Minnesota Vikings: 4 possible replacements for Pat Shurmur next season
By Adam Patrick
Tony Sparano
Another internal candidate on the Vikings’ current coaching staff would likely be Sparano. For the past two seasons, Sparano has been Minnesota’s offensive line coach and his leadership has played a tremendous part in the unit’s dramatic improvement this year.
Unlike Stefanski, Sparano actually has been an offensive coordinator in the past. During his early coaching career, he was in charge of the offense at Boston University for four seasons and most recently, he was the offensive coordinator for the New York Jets in 2012.
The Jets’ offensive rankings were not that impressive under Sparano that year. But he also had to attempt to find success with underwhelming players like Mark Sanchez, Tim Tebow, Shonn Greene, Jeremy Kerley, and Jeff Cumberland.
If promoted to offensive coordinator next season for the Vikings, Sparano would have a lot more talent to work with than the last time he ran an offense.