Coach dad reflects on coach son’s success

Note: This story is the first in a three-day series about Vikings coach Mike Zimmer, who hails from Lockport.

The day that Bill Zimmer has been waiting so long for will be here in less than a week.

That’s when his son, Mike, steps onto the sidelines for the first time in a regular season game as head coach of a team in the National Football League.

After serving as an NFL assistant for 20 years – including the past 14 as defensive coordinator with three different squads – Mike Zimmer will make his debut for the Minnesota Vikings when they take on the Rams in St. Louis this Sunday.

When Mike was named as the Vikings coach in mid-January, he became the first person from the Joliet area to earn a top spot in the NFL and among just three locals to lead any professional sports team.

Mike played quarterback and wrestled for his father when he attended Lockport Township High School more than 40 years ago. The 1974 graduate, who also played baseball, was on a pair of seven-win football teams, earning all-conference honors as a junior.

The new Vikings coach proudly points to the influence his father had on him in helping him to reach the pinnacle in the sport.

Bill coached at Lockport from 1959 to 1993 and completely rewrote the record books at a school that hadn’t been very successful in the sport.

During his 34 years as Porters head coach, he won more games than his predecessors combined, and his length of head coaching duties at the school is unlikely to be surpassed.

He is one of the few coaches who have been recognized by being inducted into the hall of fames for both the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association and the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association.

“This is a very exciting time for me, and it’s also a blessing,” Bill Zimmer said. “Mike’s not only gotten his chance, but I feel like this is a really great situation for him.

“I wish Mike all of the best in the world and hope that he continues the success that he’s had. He has a wonderful staff, and the players all have respect for him.”

Bill, who lives in southwest Florida, has been battling some health issues but hopes to be feeling well enough to get to Minneapolis soon for an upcoming home game.

But wherever he’ll be watching the Vikings, Bill and wife, Ann, are understandably proud of a son who has definitely been a chip off the block.

“I think that a lot of me rubbed off on him,” Bill Zimmer said. “There were things that he picked up from me, like what can I do in order to make this team better.

“You have to give him a lot of credit since he has been around a lot of excellent people in his career. That gave him advice on what to do and how to handle things.”

While Mike soaked in much of what he saw from his father, Bill was happy to learn a great deal from his son as he rose from graduate assistant at Illinois State following a football injury to defensive coordinator at Weber State and Washington State.

Bill was ahead of his time in implementing a varied passing attack in the Chicago area. During the 1980s, his “Air Zimmer” teams featured quarterbacks such as Bob Cernak and Spiro Voulgaris, who still rank among the all-time leaders at the school.

He also was a rarity among head coaches in that he moved from the sidelines to the press box in order to get a better view of the action. And he briefly scrapped the passing game for a wishbone attack that earned him his sixth and final playoff appearance in 1987.

“He and I would get together when he was at Weber State, and we would play racquetball together,” Bill Zimmer said. “We’d talk about things, and I learned a lot from him because of the people that he was associated with.”

The longtime Porter coach was proud to have sons Mike and Bill play for him, as well as the hundreds of others who helped bring Lockport’s program to respectability.

“Our years together at Lockport were really good,” Bill Zimmer said. “He’d call me coach, not dad. And I wasn’t just concerned with him – it was all of the other kids, too. I was always on their side.

“Once he graduated from high school, I had a feeling that he was going to be interested in doing what I do. And after he got hurt, the coach at ISU took him under his wing and made him a graduate assistant.”

Mike was on his way in the coaching game, and Bill has enjoyed the ride ever since.