Kevin O’Connell never wavered in his belief that he was the right man to serve as the head coach for the Minnesota Vikings, even when Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh flew in for an interview at the 11th hour.
There was a general consensus from outsiders that Harbaugh would end up with the job. A report even surfaced ahead of the face-to-face meeting that he was willing to accept on the spot, if an offer was extended to him by the Vikings.
Harbaugh was the man that flew into San Francisco back in 2011 and turned the 49ers into a perennial Super Bowl contender. He was the one that just got Michigan over the hump by leading them to a Big Ten Championship and their first ever College Football Playoffs appearance. But even with all of those accolades, the offer never came through.
When speaking with News Talk 830 WCCO’s Chad Hartman, O’Connell claims his talks with ownership and the front office left him feeling confident, despite the marquee competition for the job.
“I did not,” O’Connell responded, when asked if he thought he’d lost the job to Harbaugh. “There was a very, very clear communication that was there the whole time from the organization to myself. …I knew it was going to be incredibly competitive because they had a great list of candidates they had talked to. And really, all of the candidates that were able to kind of receive that second interview were guys that quite frankly are great leaders, great people. Their track records speak for themselves.
“Although I was incredibly confident in myself, if I got another opportunity for this job, to go ahead and try to convince the decision-makers involved that I was the right person for that job. I was very much aware that there were some other great people up for it as well. And in the end, I feel great about how the process played out and the communication throughout that process and kind of where things stood every step of the way.
Owner/President Mark Wilf recently spoke highly of Harbaugh as a candidate, but he admitted the team went with O’Connell because they felt he gave them the “best chance to win.”
It’s a roll of the dice on a first-time head coach, but it’s also a gamble the Vikings were clearly willing to make for a Super Bowl-winning coach that won the job through the interview process.
