New Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer continues to form his new coaching staff in Minnesota, and his most recent addition comes with a unique background.
Robb Akey, head coach at the University of Idaho from 2007-2012, will serve as Zimmer’s defensive line coach when the Vikings head man decides to unveil his staff.
The new defensive line coach’s ties to Zimmer go way back to when he was a defensive lineman at Weber State in the mid-1980’s. At that time, Zimmer was the defensive coordinator for the same college, and Akey actually served on Zimmer’s defensive staff in his first year out of school.
Zimmer then moved on to Washington State to serve as defensive coordinator there, a position Akey held in the mid-2000’s before he was named the head coach at Idaho.
Akey is the first coach Zimmer has hired that has no NFL experience, though his experience working with Zimmer likely made up for that fact during the search process.
Akey is technically under contract and being paid by Idaho until December of 2014, though he was fired by the school midway through the 2012 season following a 42-point loss to Louisiana Tech. He did not coach in 2013.
