Vikings hire Childress as coach

[E.T.]

Vikings hire Childress as coach

By JON KRAWCZYNSKI, AP Sports Writer

January 6, 2006

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Eagles assistant Brad Childress was hired as coach of the Minnesota Vikings on Friday, five days after Mike Tice was fired following a 9-7 season marked by a scandalous boat party.

"Coach Childress was the elite NFL head coaching candidate," owner Zygi Wilf said at a news conference. "He embodies class, character and discipline and is a great family man. Bottom line, Brad Childress is a winner."

Tice was fired Sunday after Minnesota beat the Chicago Bears 34-10 in the final game of the regular season.

The 49-year-old Childress has been the Eagles' offensive coordinator since 2002. This is his first head coaching job.

"As steward of this great franchise, I'll do everything I possibly can ... to bring an NFC championship and Super Bowl to the people of Minnesota," said Childress, sporting a purple tie and Vikings pin.

Childress joined the Eagles as quarterbacks coach under Andy Reid in 1999, and helped Philadelphia reach the Super Bowl last season. Before that, Childress was an assistant under Barry Alvarez at Wisconsin.

Minnesota also interviewed defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell, Kansas City assistant head coach and offensive coordinator Al Saunders and Indianapolis assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach Jim Caldwell.

But Childress and Washington defensive coordinator Gregg Williams immediately rose to the top of the Vikings' wish list when they fired Tice.

When Williams signed a three-year, $8 million contract extension to remain with the Redskins earlier in the week, the Vikings centered most of their efforts on Childress, who was also considered a candidate for openings in Green Bay and Houston.

With eight head coaching positions open across the league, the Vikings wanted to move quickly to fill the spot to avoid losing their guy.

"These guys jumped out. It's one of those deals where you snooze, you lose," Childress said, adding that the process was thorough despite the speed.

Childress inherits a team that had to deal with plenty of off-the-field distractions for most of Tice's four full seasons as head coach.

In 2005 alone, the Vikings had to deal with Tice being fined $100,000 by the NFL for scalping Super Bowl tickets, running back Onterrio Smith being suspended for the season for substance abuse and being caught at the airport with "The Original Whizzinator," a device used to beat drug tests, and the now-infamous boat party on Lake Minnetonka that brought misdemeanor charges against four players.

Wilf talked of discipline, character and class in introducing Childress, and the new coach picked up the theme. He talked about growing up near Chicago as a Bears fan, and then coaching at Wisconsin. He said he would have high expectations of his players.

"I understand Midwest values," he said.

Tice was a fiery, emotional coach, and his team seemed to adopt that temperament. Under Tice, the Vikings were erratic, prone to winning and losing streaks and late-season collapses.

They turned that around in 2005, finishing 7-2 after a 2-5 start. But missing the playoffs with a team that was a trendy pick to reach the Super Bowl in the preseason cost Tice his job.

Perhaps looking for a steadier influence, the Vikings have turned to the low-key Childress, who rarely shows emotion in public, much like his mentor, Reid.

Though he did not call the plays as offensive coordinator with the Eagles, Childress has been praised for his work with Pro Bowl quarterback Donovan McNabb.

"Brad is a well-coached guy," McNabb said earlier this season. "He is a guy that knows everything about this offense and most importantly, he is a great human being."

Childress didn't shy from confronting mercurial Eagles receiver Terrell Owens. In the preseason, a reported shouting match between the two earned Owens a one-week exile from training camp, which was the precursor to the Eagles shelving their star for most of the season.

With Childress in tow, Wilf will look for a personnel man to work with salary cap guru Rob Brzezinski. The Vikings initially targeted the Eagles' Tom Heckert for that job, but Heckert stayed with the Eagles for a raise and promotion to general manager.

[smazza]

he will bring morality to the vikings

vikings need to rid themselves of culpepper unless he will take a 90% paycut