EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- Firing Mike Tice shortly after the
season finale has the Minnesota Vikings on a growing line of NFL
teams searching for a head coach.
Vowing Monday to pick a replacement quickly, owner Zygi Wilf
continued to place his stamp on the franchise he and his fellow
investors purchased this summer. Also on the agenda this month is
finding a new personnel director to serve as a de facto general
manager.
"You see from what is happening around the NFL," Wilf said.
"It has become a very competitive field for the pursuit of
coaches, and we want to be up there making sure that the person we
want, we get."
Some were upset by the timing of Wilf's announcement, made less
than an hour after Sunday's meaningless victory over the Chicago
Bears with the majority of players and coaches already gone from
the stadium. But the move was met with little, if any, surprise
following a 9-7 finish marked by inconsistency on the field and
scandalous incidents off it.
"There is no easy way, or a good time, to let someone know that
their contract will not be renewed," said Wilf, who repeatedly
praised Tice for his effort and attitude. "We didn't want him to
twist in the wind another night."
Wilf said his mind was not made up until the Vikings were
eliminated from playoff contention. After six straight wins to
salvage a 2-5 start, they lost at home to Pittsburgh on Dec. 18,
and at Baltimore the next week to seal their fate.
Failures on the field are why Tice is out. Not, according to the
boss, because of the ticket-scalping caper, that infamous bye-week
boat party or any of the other off-field embarrassments that
occurred during his four-year tenure. Wilf was also asked if Tice's
low approval rating from fans factored in, with the Vikings seeking
public support for a new stadium.
"Not at all," Wilf said.
Though there was some sense in the locker room of a need for a
fresh start, accountability for Tice's dismissal came from the
players.
"We can go out and win," tight end Jermaine Wiggins said.
"We've just got to do it consistently."
Tice talked briefly with the team, giving out his phone number
in case players wanted to keep in touch and expressing his pride in
their refusal to quit when the outlook appeared hopeless in early
November.
Later addressing the media, Tice predicted that Minnesota would
eventually win that elusive Super Bowl and insisted the Wilf family
was on its way to becoming "great owners." He thanked Red McCombs
for hiring him in January 2002 with no experience above supervising
the offensive line, rattled off several names of people he'll miss
working with -- and proudly noted that the Vikings and Seattle are
the only two NFC teams to finish .500 or better in each of the last
three seasons.
"I think this year that I proved that I worked hard for four
years to earn my stripes, and hopefully there will be other
organizations around the league that will see it that way," said
Tice, who took no questions. "I love to teach. I love to teach."
With vacancies piling up, Tice ought to find some interest
around the NFL -- as an offensive coordinator at the very least. His
son, Nate, will be a high school senior in the fall, though, which
will weigh heavily on Tice's decision to accept a new job.
"When the dust clears down the road, I know that Mike will have
some other opportunities come his way," said offensive coordinator
Steve Loney, also thrown into flux with the firing.
Minnesota was one of seven teams already in the hunt for a new
coach, with the strong possibility of more. First on the priority
list for Wilf, though, is adding an executive to head the personnel
department. Possibilities are inside and outside the organization,
with Philadelphia vice president of player personnel Tom Heckert
widely mentioned as one option. Wilf, who confirmed a three-year
contract extension for vice president of football operations Rob
Brzezinski, declined to comment on Heckert.
The owner said his choice for personnel director would act as a
general manager and make final decisions on all roster matters --
and indicated that person would supervise the coaching search he
hoped would be completed by the end of the month.
"One of the things I have learned -- and it is a very important
element in the future of this ballclub -- will be the necessity of
having communication from the top all the way down," Wilf said.