The Vikings have been working on rounding out their 2014 coaching staff since hiring head coach Mike Zimmer last month and they’ve drawn the process to a close on Thursday.
Minnesota announced the 17 assistants that will be working under Zimmer. The group includes holdovers from the old staff, familiar faces from other teams and one position coach very familiar to Zimmer.
One of the holdovers is special teams coordinator Mike Priefer, who returns after allegations by former punter Chris Kluwe that Priefer made homophobic comments during team meetings and a January 24 interview with lawyers investigating those allegations for the team. Priefer has denied the allegations.
Norv Turner will be the offensive coordinator with his son Scott at quarterbacks coach and Kirby Wilson coaching the running backs. They will join offensive line coach Jeff Davidson, wide receivers coach George Stewart, tight ends coach Kevin Stefanski and assistant wide receivers coach Klint Kubiak, all of whom were on the staff in 2013.
Defensive coordinator George Edwards will be joined by former Titans defensive coordinator Jerry Gray, who will work with the defensive backs in Minnesota. Assistant defensive backs coach Jonathan Gannon also joins the team from Tennessee. Andre Patterson returns for a second stint as the team’s defensive line coach and Adam Zimmer, the son of the head coach, will coach the linebackers. Assistant defensive line coach Robb Akey and coaching assistant Drew Petzing are also new additions to the staff.
Assistant special teams coach Ryan Ficken and defensive assistant Jeff Howard both return to the staff.