EAGAN, Minn. — Kevin O'Connell has quickly made his first several decisions as head coach of the Vikings.

Officially named Wednesday as the 10th head coach in franchise history and scheduled to conduct his first press conference in this role, O'Connell and the Vikings on Thursday announced the hiring of nine total assistant coaches.

O'Connell, an NFL backup QB from 2008-12, turned to the man who first hired him to be an assistant in Cleveland in 2015 when naming former Browns Head Coach Mike Pettine (2014-15) as his assistant head coach.

Pettine had previously overlapped with O'Connell while the two men were with the New York Jets. Pettine was defensive coordinator from 2009-12, and O'Connell was a backup from 2009-10 but did not play in a regular-season game for Gang Green.

Pettine spent the 2021 season as a senior defensive assistant for the Bears after serving as defensive coordinator for the Packers from 2018-20. He helped Chicago's Robert Quinn set the single-season franchise record for sacks (since 1982) with 18.5, a total that ranked second in the NFL.

Beyond the decades of experience Pettine brings, the Vikings also announced Ed Donatell will be the team's defensive coordinator.

Donatell also has ties to the Bears, having coached their defensive backs from 2015-18 before accompanying former Broncos Head Coach Vic Fangio (2019-21) to Denver as Fangio's defensive coordinator.

The Broncos ranked eighth in yards allowed per game (326.1) and third in points against (18.9 per game) in 2021 under Donatell's guidance in his third overall stint with the club. Donatell was part of the Broncos claiming Super Bowls XXXII and XXXIII in back-to-back seasons during his first tenure with Denver.

The Vikings named seven additional new assistants who are listed below Pettine and Donatell in alphabetical order by last name.

Assistant Head Coach Mike Pettine

Pettine's College/NFL Coaching Experience

Pittsburgh 1993-94 (Graduate Asst.)

Ravens 2002-03 (Coaching Asst.); 2004 (Asst. Defensive Line); 2005-08 (Outside Linebackers)

Jets 2009-12 (Defensive Coordinator)

Bills 2013 (Defensive Coordinator)

Browns 2014-15 (Head Coach)

Packers 2018-20 (Defensive Coordinator)

Bears 2021 (Senior Defensive Asst.)

Defensive Coordinator Ed Donatell

Donatell's College/NFL Coaching Experience

Kent State 1979-80 (Graduate Asst.)

Washington 1981-82 (Graduate Asst.)

Pacific 1983-85 (Defensive Backs)

Idaho 1986-88 (Defensive Backs)

Cal State Fullerton 1989 (Defensive Backs)

Jets 1990-94 (Defensive Backs)

Broncos 1995-99 (Secondary)

Packers 2000-03 (Defensive Coordinator)

Falcons 2004-06 (Defensive Coordinator)

Jets 2007 (Special Assistant)

Washington 2008 (Defensive Coordinator)

Broncos 2009-10 (Secondary)

49ers 2011-14 (Defensive Backs)

Bears 2015-18 (Defensive Backs)

Broncos 2019-21 (Defensive Coordinator)

Tight Ends/Passing Game Coordinator Brian Angelichio

Angelichio's College/NFL Coaching Experience

SUNY-Brockport 1995 (Secondary)

Ithaca 1996-97 (Linebackers); 1998 (Wide Receivers); 1999 (Offensive Line); 2000-05 (Offensive Coordinator & Offensive Line)

Pittsburgh 2006 (Offensive Asst./Tight Ends); 2007-10 (Tight Ends)

Rutgers 2011 (Tight Ends)

Buccaneers 2012-13 (Tight Ends)

Browns 2014-15 (Tight Ends)

Packers 2016-18 (Tight Ends)

Commanders 2019 (Tight Ends)

Panthers 2020-21 (Tight Ends)

Overlapped with O'Connell twice: Angelichio worked with O'Connell for one season in Cleveland when O'Connell was the Browns quarterbacks coach. They joined forces again in Washington when O'Connell was offensive coordinator for the team that was re-named the Commanders earlier this month.

Assistant Quarterbacks Jerrod Johnson

Johnson's Career as an NFL Player

Johnson did not appear in an NFL game, but the former QB spent time with the Steelers (2012), Seahawks (2013), Bears (2013-14), Ravens (2016) and Cowboys (2016).

Johnson's NFL Coaching Experience

49ers 2017 (Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellow — during training camp)

Colts 2019 (Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellow); 2020-21 (Offensive Quality Control)

Connection with Kwesi Adofo-Mensah: Johnson's first exposure to NFL coaching in 2017 also yielded a connection to new Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, who was San Francisco's director of football research and development from 2017-19.

Will coach record breaker: Johnson played collegiately at Texas A&M from 2006-10 and set Aggies records for attempts, completions passing yards and passing touchdowns. He will now coach Kellen Mond, the 2021 third-round pick who broke each of those records while at Texas A&M.

Offensive Line Chris Kuper

Kuper's Career as an NFL Player

Broncos 2006-13 (Guard)

Kuper's NFL Coaching Experience

Dolphins 2016 (Offensive Quality Control); 2017-18 (Offensive Line)

Broncos 2019-21 (Asst. Offensive Line)

Rockies starter: Initially a fifth-round pick out of North Dakota in 2006, Kuper started 79 of the 90 regular-season games he played at right or left guard for the Broncos. Kuper returned to the Mile High City and assisted Broncos offensive line coach Mike Munchak in the development of young linemen like 2020 Second-Team All-Pro Garett Bolles and Dalton Risner.

Running Backs Coach/Running Game Coordinator Curtis Modkins

Modkins' College/NFL Coaching Experience

TCU 1995 (Graduate Assistant); 1996 (Secondary); 1997 (Tight Ends)

New Mexico 1998-2001 (Cornerbacks)

Georgia Tech 2002 (Defensive Backs); 2003-07 (Running Backs)

Chiefs 2008 (Running Backs)

Cardinals 2009 (Running Backs)

Bills 2010-12 (Offensive Coordinator)

Lions 2013-15 (Running Backs)

49ers 2016 (Offensive Coordinator)

Bears 2017 (Running Backs)

Broncos 2018-21 (Running Backs)

Dynamic duo: Modkins helped Melvin Gordon III and Javonte Williams become the first running backs to each rush for more than 900 yards for the same team in one season since Houston's Arian Foster and Ben Tate in 2011.

Full circle: O'Connell worked on "special projects" for the 49ers staff in 2016 when Modkins was San Francisco's offensive coordinator.

Quarterbacks Chris O'Hara

O'Hara's College/NFL Coaching Experience

University of Miami 2011-12 (Student Asst.) 2013 (Graduate Asst.)

Jaguars 2014-16 (Offensive Coaching Associate)

Commanders 2017-19 (Offensive Quality Control)

Jaguars 2020 (Offensive Asst.)

Rams 2021 (Offensive Asst.)

Re-reunited: O'Hara first worked with O'Connell for three seasons with Washington before O'Connell headed to Los Angeles in 2020. The Rams brought O'Hara to the West Coast in 2021, and he helped the squad score on 45.9 percent of their drives, which ranked third in the NFL in the 2021 regular season.

Asst. Offensive Line Justin Rascati

Rascati's College/NFL Coaching Experience

Weber State 2012-13 (Quarterbacks)

Tennessee-Martin 2014-15 (Wide Receivers/Passing Game Coordinator)

Tennessee Tech 2016 (Offensive Coordinator)

Tennessee-Chattanooga 2017-18 (Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks)

Broncos 2019-21 (Offensive Quality Control Asst.)

Another former college QB: Rascati worked closely with Kuper for his first two seasons in Denver before the former college QB, who played at Louisville and won an FCS title with James Madison, shifted to work more with the quarterbacks this past season.

Defensive Line Chris Rumph

Rumph's College/NFL Coaching Experience

South Carolina 1997 (Graduate Asst.)

South Carolina State 2002 (Defensive Backs)

Memphis 2003-05 (Outside Linebackers)

Clemson 2006-10 (Defensive Ends)

Alabama 2011-13 (Defensive Line)

Texas 2014 (Asst. Head Coach & Defensive Line)

Florida 2015-16 (Defensive Line); 2017 Co-Defensive Coordinator & Defensive Line)

Tennessee 2018-19 (Co-Defensive Coordinator & Outside Linebackers)

Texans 2020 (Outside Linebackers)

Bears 2021 (Defensive Line)

Familiar face: Although he's relatively new to the NFL, Rumph has coached multiple players who made it to the league, including Dalvin Tomlinson at Alabama in 2013. Rumph's work with Bears defensive linemen helped Chicago rank sixth in yards allowed (316.7 per game) and in goal-to-go percentage (allowance rate of 67.9 percent).

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