Cowboys hiring former Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer as their defensive coordinator
Mike Zimmer is back in the NFL -- and back where it all began.
Dallas is hiring Zimmer, a former head coach for the Minnesota Vikings and a longtime Cowboys assistant, to be its new defensive coordinator, NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero reported.
Zimmer has emerged from a high-profile list of interviewees that also included former Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera and former New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan.
Zimmer has long been known for leading hard-nosed defenses and his gritty approach to coaching, something that should lend perfectly to replacing Dan Quinn, who went on to become the Commanders HC after three seasons leading a top-five scoring defense in Dallas.
Following a two-year hiatus, that will be Zimmer's mantle to pick up.
He served as the Vikings' head coach from 2014-2021, five times constructing a top-10 scoring defense and going to the playoffs on three occasions during his eight-year tenure, with one ill-fated trip to the NFC Championship Game.
Zimmer was fired with a 72-56-1 career record following an 8-9 season.
He spent five of those years in Minnesota coaching against one of his new bosses, Mike McCarthy, who at the time was with the Green Bay Packers. Although both won the division twice in their time competing for the NFC North, Zimmer holds the edge with a 5-4-1 head-to-head record during that span.
The 67-year-old Zimmer also spent the 2007 season coordinating Atlanta's defense and served as the Bengals' DC from 2008-2013, but on the heels of 15 years in the college ranks starting as a 23-year-old assistant in 1979, it was Dallas where he began his NFL coaching career.
Zimmer started out as an assistant coach for the Cowboys in 1994 and was promoted to defensive backs coach for the 1995
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