) used? Because that has impact on the types of players preferred (e.g., Brian O'Neill vs Will Hernandez..), and in the past two years we liked guys like Easton, Elflein, Compton, Isador, Collins, who are mobile. It's also just a scheme change and a new system to learn...
IMO the OC has more to do with OL scheme design and maybe personnel selection than given credit. Sparano was OL coach under Norv Turner and tried to run a "power game" and add guys who could knock people around (or whatever he said after we added Willie Beavers..) and was absolutely unsuccessful in 2016. Then Shurmur took over, shifted us to more ZBS, and we were surprisingly decent. Not sure how much of that was even Sparano.

I think everyone is overplaying Stefanski’s emotional
components and Zimmer’s handling of his contract last year, pretending like
Stefanski is some jilted lover or something and that Zimmer did him dirty.

Fundamentally, Stefanski is a less than optimal fit
here.  We are a win now team.  Stefanski is an inexperienced coach.  Zimmer focuses on the defense and he would
greatly prefer that the OC handle the offense and he just touches base from a
high level.  Zimmer just got burned badly
going with an inexperienced OC.  I think
this is even more true if Edwards gets a HC job and he has two new coordinators.

I would guess Zimmer likes Stefanski, but really wants
someone with some experience.  If I was
Stefanski, I’d want to be OC under an offensive guru type HC, where you know
they are going to focus on making everyone on the offensive side of the ball
look great, and the HC has the experience to help you out if there’s some
struggles to work through.

If we keep Stefanski, I don’t think it’s horrible for either
party.  We do have a talented group of
skill position players and a defense that can take burden off the offense.  He’s familiar with our players and has
coached a wide variety of positions.  It’s
just not the best case scenario either way, and I think that limits how excited
either party could feel about the situation.

@"medaille" said: I think everyone is overplaying Stefanski’s emotional components and Zimmer’s handling of his contract last year, pretending like Stefanski is some jilted lover or something and that Zimmer did him dirty.

Fundamentally, Stefanski is a less than optimal fit
here.  We are a win now team.  Stefanski is an inexperienced coach.  Zimmer focuses on the defense and he would
greatly prefer that the OC handle the offense and he just touches base from a
high level.  Zimmer just got burned badly
going with an inexperienced OC.  I think
this is even more true if Edwards gets a HC job and he has two new coordinators.

I would guess Zimmer likes Stefanski, but really wants
someone with some experience.  If I was
Stefanski, I’d want to be OC under an offensive guru type HC, where you know
they are going to focus on making everyone on the offensive side of the ball
look great, and the HC has the experience to help you out if there’s some
struggles to work through.

If we keep Stefanski, I don’t think it’s horrible for either
party.  We do have a talented group of
skill position players and a defense that can take burden off the offense.  He’s familiar with our players and has
coached a wide variety of positions.  It’s
just not the best case scenario either way, and I think that limits how excited
either party could feel about the situation.

I like this take. And what if, and this is just speculation on my part: Stefanski didn't want to go to the giants and coach an over the hill quarterback. And asked Zimmer to block it so he wasn't spurning a coach he could possibly be working with someday?  I have nothing to base it off of, but it is a possibility.

If hiring Mularkey means we get Grimm and Hogs II, this hire should have been made yesterday.

Didn't Zimmer say they'd have a new OC by end of today sometime?

He did. At the very least, we should know what's happening with Stefanski one way or the other.

Anyone else have this feeling that Minnesota takes another step back in 2019?