Minnesota is making progress in its search to hire a general manager.
Jori Epstein of Yahoo Sports expounded on the team’s focus while she was on site at the NFL’s May owners meetings in Orlando this week. One takeaway is landing on a leader who unites the building.
“There’s some science to it,” Vikings Owner/President Mark Wilf told Yahoo Sports on Tuesday. “There’s of course some art. You have to see the person, know the person, get to know them and understand.
“This is a leadership position, and someone needs to lead our football organization and that’s kind of how we’re viewing it,” Wilf continued. “Of course, football expertise, football personnel, our entire staff and team and getting people to work together. All of it plays into a mix. I can’t give you any scientific formula, but I’m confident as we spend more time with these candidates and get to know everybody better, it’ll become clear to us.”
Minnesota reportedly has trimmed its initial list of candidates and is moving along in the interview process. Many of the names reported have a background in scouting, but that’s not a mandatory skill set.
Above all, it seems clear Wilf is prioritizing leadership traits.
“I think we still ultimately need to have a leader who represents ownership who can kind of bring the building together,” he said. “It’s not just the [scouts and executives]; it’s coaches, it’s even on the business side.”
Since owners meetings occurred in conjunction earlier this week with the league’s Coach and Front Office Accelerator program, which is designed in its new format to promote senior-level candidates, Wilf was able to cross paths with aspiring general managers and network in a more relaxed setting.
“I’m meeting people here in general because I think this accelerator program does great work,” Wilf shared. “Some of them are candidates for our GM search and I’ll have informal conversations with them. But of course, the meat of the conversations are in the interviews and spending time in the facility and getting to know them better.”
