Thread: Wilfi article from ESPN ...

Trouble brewing in Minnesota
Pasquarelli
By Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com
Archive

If you've ever been Zygi-ed, geez, you know how painful it can be. Not an especially pleasant experience, folks, from what we hear. OK, the truth is, we haven't a clue about what it's like to be Zygi-ed. For that matter, neither does anyone else in the NFL, because new Minnesota Vikings owner Zygmunt "Call Me Zygi" Wilf hasn't been around long enough yet to have, well, Zygi-ed anybody. Not yet.

But stick around a few more weeks and Vikings head coach Mike Tice might be able to tell the rest of world exactly what it is like to be canned by a guy whose nickname (albeit a different spelling) is the same as that little dispirited-looking bald guy on those sappy greeting cards.

Following the embarrassing home loss to Tampa Bay in the season opener, Wilf, who paid $600 million for one of the NFL's most underachieving franchises, and then saw it underachieve against the Bucs, hinted he and his brother/partner, Mark (Marki?) Wilf, might get more hands-on in the near future. Wilf acknowledged that he needs to get the right people in the right places, allow folks to do their jobs, break out the electron microscope and begin scrutinizing everyone from the top of the football food chain down to the custodial department.

Translation: Zygi sounds like he's fixing to get jiggy with the notion of rolling a few heads. Tossing a few hearty Norseman over the starboard side of the creaky ol' Vikings ship that sits in front of the team complex might become more than just an itch with a few more ignominious defeats such as Minnesota has suffered the first two weeks of the season. Because of the thriftiness of former owner Red McCombs -- who spent the final two years of his failed stewardship paring the payroll, cutting the management staff down to the smallest in the NFL, and refusing to sign anyone of import to a contract extension -- Wilf inherited a payroll chock full of lame ducks. And their ducks might soon be cooked.

Tice and his assistants are working on one-year contracts that expire at the end of January 2006. The front office staff -- including very talented and highly respected vice president Rob Brzezinski, who has worked under duress for the last two years and would have little trouble locating a job elsewhere -- is working on deals that lapse on Feb. 28, and the scouts' contracts are up June 1. So Wilf can clean house and not have to concern himself with paying off contracts that have time remaining on them. And the broom-to-the-butt approach might well commence with Tice, who already forfeited 10 percent of his league-low $1 million salary as his NFL-imposed penalty for scalping Super Bowl tickets.

Perhaps the one saving grace for Tice is that his team resides in the laughable NFC North, in which the four teams own an aggregate record of 2-6 and no one seems capable of running away from the rest of the pack. The teams tied for the division lead, Detroit and Chicago, are quarterbacked by a human roller coaster (Joey Harrington) and a fourth-round rookie (Kyle Orton), respectively. Does either of those two guys send shivers through anyone's spines?

Certainly the Vikings have enough talent, even minus Randy Moss, to rebound. It's hard to believe that Daunte Culpepper, who had one of the greatest statistical seasons of any quarterback in NFL history in 2004, can get any worse than he's been the first two games, in which he tossed eight interceptions and zero touchdown passes. Or that an offense that has turned the ball over on a dozen of its 24 possessions can't turn things around.

Tice better hope there's a 180-degree reversal coming, and soon, or else he's going to be pouring the cement for some shopping mall that Wilf has under construction. The one thing that could save him is that there is no one on the Vikings staff who has ever been a head coach before.





Side note from same ESPN page:

Baltimore general manager Ozzie Newsome is one of the most patient men in the world. But you've got to wonder how long his patience will hold out with [head coach] Brian Billick. ... Ravens offensive coordinator and former New York Giants head coach Jim Fassel would love a shot at the Minnesota job at the end of this season if it's open.

Too bad that football is not like basketball or baseball, where a team can bring in an outsider in the middle of the season to finish the season off. Tice would probably be OUT and Fassel IN by now...maybe Wilf should have at least considered that option...it couldn't be much worse than it is right now.

Screw Fassel, I'd much rather have Billick. He could get the offense going again. I don't think Fassel's a much better coach than Tice.

I will be interesting the next couple weeks before the "bye" week in week # ... Was reading last night the players dont report back to practice till Wednesday this week !!!! That blows my mind after the last 2 losses, maybe Ticey has already given up and waiting for the axe to fall ... who knows right now????

It's good to know that Zygi will (seemingly) spend the cash neccesary to finally get this team over the hump. Also, while Fassel would be an obvious upgrade over Tice, I'm not sure he'd be the answer. 'Guess we'll have to wait and see how it all plays out.

Finally, some good news! I really like Tice but I don't think he's a head football coach in the NFL. I'd be much happier with either Fassel or (more preferably) Billick. I also love the fact that everyone is working on one year contracts, so we can get rid of whoever we want at the end of this year. Here's to the Ravens sucking it up this year, and Zygi going out and getting BB.

It's amazing to me why people consider coaches who were fired from one team to be a good replacement for their own head coach. If a guy loses his job, doesn't that mean that something was wrong with him? Why not look for someone that hasn't been a head coach yet, but shows potential? That makes more sense to me than just recycling losers.

Personally, I would hate to see Fassel or Billick at the helm. Just like the Vikes should have jumped at the opportunity to grab S. Alexandar when the whole whizzinator thing went down they also should have grabbed Romeo Crennel in the offseason for the HC slot. Unfortunatley, the whole Redneck/Zygi fiasco was in full swing when the Browns grabbed Crennel.

"OldManVike" wrote:

It's amazing to me why people consider coaches who were fired from one team to be a good replacement for their own head coach. If a guy loses his job, doesn't that mean that something was wrong with him? Why not look for someone that hasn't been a head coach yet, but shows potential? That makes more sense to me than just recycling losers.

I'll bet that the Patriot fans are saying that right now about Belichick...last time I checked, he sucked really bad as the coach for the original Browns...God forbid that he ever got another chance...he would have surely screwed up that opportunity as well...oh wait, he won HOW MANY Super Bowls after the Browns fired him???

My only regret is that he did it for the jerkwad New England fans and not some other more deserving fans...like US for example!!!

Holmgren maybe??? I heard he was loosing his status in Seattle really fast as of late ....