MOBILE, Ala. -- Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Zimmer is still searching for a new strength and conditioning coach, after the team let go of Evan Marcus following a run of pectoral injuries over the last two years. But a coaching change probably won't signal a departure from the philosophy Zimmer wanted to establish when he hired Marcus.
The coach has been a proponent of free weights and power lifting, and brought in Marcus to shift the Vikings away from the machine-based lifting program of prior strength coach Tom Kanavy. Pectoral injuries to players like Brandon Fusco, Phil Loadholt, Brian Robison, Carter Bykowski and Josh Robinson led the Vikings to dive deep into ways they could prevent issues. Running back Jerick McKinnon needed surgery for a low-back injury after lifting weights in November 2014, and center John Sullivan needed a second operation on his back after he suffered a setback while lifting last fall.
Marcus, Zimmer said, was let go "because we just had too many injuries in the weight room." But the coach doesn't believe the practice of using free weights, in and of itself, caused the problem.
"I look for somebody that has a philosophy that I have. That's what it is," Zimmer said. "We're going to have free weights. That's my philosophy."
Zimmer said he wanted to fill out his offensive coaching staff before finding a new strength coach, and said the Vikings would formulate a plan now that they've hired Pat Shurmur to coach tight ends and moved Kevin Stefanski to coach running backs, where he'll replace Kirby Wilson. Assistant strength coach Jeff Hurd is the interim coach.
I'm going to sit down and try to figure out exactly what I want to do there," Zimmer said.
