A week after he was introduced as the 10th head coach in the Vikings' 62-year history, Kevin O'Connell has formed his coaching staff. A look at the new leadership of the Vikings on the field:
KEVIN O'CONNELL
Head coach
O'Connell, 36, became the Vikings coach four days after he was offensive coordinator for the Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams. A backup quarterback for parts of four NFL seasons — he threw only six passes, all in his rookie season for New England — he starting his coaching career as Browns QB coach in 2015. He was an assistant for San Francisco and Washington before joining Sean McVay's staff in Los Angeles in 2020. He plans to call offensive plays for the Vikings.
MIKE PETTINE
Assistant head coach
Pettine, the former Browns head coach and Packers defensive coordinator, reunites with O'Connell after first crossing paths with the former NFL quarterback on the New York Jets in 2009. Pettine, 55, hired O'Connell to his first professional coaching job with the Browns in 2015, and seven years later the 55-year-old Pettine will assist O'Connell as a first-time head coach. Pettine was most recently a Bears senior defensive assistant. He spent three years leading Green Bay's defense (2018-20).
ED DONATELL
Defensive Coordinator
Donatell, a 65-year-old football lifer in his fourth stint as an NFL defensive coordinator, has been tabbed with Pettine to lead the Vikings defense. He's also a former Packers defensive coordinator, where a consistent four-year tenure from 2000-2003 ended after the Eagles' fourth-and-26 conversion in an NFC divisional-round playoff loss. He coached defensive backs in San Francisco (2011-2014), overlapping with new Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah for two years, and Chicago (2015-2018) before his most recent three-year run in Denver as coordinator.
WES PHILLIPS
Offensive coordinator
Phillips, 43, has been an NFL coach for 15 years, and was pass game coordinator/tight ends coach for the Rams during their Super Bowl season, his third in Los Angeles. The grandson of Bum Phillips and son of Wade Phillips — both former NFL head coaches — got his start in the NFL as an offensive assistant for the Cowboys in 2007 and was with Dallas until 2013. He was tight ends coach for Washington from 2014-18 before joining the Rams.
MATT DANIELS
Special teams coordinator
Daniels, 32, was the assistant special teams coach for the Cowboys the past two seasons after having the same post with the Rams from 2018-19. He was a safety for four seasons in the NFL, when he was with the Jaguars, Chargers and Rams, and started his coaching career as a grad assistant at Colorado in 2017.
BRIAN ANGELICHIO
Tight ends coach/passing game coordinator
Angelichio, 49, joins his sixth NFL team as tight ends coach in the past 11 seasons, most recently holding that role with the Panthers in 2020-2021. He reunites with Pettine on a third NFL team after first being hired as the Browns tight ends coach under Pettine in 2014. This is the first time Angelichio has been given the title passing game coordinator, doing so under O'Connell, whose specialty with the Rams was the passing game.
JERROD JOHNSON
Assistant quarterbacks coach
Johnson, 33, was Texas A&M's starting quarterback from 2008 to 2010, setting an Aggies record for passing yards that was broken by current Vikings backup Kellen Mond. Johnson was a Colts quality control assistant the past two seasons. He went undrafted in 2011 and was on six different NFL rosters without playing in a league game, although he saw action in other leagues from the UFL to the CFL.
DARONTE JONES
Defensive backs coach
Jones was the Vikings defensive backs coach in 2020 under Mike Zimmer, then went to LSU to be defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach last season. Before his original stint with the Vikings, the 43-year-old was secondary coach in Cincinnati from 2018-19 and assistant defensive backs coach in Miami for two seasons. He has coached at six different colleges, including Wisconsin in 2015.
BEN KOTWICA
Assistant special teams coach
Kotwica, an eight-year Army veteran, was director of player development at his alma mater, the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, last season. The 47-year-old was special teams coordinator for the Atlanta (2019-20), Washington (2014-18) and the New York Jets (2013) after getting his start with the Jets as an assistant from 2007-12. He served in the Iraq War from 2004-05 as a helicopter pilot.
CHRIS KUPER
Offensive line coach
Kuper, 39, was a 2006 fifth-round pick by the Broncos out of the University of North Dakota. He has been an assistant offensive line coach for the Dolphins (2017-2018) and Broncos (2019-2021). Kuper spent all eight NFL seasons with the Broncos while starting much of the time at right guard before injuries shortened his career. The three-time team captain, a native of Anchorage, was voted as the Broncos' Ed Block Courage Award recipient in 2012.
CURTIS MODKINS
Running backs coach/run game coordinator
Modkins, 51, held the same position with the Broncos from 2018-2021. He was not retained under new Denver head coach Nathaniel Hackett, but Modkins quickly landed with his eighth NFL team in Minnesota. He's previously coordinated offenses in Buffalo (2010-2012) and San Francisco (2016), where he overlapped with O'Connell and Adofo-Mensah. This is the third time he's coaching with Donatell.
CHRIS O'HARA
Quarterbacks coach
This is the third time O'Hara, a 2012 graduate from the University of Miami, has joined O'Connell on an NFL staff. They first overlapped in Washington from 2017-2019, where O'Hara was an offensive quality control coach and O'Connell was promoted twice. After a second stint on the Jaguars staff in 2020, O'Hara joined the Rams as an offensive assistant last season. He is 31.
JUSTIN RASCATI
Assistant offensive line coach
Rascati, a former quarterback at Louisville (2003) and James Madison (2004-2006), will assist Kuper with the Vikings offensive line. The 38-year-old worked the past three seasons in Denver, splitting time between coaching under former Broncos offensive line coach Mike Munchak and quarterbacks coach Mike Shula.
CHRIS RUMPH
Defensive line coach
Rumph, a former co-coordinator at Florida and Tennessee, is in his third NFL season as a coach with his third team. He most recently coached Bears defensive linemen last season after coaching Texans outside linebackers in 2020. The former South Carolina linebacker, 50, mostly coached players in defensive fronts over 18 college seasons, from Memphis outside linebackers (2003-2005) to Alabama defensive linemen (2011-2013).
MIKE SMITH
Outside linebackers coach/pass rush specialist
Smith, 40, comes to the Vikings from the Packers, where he spent three seasons as a linebackers coach. He has worked under Pettine with the Packers and Jets, and was on staff when O'Connell was a backup quarterback for the Jets. Smith started his NFL coaching career as an intern with the Jets in 2010, and was defensive coordinator at his alma mater, Texas Tech, from 2013-15.
