Category: Coaching Staff

Minnesota Vikings hire Mike Parson as their new Director of Equipment Services

The Minnesota Vikings announced on Wednesday that they have hired Mike Parson as their new Director of Equipment Services.

The Minnesota Vikings have made an announcement regarding their new Director of Equipment Services. On Wednesday, the team announced that they have hired Mike Parson for this role.

Parson brings with him a wealth of experience, having previously worked as the director of equipment services for the Houston Texans from 2008 to 2020. In addition to his tenure with the Texans, Parson also worked as an intern with the New Orleans Saints. With this combination of experience, Parson is well-equipped to take on his new position with the Vikings.

Parson’s hiring comes after the retirement of Dennis Ryan, who had been with the Vikings for nearly 50 years. Ryan had served as the team’s equipment manager for many years and had worked with multiple coaches and regimes during his tenure with the team. Parson will now be the third equipment manager in the franchise’s history and hopefully can stay as long as Ryan did.

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Vikings add five coaches, finalize 2023 staff

The #Vikings hired five assistant coaches on Tuesday, locking in their coaching staff for the 2023 season

The Minnesota Vikings added five assistant coaches to their coaching staff on Tuesday, locking in the administrative portion of their gameday roster. Among the new hires were defensive assistant Imarjaye Albury, assistant inside linebackers coach Thad Bogardus, and assistant special teams coach Dalmin Gibson.

Albury was a scout in the Vikings organization last season and is entering his fourth season on the coaching staff after taking a brief respite from his role as an assistant defensive line coach in Minnesota from February 2020 to June 2022. Joining him on defense will be Bogardus, who served as the Los Angeles Rams’ outside linebackers coach in 2022, where he coached the likes of Leonard Floyd and Ernest Jones.

Gibson is making his first appearance on staff at the NFL level, joining the Vikings after a successful stint at Southern Illinois University where he served as the Saluki’s special teams coordinator and defensive ends coach last season.

Others hired by the team on Tuesday were Pat Hill, who will serve as the assistant defensive line coach, and Michael Hutchings, who joins the team as their new assistant defensive backs coach. Hill is a veteran coach with experience at both the collegiate and NFL levels, having served last as the Atlanta Falcons’ offensive line coach in 2013. Hutchings was the outside linebackers coach for the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers last year, and previously held roles at the University of Oregon and the University of Southern California as a defensive analyst.

These signings should serve to shore up Minnesota’s staff, and give the team leverage to continue developing the young talent on their roster.

Report: Vikings to hire Western Kentucky coach Michael Hutchings

The Vikings continue to go back to the college ranks to round out their assistant coaching staff

The Minnesota Vikings are heading into the offseason with several positions on their roster that need attention, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. However, they also have some holes to fill on their coaching staff.

On Sunday, Matt Zenitz of On3Sports reported that the Vikings were hiring Western Kentucky coach Michael Hutchings as their new assistant linebackers coach.

“The Minnesota Vikings are expected to hire Western Kentucky outside linebackers coach Michael Hutchings as an assistant linebackers coach”

Hutchings played inside linebacker for the USC Trojans from 2013 to 2016. In his final season, he also served as team captain. From there, Hutchings moved on to become the defensive assistant linebackers coach at USA for three seasons (2018–20) before moving on to Oregon for one season as a defensive analyst. He was most recently the outside linebackers coach at Western Kentucky.

Hutchings is a young coach, and while this is his first chance to coach in the NFL, it’s a huge honor to be selected for Brian Flores’ defensive staff.

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Vikings hire Southern Illinois asst Dalmin Gibson as asst special teams coach

The Vikings continue to add assistants to their coaching staff, this time going to the FCS ranks to do so

The Minnesota Vikings are continuing to re-work their coaching staff after losing six assistants this offseason and they have found a replacement for former assistant special teams coordinator Ben Kotwica.

According to On3 Sports’ Matt Zenitz, the Vikings are hiring Southern Illinois special teams coordinator and defensive ends coach Dalmin Gibson as an assistant special teams coach.

Prior to accepting the job with the Vikings, Gibson was a graduate assistant at Colorado and an analyst at Michigan State. While with the Spartans, a source tells Vikings Wire that he was a massive part of punter Bryce Baringer’s success.

Wide receiver Jayden Reed was also an all-Big Ten punt returner in his last year with the Spartans in 2021. That could be a connection to keep in mind come April’s draft.

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Report: Vikings hire Patrick Hill to be assistant DL coach

The Vikings continue to add to their coaching staff, this time going to the college ranks

The Minnesota Vikings continue to reshape their defensive coaching staff under new defensive coordinator Brian Flores.

According to On3 Sports’ Matt Zenitz, the Vikings are hiring Colorado’s defensive tackles coach Patrick Hill to be their new assistant defensive line coach. He replaces A’Lique Terry who left to be the Oregon Ducks offensive line coach.

Hill was only on campus for a few weeks having been hired by new Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders. Before joining the Buffaloes, he was a defensive analyst for LSU during the 2022 season.

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Vikings add two assistants to their coaching staff

The Vikings made multiple moves to the coaching staff

Over the course of the last six weeks, the Minnesota Vikings have made multiple moves to adjust their coaching staff for the 2023 season.

There have been six coaches who have moved on from the Vikings for one reason or another and they have slowly been adding to it.

Outside of the Vikings bringing in defensive coordinator Brian Flores, they hadn’t add anyone to the staff. On Friday afternoon in the style of a Friday news dump, the Vikings announced that they added two coaches to the staff and promoted one as well.

Vikings lose another assistant coach

The Vikings have now lost six assistants so far this year

The Minnesota Vikings had some coaches earlier this offseason requested for interviews with all of them coming on the offensive side of the football. None of them resulted in new positions for them, but they have lost multiple assistant coaches since then.

Per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the Cardinals took the Vikings sixth assistant coach in hiring assistant linebackers coach Sam Siefkes to be their linebackers coach.

The Vikings had already lost five coaches prior to Siefkes accepting the job with the Cardinals.

  • Assistant quarterbacks coach Jerrod Johnson-Houston Texans
  • Defensive coordinator Ed Donatell-Terminated
  • Inside linebackers coach Greg Manusky-Terminated
  • Defensive line assistant A’lique Terry-Oregon Ducks
  • Assistant special teams coordinator Ben Kotwica-Denver Broncos

Siefkes joined the Vikings in 2021 as a quality control coach before getting promoted to assistant linebackers coach with new head coach Kevin O’Connell.

Expect new defensive coordinator Brian Flores to continue building up his staff with his own guys.

Zulgad’s four-and-out: Takeaways from Brian Flores’ introductory press conference

The Vikings introduced their new defensive coordinator on Wednesday. @jzulgad breaks down the four biggest takeaways

Brian Flores’ introductory press conference ended with a question about his preference when it comes to his base defense. “It’s game-plan specific,” Flores said, before adding, “but 3-4.”

That might be the only thing the Vikings’ new defensive coordinator has in common with his predecessor, one-and-done Ed Donatell.

Flores, the former Miami Dolphins head coach and an assistant on Mike Tomlin’s staff this season in Pittsburgh, will bring a more aggressive style and approach to a defense that was among the worst in the NFL this season.

The Vikings’ far-too-often passive style played a significant role in Donatell being fired, despite the team winning 13 games under first-year coach Kevin O’Connell. Flores, who was hired by the Vikings on Feb. 6, was finally introduced on Wednesday at TCO Performance Center in Eagan.

Here are a few of the takeaways from what Flores and O’Connell said:

Brian Flores wants guys who can play multiple spots on defense

The new defensive coordinator has a preference when it comes to bringing in talent

The Minnesota Vikings announced their new defensive coordinator Brian Flores on Wednesday afternoon and there were quite a few interesting things to come from his first appearance in front of the Twin Cities media.

One of those was him talking about the players that he likes to prioritize on the defensive side of the football with the main one being versatility.

“I’m big on versatility. Guys being able to play multiple spots. In order to do that, we’ve got to get them coached up to play those multiple spots. We’ll cast a wide net to see what we do best, and we’ll try to highlight the things our players do well.”

When it comes to how the Vikings will prioritize talent on the defensive side of the football, this is something that will take precedence. When you look back at the teams that he coached in both New England and Miami, guys like Eric Rowe, Patrick Chung, Jevon Holland and Emmanuel Ogbah can do more than just one thing and that will be what they look for moving forward.

Some players in the draft that the Vikings might be more open to targeting with the Flores hire.

  • Texas Tech EDGE Tyree Wilson
  • Alabama DB Brian Branch
  • Georgia Tech DL Keion White
  • Bowling Green DL Karl Brooks
  • Auburn DL Derick Hall
  • Arkansas LB Drew Sanders
  • Texas A&M DB Antonio Johnson

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Kevin O’Connell on Brian Flores “He’s someone I targeted immediately”

The head coach didn’t mince his words when speaking about new defensive coordinator Brian Flores

The Minnesota Vikings have officially announced the hire of new defensive coordinator Brian Flores by holding a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.

The hire was an excellent one by the Vikings, as Flores has a tremendous track record on defense. He has called defenses for a total of four seasons and outside of the year that the Miami Dolphins were actively tanking, he only has had one season outside of the top 10 in scoring defense: 2021 when the Dolphins ranked 16th.

In speaking to the media, head coach Kevin O’Connell was vocal about his admiration for Flores and said that “he’s someone that I targeted immediately.”

Flores also spoke highly of being here and the tone of his opening monologue can be boiled down to these two sentences.

“I’m grateful to be a part of this historic franchise. My sons only wanted to be here because they are big Justin Jefferson fans.”

The new era on defense is here.

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