New OL coach?

To start it's certainly a tragedy that a 56 y/o dies under any circumstances, but it's become obvious that Tony Sparano was genuinely admired. I know we have a tendency to gloss over faults and turn people into saints when they pass but for the last few days just about everyone who played for him spoke very highly of his character even more so than his coaching accomplishments. I suppose that's what we should all be aiming for in the end.

Also, I find it sad that anyone wants to jump off the bandwagon right now. I realize Vikings fans are fatalists but shouldn't we be a little tougher than this? Truth is while Sparano will certainly be missed this is not at all the same as Teddy blowing his knee out or even Bradford's injury last year. If our boys don't have it in them to overcome this obstacle they would have folded like origami at some point anyway. There will never be a season where we waltz into the Super Bowl with no issues and blow out the Patriots. We don't live the charmed life around here.

So the next step is replacing Sparano. They could just promote Andrew Janocko, but considering I had to look up who our assistant OL coach even was I'm not sure that's a great idea. Unless they think really highly of him he has a lack of experience that I'm not entirely comfortable with. They could move Clancy Barone from TEs to OL since he's done that before, and maybe move Todd Downing into a more defined role, but I'm not sure shifting multiple guys is a great strategy. The first outside name I thought of was Hudson Houck, who coached with Zim in Dallas and was a legend in his day. He's 75 and has been out of the league for years. It's not his day anymore.

The only name I've heard thrown in was Harold Goodwin, and I'd be very high on this guy. The biggest reason is he's a Bruce Arians acolyte. He was OL coach in Pitt and Indy under Arians as OC, then became OC in Arizona when Arians was hired as HC. Bruce Arians is about as respected as a guy can get. I hold him in the same regard as Zim, honestly. He's from York, PA where I live now and you will never hear a negative word about the man. I know several people that are friends of his and who wouldn't shy away from criticism if he deserved it. Arians is also an incredible coach. The Steelers were far more dangerous with him than Todd Haley and Big Ben loved him. He won coach of the year in Indy.....as an INTERIM. Then he had a nice run in AZ before Carson Palmer ran out of gas.

So that's Arians, not Goodwin I know. But if you look at how his units have performed you have to give him credit as well. Arizona was excellent his first two years as OC, resurrecting Palmer from washed up to MVP candidate. His O lines in Pittsburgh were always solid. I don't know why he doesn't have a job now, but my guess is he didn't want to take a big step down in title. He did meet with a few teams and both Arians and Tomlin have reportedly reached out to the Vikings on his behalf. Might be difficult to plug in an outside guy at this stage and he hasn't really been known as a zone blocking guy but I think this might be our best bet.