Getty Jim Harbaugh appears on track to return to Michigan after not getting the Vikings head coaching job.
The Minnesota Vikings’ second interview with Jim Harbaugh on February 2 had been deemed a “formality.”
But in the end, Harbaugh, head coach at the University of Michigan, left Minnesota without a job offer, and the Vikings instead have chosen Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell, whom they plan to hire after the Super Bowl.
In the aftermath, Harbaugh, 58, left a strong message for the Vikings, praising their new general manager and saying the team is “poised for greatness.”
Minnesota hired Kwesi Adofo-Mensah on January 26 to be the new general manager, replacing Rick Spielman, who was fired January 10 after holding the position since 2012. That same day, the team fired head coach Mike Zimmer, who’d been with the team since 2014, compiling a 72-56-1 record and leading the Vikings to three playoff appearances but none since 2019.
Adofo-Mensah, 40, had been the Cleveland Browns‘ vice president of football operations. He started his career on Wall Street.
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‘The Team Is Poised for Greatness’
On the evening of February 2, St. Paul Pioneer Press reporter Chris Tomasson said he received a text message from Harbaugh, who he said offered high praise to not only the organization but also to its new general manager.
“I just got a text from Jim Harbaugh, returning to Michigan job after #Vikings interview: ‘The Wilf family and organization are first class all the way and in every way and Kwesi (Adofo-Mensah) is a shining star! The team is poised for greatness.’ Classy comments from Harbaugh,” Tomasson tweeted. The Vikings are owned by Zygi Wilf and his sons Mark and Leonard.
I just got a text from Jim Harbaugh, returning to Michigan job after #Vikings interview: “The Wilf family and organization are first class all the way and in every way and Kwesi (Adofo-Mensah) is a shining star! The team is poised for greatness.” Classy comments from Harbaugh.
The Vikings’ pivot to O’Connell was what Star Tribune columnist Michael Rand called a “very Vikings conclusion” in a column published February 3.
A Harbaugh hire seemed to be a done deal, according to Chris Balas of TheWolverine.com, who reported on February 1: “Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh is headed to Minnesota for a Wednesday interview, but multiple sources say it’s a formality. Harbaugh heads there planning to sign a deal to become the NFL Vikings’ head coach.”
But, according to Ben Goessling of the Star Tribune, Harbaugh failed to convince the Vikings he was their best option and was never offered the job.
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Vikings Check Down to O’Connell
For weeks, the Vikings said that they sought a collaborator with strong communication skills to help lead the Vikings away from Zimmer’s “fear-based” culture.
On the surface, Harbaugh appeared to be in the same mold as Zimmer, 65.
O’Connell, 36, on the other hand, is young and unproven as a head coach but has had two successful seasons as Rams offensive coordinator. The team’s offense ranked eighth in the NFL in total points scored and ninth in total yards.
And yet his hiring comes with a sense of loss, Rand wrote in his column.
“Even a hire that generates genuine excitement is tinged with a sense of letdown,” Rand wrote. “This is no fault of O’Connell, who like I said seems to be the type of coach we assumed they would hire: young (36) and offensive-minded, with the sort of malleable personality that might lead to collaboration and intentional decision-making.”
He added: “O’Connell might very well end up being the correct hire for the Vikings, though anyone hoping for a Kirk Cousins trade might take note of O’Connell’s previous working relationship with Cousins in 2017 as Washington’s QB coach.”
O’Connell made a strong impression with the Vikings for his creativity and a “nuanced” review of Cousins, The Athletic’s Chad Graff reported.
“O’Connell ‘blew [the Vikings] away,’ according to a source,” Graff wrote. “He had studied the team’s roster from the previous season. He came prepared with ideas on how to improve the team and was able to offer a nuanced review of quarterback Kirk Cousins, whom he coached for one season in Washington.”
Harbaugh’s 44-19-1 record as an NFL head coach represents the fifth-best win rate (69.5%) in NFL history. From 2011 to 2014, he led the San Francisco 49ers to three NFC Championship games and a Super Bowl, which he lost to the Baltimore Ravens in 2012.