Thread: New Offense & Defense Coaches

From Vikings.com

The Minnesota Vikings have named Paul Ferraro as Special Teams Coordinator on Head Coach Brad Childress' staff. Ferraro comes to the Vikings with 24 seasons of coaching experience and spent the 2005 season at NFC runner-up Carolina as Special Teams Assistant/Assistant Strength & Conditioning coach. "Coach Ferraro is a life-long football coach," said Childress. "He's been very successful in the college ranks. The best tribute to him is his former employer, John Fox, said ‘he's a good football coach and he can do whatever you need him to do'. He'll do a great job coordinating our special teams."

The 2005 Panthers made an impressive run through the playoffs as the #5 seed in the NFC, advancing to the NFC Championship game at Seattle after posting road wins against the NY Giants and #2-seeded Chicago Bears. The Panthers' special teams played a key role in the success of the team. Veteran K John Kasay made a career-high 42-of-44 FGs, including 3 of 50+ yards, and his 121 points were 3rd-best in the NFC and 3rd-most of his career. Carolina turned to newly-acquired P Jason Baker in 2005 and he delivered by leading the NFC and ranking 3rd in the NFL with a 38.9-yard net punting average, a career-best 43.3-yard gross average and career-high 20 punts inside the 20. Pro Bowl WR Steve Smith returned punts and ranked 3rd in the NFC with a 10.6-yard average. The kickoff and punt coverage units were also impressive, ranking 5th in the NFL in punt return average allowed (6.5 yards) and 11th in kickoff return average allowed (21.3 yards).

Ferraro came to the Panthers in 2005 after serving from 2001-04 as the defensive coordinator at Rutgers. During his tenure with the Scarlet Knights, the team led the Big East sacks, takeaways and 3rd-down efficiency in 2004. The 2003 team was 2nd in the Big East in pass defense and 3rd-down efficiency. In 1999 and 2000 Ferraro coached the Georgia Tech defensive backs under Head Coach George O'Leary, who went on to serve as Vikings defensive coordinator. His longest tenure coaching was from 1991-98 at Bowling Green as defensive coordinator, where he helped build the Falcons into a Mid-America Conference power, going undefeated in consecutive seasons and winning bowl games in 1991 and '92.

A 1982 graduate of Springfield College where he was an All-New England safety on the field, Ferraro began his coaching career at Massachusetts as a graduate assistant. He earned his master's degree from Syracuse in 1986.

FERRARO'S BACKGROUND

PLAYER:
1978-81 Springfield College

COACH:
1982 Massachusetts
1983 Syracuse
1984-86 Villanova
1987 Dartmouth
1988 Catholic University
1989 Maine
1990 Ohio
1991-98 Bowling Green
1999-00 Georgia Tech
2001-04 Rutgers
2005 Carolina Panthers


All I can say is...MUSTACHES RULE!! Sounds like a good hire. I hope Chris Walsh gets offered some kind of role with the team still.

Damn he has a forehead like he's from WI, bumper form a chevy. Any chicago residence that remember jim shorts song?????

Good wrap on him....we keep gettin stronger and stronger.

a guy from the panthers is usually a good choice. fox is a very underrated coach

Any chance we could get Chris Walsh in an assistant role or something?

I realize he doesn't have any real coaching experience, but I'd love to see him stick around the organization helping out on special teams.

News on the new offense & defense coaches goes here;

http://www.purplepride.org/index.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=17677&postd ays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

And FYI, news on the new GM/Personel director goes here;

http://www.purplepride.org/index.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=17837

We don't need multiple threads covering the same topics & multiples of the same articles being posted.

From The Times-Tribune

[size=18px]VALLEY VIEW GRAD HIRED BY VIKINGS [/size]
01/29/2006

When he looks back, 1988 Valley View alum Tom Kanavy knows who to thank for his long career in football: head coach Frank Pazzaglia and assistant coach Nick Rodio.

“I was an offensive lineman at Valley View because of a severe lack of athletic ability,� Kanavy joked. “I started working with Coach Pazzaglia and Coach Rodio and they threw me right with the offenisve linemen. Coach Rodio had everybody believing you had be ready to go in there at any time. It got me seriously interested in the strength-training field.�

That interest has kept Kanavy employed since he graduated from Penn State, and now he’s moving up in the ranks. The 35-year-old Archbald native was recently named Minnesota Vikings head strength and conditioning coach under head coach Brad Childress. The two worked together with the Philadelphia Eagles for seven years.

“I asked when he wanted me to interview and he starts talking about mini-camps and dates for practice,� said Kanavy, who arrived at Vikings headquarters in Eden Prairie on Tuesday with new head trainer Eric Sugerman, a Hazleton native who also worked for the Eagles the past six years. “He said he was ready to make a move and he wanted me.�

Kanavy jumped at the offer.

“I didn’t mind answering to people I worked with in the past, but I am happy calling the shots now,� Kanavy said. “Every little idea I’ve had in 14 years, every day something crosses my mind or that I’d like to try something this way, now I have the latitude to do it.�

Kanavy knew he was going to like it in Minnesota when he went to the Home Depot near headquarters, located at 3100 Valley View Drive.

“I’m very proud of being from that area,� Kanavy said. “It’s part of the fabric of the people up there. My phone bill will be pretty high because there will be a lot of phone calls back home.�

Kanvy is married to Dunmorean Kim DelVecchio. The Kanavys have a 20-month-old daguther, Caroline.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16024788&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id= 416049&rfi=6