Vikings

Vikings Hire Two New Coaches

Photo Credit: Brian Curski

The Minnesota Vikings officially filled two vacancies on their coaching staff Friday — one of them stemming from Pat Shurmur’s elevation to offensive coordinator, the other coming from Scott Turner’s firing two weeks ago.

Per a press release from the team:

The Minnesota Vikings have named Kennedy Polamalu running backs coach and Clancy Barone tight ends coach.

Pat Shurmur, who was the Vikings interim offensive coordinator the final nine weeks of the 2016 season, has been named offensive coordinator.

Vikings 12-year coaching veteran Kevin Stefanski will take over as Minnesota’s quarterbacks coach. Stefanski served as the Vikings running backs coach in 2016.

Rejoining the NFL ranks in 2017, Polamalu brings 25 years of coaching experience, including six seasons leading the Browns (2004) and Jaguars (2005-09) running backs, to the Vikings staff. Before joining Minnesota, Polamalu served one year as the offensive coordinator at UCLA, the same place he began his college coaching career as a graduate assistant in 1992. Prior to being elevated to offensive coordinator, Polamalu coached the Bruins’ RBs for two seasons (2014-15).

Barone enters his first season as the Vikings tight ends coach in 2017 after spending the previous 8 seasons with the Denver Broncos. The Vikings mark the fourth NFL stop for Barone during his 31-year coaching career, having previously coached either tight ends or offensive line with the Atlanta Falcons (2004-06), San Diego Chargers (2007-08) and Broncos (2009-16). His coaching career began in the college ranks, serving 17 years as an offensive line coach at various institutions. 

The new hirings make sense when considering the teams biggest flaws last season: offensive line and running game. Barone should infuse some new ideas about the offensive line, having played the position in college and coached it much of his career. Polamalu is also a far more experienced running backs coach than Stefanksi, who was filling the role for the first time and will now move to his third position group in as many years as the new quarterbacks coach. Stefanski used to be an assistant quarterbacks coach under previous regimes.

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Photo Credit: Brian Curski

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