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For Mike Zimmer, the long wait to become a head coach nearly never ended. Zimmer, an assistant NFL coach since 1994 and a coordinator since 2000, almost skipped out on his second interview with the Vikings.
Zimmer, a speaker at an NFL symposium in Pennsylvania this past weekend, told Mike Garafolo of Fox Sports he thought about canceling on the Vikings follow-up interview after losing out on another job previously.
"I almost didn't go [on the second interview with Minnesota], yeah. I was so disappointed," Zimmer said. "It was like, 'Why even do this?' It was to that point. I figured I was getting too old. It thought, 'Forget this.'
"But I talked to a couple of people who said, 'Hey, you've gotta go. What are you doing?'"
Garafolo speculates the job Zim missed on was the Titans, who hired Ken Whisenhunt shortly after interviewing Zimmer. (It's a good/likely guess.)
Zimmer's name was always bandied about when it came time to discuss possible coaching candidates. But he never progressed that far in interviews. Speculation was he came across as too blunt when speaking with prospective employers.
The newest Vikings coach pointed out saying the right things doesn't necessarily mean you're going to find the right job.
"One of the things we did talk about was how people will tell you, 'Say this to get the job, say that to get the job.' If you do that and you do get the job, it's probably not going to be the right one," Zimmer said. "The right situation is more important than any job."
It's a message he preached to coaching hopefuls at the symposium over the weekend. Few coaches are a better example to the importance of patience in searching for a job, not to mention overcoming the disappointment of being passed over.
Zimmer's got his chance prove everyone wrong now. It's a good thing he didn't skip that interview.
