Coaching search 2022 - Confirmed Interviews and Speculation

[VikingsFan84]

Harbaugh staying at Michigan per ESPN report

Just saw the news. I'm surprised. And yet, the let down for many Vikings fans feels eerily similar and on point.

I am honestly not sure what to think. I hope we choose O'Connell.

Vikings are likely getting O’Connell, I heard Vikings are zeroing on him since Harbaugh is gone

[VikingsFan84]

I have no problem with O’Connell’s, I am just ready for this crapfest to be over and get started on focusing on hiring assistants, free agency, and the draft

[40for60]

Pellisaro saying Vikings didn’t make an offer? https://mobile.twitter.com/TomPelissero ... gr%5Etweet

So Harbaugh changed his mind, or the Vikings didn’t want him. Which is it?

[VikingsFan84]

Pellisaro saying Vikings didn’t make an offer? https://mobile.twitter.com/TomPelissero ... gr%5Etweet

So Harbaugh changed his mind, or the Vikings didn’t want him. Which is it?

Harbaugh changed his mind

[VikingsVictorious]

Getting Harbaugh IMO would have been the coaching equivalent to getting one of the elite QBs. Wilfs crapped the bed this time.

[JJBreaksRecords]

Typical Vikings luck.

Wonder if they knew they wanted O'Connell as a HC, but took the interview to see if Jim really even wanted to be here, who knows. We probably wont know anything till late Feb.

[J. Kapp 11]

From ESPN Vikings reporter Courtney Cronin via Twitter:

My read on the Harbaugh/Vikings situation in speaking with sources: Harbaugh was in the mix for the Minnesota job because of his connection to Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. He operated under the assumption that the job was his and prepared for the interview as such.

The Vikings saw this very differently and not as a 'slam dunk' as a source put it to me, the way they felt Harbaugh viewed the situation coming into Wed. There was no offer extended. This isn't necessarily a matter of who said no to who, but 2 sides that did not align on the nature of what the in-person meeting was all about. The Vikings brought Harbaugh into Minnesota to interview, just like they did with Pat Graham on Tues. Followed the same format and everything.

FWIW, I don't gather that there's any bad blood from either side. Just sounds like a difference in expectation from Harbaugh's perspective and from the Vikings'.

Cronin does great work, so I have no reason to believe she’s wrong. That being the case, it makes me a little worried about KAM. If he’s the communicator he’s reputed to be, then Harbaugh would have understood clearly where the Vikings stood prior to bringing him in. So what went wrong? Was KAM not clear with Harbaugh? Did KAM believe he had more authority than he actually does, and simply told Harbaugh that convincing the search team was a formality?

Seems like KAM sliced this one out of bounds. I’m willing to give him a mulligan, but let’s hope he doesn’t need another.

[Texas Vike]

From ESPN Vikings reporter Courtney Cronin via Twitter:

My read on the Harbaugh/Vikings situation in speaking with sources: Harbaugh was in the mix for the Minnesota job because of his connection to Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. He operated under the assumption that the job was his and prepared for the interview as such.

The Vikings saw this very differently and not as a 'slam dunk' as a source put it to me, the way they felt Harbaugh viewed the situation coming into Wed. There was no offer extended. This isn't necessarily a matter of who said no to who, but 2 sides that did not align on the nature of what the in-person meeting was all about. The Vikings brought Harbaugh into Minnesota to interview, just like they did with Pat Graham on Tues. Followed the same format and everything.

FWIW, I don't gather that there's any bad blood from either side. Just sounds like a difference in expectation from Harbaugh's perspective and from the Vikings'.

Cronin does great work, so I have no reason to believe she’s wrong. That being the case, it makes me a little worried about KAM. If he’s the communicator he’s reputed to be, then Harbaugh would have understood clearly where the Vikings stood prior to bringing him in. So what went wrong? Was KAM not clear with Harbaugh? Did KAM believe he had more authority than he actually does, and simply told Harbaugh that convincing the search team was a formality?

Seems like KAM sliced this one out of bounds. I’m willing to give him a mulligan, but let’s hope he doesn’t need another.

My interpretation is precisely this question you raise: "Did KAM believe he had more authority than he actually does, and simply told Harbaugh that convincing the search team was a formality?"

I read (sorry, can't remember where at this point... been reading too much on this topic) that a minority owner of the Vikings had beef w/ Harbaugh from his days in Michigan, something to do with a Field pass being revoked.

What was Mark Wilf's line about the new GM having some say in the HC hiring decision? It seems clear it wasn't just KAM's decision. And it seems clear, too, that Harbaugh thought it was a done deal. Why else would he come to MN on National Signing Day?

[VikingLord]

Seems like KAM sliced this one out of bounds. I’m willing to give him a mulligan, but let’s hope he doesn’t need another.

KAM sliced it out of bounds, or the Wilfs did?

This is why I argued that the owners should hire the GM and then the GM should hire his coach. Why the Wilfs feel they need any input into the head coach decision or have any expertise in evaluating head coach candidates is truly beyond me. If it is true that KAM wanted to bring in Harbaugh and the Wilfs inserted themselves into the decision, then it is probably best that Harbaugh walked away. The last thing he needs at this point in his career are rich businessmen telling him how to coach professional football players.

I truly fear that whatever happened that created the situation with Spielman and Zimmer will repeat itself. The difference this time will be the victims of the dysfunction will be younger and less experienced, which makes it more likely to fall apart faster than it did with Spielman and Zimmer at the helm.

The Wilfs should have sat this one out. If anyone could have turned the ship around rapidly and effectively, it was Jim Harbaugh. O'Connell is an unknown as a head coach. He's another coordinator on a team enjoying a successful run, but there is zero evidence he will be effective as an NFL head coach (assuming he is offered the job). Good interviewees don't always translate into effective employees.

Very disappointing.

[Crax]

Sounds like Oconnel is the new coach

https://m.startribune.com/vikings-choos ... =n&clmob=y

[Texas Vike]

Seems like KAM sliced this one out of bounds. I’m willing to give him a mulligan, but let’s hope he doesn’t need another.

KAM sliced it out of bounds, or the Wilfs did?

This is why I argued that the owners should hire the GM and then the GM should hire his coach. Why the Wilfs feel they need any input into the head coach decision or have any expertise in evaluating head coach candidates is truly beyond me. If it is true that KAM wanted to bring in Harbaugh and the Wilfs inserted themselves into the decision, then it is probably best that Harbaugh walked away. The last thing he needs at this point in his career are rich businessmen telling him how to coach professional football players.

I truly fear that whatever happened that created the situation with Spielman and Zimmer will repeat itself. The difference this time will be the victims of the dysfunction will be younger and less experienced, which makes it more likely to fall apart faster than it did with Spielman and Zimmer at the helm.

The Wilfs should have sat this one out. If anyone could have turned the ship around rapidly and effectively, it was Jim Harbaugh. O'Connell is an unknown as a head coach. He's another coordinator on a team enjoying a successful run, but there is zero evidence he will be effective as an NFL head coach (assuming he is offered the job). Good interviewees don't always translate into effective employees.

Very disappointing.

We can't be sure how much weight KAM's voice had in this decision, but Mark Wilf's statement that the new GM would have "some say" in the matter definitely lends itself to this interpretation. OTOH, I do think O'Connell was held in very high esteem by KAM and I am open to the possibility that even KAM preferred O'Connell to Harbaugh.

For one, there's this from the article Crax cited:

O'Connell also worked with new Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah in San Francisco in 2016, when the coach was on the 49ers staff doing special projects under Chip Kelly. Sources said Adofo-Mensah held O'Connell in high regard before he got the Vikings job, putting him on a list of coaches the GM wanted to work with, and O'Connell emerged as one of the favorites for the Vikings job as the team started its second round of interviews this week.

We also know that Harbaugh is a polemical figure whose tendencies wore thin in SF, getting him fired despite the solid records. I don't want to jump to any conclusions about the extent of KAM's power or how the Wilfs are meddling with major decisions, mostly because we don't have access to what went down, and we probably will never get it. I also just want to give both KAM and O'Connell a chance before I start criticizing them or the team's decision to hire them. The reports were out there TUES that OC had been very impressive during his interview in LA. It seems like Vikings fans got ahead of themselves, assuming Harbaugh would beat him.

[J. Kapp 11]

KAM sliced it out of bounds, or the Wilfs did?

This is why I argued that the owners should hire the GM and then the GM should hire his coach. Why the Wilfs feel they need any input into the head coach decision or have any expertise in evaluating head coach candidates is truly beyond me. If it is true that KAM wanted to bring in Harbaugh and the Wilfs inserted themselves into the decision, then it is probably best that Harbaugh walked away. The last thing he needs at this point in his career are rich businessmen telling him how to coach professional football players.

I truly fear that whatever happened that created the situation with Spielman and Zimmer will repeat itself. The difference this time will be the victims of the dysfunction will be younger and less experienced, which makes it more likely to fall apart faster than it did with Spielman and Zimmer at the helm.

The Wilfs should have sat this one out. If anyone could have turned the ship around rapidly and effectively, it was Jim Harbaugh. O'Connell is an unknown as a head coach. He's another coordinator on a team enjoying a successful run, but there is zero evidence he will be effective as an NFL head coach (assuming he is offered the job). Good interviewees don't always translate into effective employees.

Very disappointing.

We can't be sure how much weight KAM's voice had in this decision, but Mark Wilf's statement that the new GM would have "some say" in the matter definitely lends itself to this interpretation. OTOH, I do think O'Connell was held in very high esteem by KAM and I am open to the possibility that even KAM preferred O'Connell to Harbaugh.

For one, there's this from the article Crax cited:

O'Connell also worked with new Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah in San Francisco in 2016, when the coach was on the 49ers staff doing special projects under Chip Kelly. Sources said Adofo-Mensah held O'Connell in high regard before he got the Vikings job, putting him on a list of coaches the GM wanted to work with, and O'Connell emerged as one of the favorites for the Vikings job as the team started its second round of interviews this week.

We also know that Harbaugh is a polemical figure whose tendencies wore thin in SF, getting him fired despite the solid records. I don't want to jump to any conclusions about the extent of KAM's power or how the Wilfs are meddling with major decisions, mostly because we don't have access to what went down, and we probably will never get it. I also just want to give both KAM and O'Connell a chance before I start criticizing them or the team's decision to hire them. The reports were out there TUES that OC had been very impressive during his interview in LA. It seems like Vikings fans got ahead of themselves, assuming Harbaugh would beat him.

In fairness to fans, the media made it sound like Harbaugh’s hiring was a done deal.

But yeah, we jumped to conclusions.

[Texas Vike]

We can't be sure how much weight KAM's voice had in this decision, but Mark Wilf's statement that the new GM would have "some say" in the matter definitely lends itself to this interpretation. OTOH, I do think O'Connell was held in very high esteem by KAM and I am open to the possibility that even KAM preferred O'Connell to Harbaugh.

For one, there's this from the article Crax cited:

We also know that Harbaugh is a polemical figure whose tendencies wore thin in SF, getting him fired despite the solid records. I don't want to jump to any conclusions about the extent of KAM's power or how the Wilfs are meddling with major decisions, mostly because we don't have access to what went down, and we probably will never get it. I also just want to give both KAM and O'Connell a chance before I start criticizing them or the team's decision to hire them. The reports were out there TUES that OC had been very impressive during his interview in LA. It seems like Vikings fans got ahead of themselves, assuming Harbaugh would beat him.

In fairness to fans, the media made it sound like Harbaugh’s hiring was a done deal.

But yeah, we jumped to conclusions.

The Michigan media? I agree. There were reports from Ann Arbor indicating that they thought Harbaugh was giving indications that he was moving on.
But the media that covers the Vikings kept insisting that KOC had done very well in his interview and that Harbaugh was coming in for a real interview, with no conclusions pre-drawn.

[40for60]

In fairness to fans, the media made it sound like Harbaugh’s hiring was a done deal.

But yeah, we jumped to conclusions.

The Michigan media? I agree. There were reports from Ann Arbor indicating that they thought Harbaugh was giving indications that he was moving on.
But the media that covers the Vikings kept insisting that KOC had done very well in his interview and that Harbaugh was coming in for a real interview, with no conclusions pre-drawn.

I agree. It sounds like the Vikings were interviewing him like any other candidate (this appears to be a very KAM approach) with no preconceived notions, while Harbaugh came in thinking I’m Jim Freaking Harbaugh, where’s my office?

Unless more information comes out, I am not blaming KAM or the Wilfs on this one. If no one said “hey Jim, we need you to come in just to work out the contract”, it seems presumptuous for Harbaugh to think it was a done deal.

[40for60]

Interesting text from Harbaugh to the St. Paul Pioneer Press:

“The Wilf family (ownership group) and organization are first class all the way and in every way and Kwesi is a shining star!” Harbaugh wrote in a text message Wednesday night to the Pioneer Press. “The team is poised for greatness.”

https://www.twincities.com/2022/02/02/ ... f-running/

Pretty classy on his part. Maybe both parties just concluded it wasn’t a good fit.