Mike Zimmer began his summer vacation last Friday by doing what? Yeah, working.
The Vikings 60-year-old head coach started his summer break between minicamp and training camp by showing up early in the morning to speak to a group at the Minneapolis Club. Zimmer had an audience of business and civic leaders laughing at one-liners. His remarks looked as well organized as his team that last season became NFC North Division champions for the first time since 2009.
Yes, Zimmer’s work ethic is present even when on vacation. In the weeks between now and the start of training camp Zimmer will spend time in various ways including a visit to his ranch in Kentucky. The coach acknowledged there will also be a little red wine once in awhile.
And there will be something else filling his time during the next few weeks. “I’ll be working,” Zimmer said.
“He has a plan of what he wants to get done,” said George Stewart. “He does a great job of being exact. He is very detailed. He plans out what he wants to get done and he attacks that plan. Not only with the players, but with the coaches. We all know what we have to get done for us to be successful.”
Stewart coaches the Vikings wide receivers. He has been an assistant in the NFL since 1992. Before that he worked at both Notre Dame and the University of Minnesota when Lou Holtz was head coach at those places.
Stewart isn’t blowing smoke when he talks about Zimmer who after being a career assistant in the NFL finally got a head coaching opportunity with the Vikings at age 57. Stewart played for Holtz at Arkansas before coaching under him. He regards Holtz as a father figure and talked about him and other famous coaches during an interview with Sports Headliners last week.
“I’ve been around several hall of fame coaches, (including) Lou Holtz as you mentioned. Chuck Noll…to Bill Walsh. I know Mike got into it late (age 57) but if he was given the opportunity at 40 years old as opposed to being 56 or 57 you’d speak about him in those same terms (hall of famer) too because he has great vision.
“He had a great vision for this team when he got here. He had prepared himself to be a head football coach over time as an assistant and it’s showing off now.”
The Vikings are a favorite to be an NFL winner next season and years beyond. Zimmer is on a short list of the league’s more highly regarded head coaches after only two seasons. The team was 7-9 his first season of 2014 after the club had finished 5-10-1 the year before. Last season brought that division title and an 11-5 regular season record.
General manager Rick Spielman, Zimmer and others in the organization have acquired and developed a roster of talented players. Zimmer likes his 2016 team—enough so that he cancelled the final day of minicamp practice last week.
“Well, if we’ve been crummy (this spring), I wouldn’t have cancelled it,” Zimmer said last Thursday. “…I just like the way this team works. I told them that today that, ‘I appreciate the way they go about their business.’
“They’re dedicated to being a good football team and they didn’t believe me at first (practice cancelled). A bunch of them said, ‘Did he say go practice or no practice?’ So they just sat up there for a little while (at Winter Park). They weren’t sure. They thought it was a joke or a trick, but I felt like I’ve seen what I needed to see.”
Zimmer’s surprise cancellation of practice indicates he will throw a “curveball” at times to his team. Don’t be too predictable, change things up.
Ideas like that may come from Zimmer, or perhaps at the suggestion of hall of fame coaches like Bill Parcells or Bud Grant. Zimmer is friends with both men. Occasionally he will refer to phone conversations with Parcells who he worked for with the Cowboys years ago. Grant, who took the Vikings to four Super Bowls, keeps an office at Winter Park where the Vikings practice. The two men have hunted together.
Just two full seasons into Zimmer’s career he has been compared to Grant. The two took such different routes to head coaching. Grant was a head coach at 29 for Winnipeg in the Canadian Football League. He retired at age 58.
That was just about the age Zimmer finally got his own team. Stewart is puzzled why it took so long for an NFL team to grab Zimmer as the head man.
“He should have been a head coach years ago,” Stewart said. “I don’t know what was the reason behind that. (He is) a quiet person and maybe that’s the reason why. I don’t know if he had an agent (to promote him). I do believe if he was a head coach years ago, you’d be speaking about him in the same light as you speak of (Bill) Belicheck (four Super Bowl wins). …”
Like Grant, Zimmer doesn’t tolerate mistakes by his players for very long. Last season the Vikings were the least penalized team in the NFL with 88 flags. The offense was the least penalized in the 32-team league with 30 penalties.
“If there’s a little wrong misstep, he’s going to see the misstep,” Stewart said. “He’s going to ask somebody. He’s going to talk about it. There’s no gray area with coach Zimmer. He’s going to do things the right way. He’s going to keep everybody accountable and our players respect that.”
Missed assignments and sloppy play can leave Zimmer red-faced. Although usually quiet and low key, the team has known his wrath. But players also know he cares about them and they accept his sometimes stern manner.
“You have no choice to settle in with that,” cornerback Xavier Rhodes said. “That’s no question. You can’t say nothing about that. It’s just him. He’s going to be who he is. We just accept him for who he is and that’s what we love about him.”
Rhodes said Zimmer knows “how to win” and is going to get players to do what he wants them to do. Sometimes he will even show them a sense of humor. “Once in awhile,” Rhodes said. “It’s good to see that side of him, to let us know he trusts in us, and he knows we want to get things right.”
What the players also see is a supportive coach when talking to the media. An example came last week when Zimmer was asked about third-year quarterback Teddy Bridgewater who has experienced some struggles. Zimmer referred to the winning teams Bridgewater has played for in college and with the Vikings—emphasizing “that’s the most important thing,” not individual statistics.
Zimmer has learned to be more comfortable with the media, but like a lot of coaches facing the press, answering questions is a less appealing part of the job than other aspects. This time of year Zimmer seems more relaxed and even jokes with the media as he did last week when an outdoor practice was shortened because of a lightening threat. Zimmer said he didn’t want reporters to be struck by lightening. “I’d miss you,” he said.
Zimmer can crack a smile, show some levity with those around him, but make no mistake he is single-minded and someone who is going to get things done his way as he pushes toward more success for the Vikings.
“He is demanding,” Stewart said. “He is no-nonsense and he’s exact, and he’s unforgiving in terms of the way we work.
“That’s the deal in trying to be great, trying to win a championship here. We’ve been to four Super Bowls here, as you know. Haven’t won one. We’re trying to get to another one, but again that’s down the road. But I think with the things that he’s doing, he’s preparing everyone.”
Yup, preparing. Even when on vacation.
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