Mike Priefer (born August 21, 1966) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach who is the

special teams coordinator In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

for the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. He has almost two decades of pro coaching experience. Priefer has held coaching positions for Navy, Youngstown State, Virginia Military Institute, and Northern Illinois at the college level. He has also been an assistant for the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

and the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

in the NFL and has held coaching positions for the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

and the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

. On January 10, 2021, Priefer served as the acting head coach of the Browns and led them to a 48–37 win against the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

in the AFC wild card game.

Early years

Priefer is the son of Chuck Priefer, a retired NFL coach and special teams coordinator. He attended the United States Naval Academy, and then served in the United States Navy, serving from 1991 to 1994."Vikings' Priefer sees ordeal through"
''Star Tribune'', Mark Craig December 6, 2014 He was stationed in the Persian Gulf as a helicopter pilot. He played quarterback and wide receiver at Navy.

Coaching career

Early career

For the 2002 season, the Jacksonville Jaguars hired Priefer as a Special Teams Coordinator to replace

Frank Gansz Frank Gansz (November 22, 1938 – April 27, 2009) was an American football coach whose career spanned nearly 40 years. He served as the head coach for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL) from 1987 to 1988, compiling a rec ...

. At the end of the season,

Tom Coughlin Thomas Richard Coughlin ( ; born August 31, 1946) is a former American football coach and executive. He was the head coach for the New York Giants from 2004 to 2015. He led the Giants to victory in Super Bowl XLII and Super Bowl XLVI, both time ...

, at the time the head coach of the Jaguars, was fired and replaced with

Jack Del Rio Jack Louis Del Rio Jr. (born April 4, 1963) is an American football coach who is the defensive coordinator for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football as a linebacker at the University of South ...

while Priefer was replaced with

Bill Bates William Frederick Bates (born June 6, 1961) is a former American football safety who played for fifteen seasons in the National Football League, all of which were spent with the Dallas Cowboys. A fan favorite, he was a Pro Bowl selection in 19 ...

. Priefer moved to the

NFC East The National Football Conference – Eastern Division or NFC East is one of the four Division (sport), divisions of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). It currently has four members: the Dallas Cowboys ...

New York Giants in 2003. He worked with head coach

Jim Fassel James Edward Fassel (August 31, 1949 – June 7, 2021) was an American college and professional football player and coach. He was the head coach of the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL) from 1997 to 2003. He was offensive coor ...

during the

2003 season 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

, and during the 2004 season with new head coach Coughlin. From 2006 to 2008, Priefer coached for the Kansas City Chiefs. He then moved to the Denver Broncos in the AFC for the next two seasons.

Minnesota Vikings

In 2011, Priefer was hired as special teams coach for the Minnesota Vikings. In 2012, Priefer won the Special Teams Coach of the Year, as voted on by his NFL counterparts. It was due to the help of the Vikings Kicker

Blair Walsh Blair Richard Walsh (born January 8, 1990) is an American football placekicker who is a free agent. Walsh played college football at Georgia and was selected by the Vikings in the sixth round of the 2012 NFL Draft. In his first year, Walsh set ...

, who had a very productive 2012 rookie season. In 2014, Priefer was suspended for three weeks after making a homophobic remark, saying something along the lines of "putting all the gays on an island and nuking it." . Former punter

Chris Kluwe Christopher James Kluwe (; born December 24, 1981) is a former American football punter and writer. Kluwe played at Los Alamitos High School in Los Alamitos, California, where he was a 1999 USA Today All-USA high school football team, 1999 ''USA ...

threatened to sue the Vikings for alleged wrongful termination and religious discrimination by Priefer. Priefer underwent sensitivity training before returning to work. In 2016, Vikings head coach

Mike Zimmer Michael Zimmer (born June 5, 1956) is an American football coach for the Colorado Buffaloes. Prior to this, Zimmer was with Jackson State, both college programs being led by Deion Sanders. He previously also served as the head coach of the Minn ...

had emergency eye surgery, and Priefer was named the head coach for the week 13 game against the Dallas Cowboys. The Vikings lost 17–15.

Cleveland Browns

In January 2019, Priefer took a job as the next Special Teams Coordinator for his hometown Cleveland Browns. On January 5, 2021, Browns head coach

Kevin Stefanski Kevin Lawrence Stefanski (born May 8, 1982) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He began his NFL career as an assistant coach for the Minnesota Vikings from 2006 to ...

tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, and Priefer took over as acting

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

. Because Stefanski could not coach the Browns' playoff game against the

on January 10, 2021, Priefer served as the acting head coach for the game and led them to a 48–37 win. Stefanski returned on January 14 before the Browns' next playoff game. Priefer served as the acting as head coach for the Browns' 2021 week 15 game against the

Las Vegas Raiders The Las Vegas Raiders are a professional American football team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Raiders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West divis ...

after Stefanski once again tested positive for COVID-19. With over 20 players unable to play due to COVID-19, Priefer was unable to win a second time as the acting head coach and the Browns fell on a last second field goal in a 14–16 loss.Carlson FG gives Raiders 16-14 win vs COVID-ravaged Browns

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W 5 ...

References

External links

Minnesota Vikings profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Priefer, Mike 1966 births Living people Denver Broncos coaches Cleveland Browns coaches New York Giants coaches Kansas City Chiefs coaches Minnesota Vikings coaches Navy Midshipmen football coaches Navy Midshipmen football players Jacksonville Jaguars coaches Northern Illinois Huskies football coaches VMI Keydets football coaches Youngstown State Penguins football coaches Players of American football from Cleveland Coaches of American football from Ohio