Bill Musgrave leaves to join the Minnesota Vikings
Quarterbacks coach Bill Musgrave talks with D.J. Shockley as they walk off the field after losing to the Ravens at the Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. Curtis Compton, ccompton@ajc.com
FLOWERY BRANCH – Bill Musgrave, the Falcons former assistant head coach/quarterbacks, accepted a position as the offensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings on Wednesday.
“We thank Bill for his contributions that he made to our team,” Falcons head coach Mike Smith said. “We wish him all the best with his promotion with the Vikings.”
Musgrave was granted permission by Smith to interview with the Minnesota Vikings and the Cleveland Browns. He interviewed with the Browns on Tuesday and with the Vikings on Wednesday.
“The organization is first class all the way and Leslie Frazier is first class all the way,” Musgrave said in a statement released by the Vikings. “The players on the offensive side of the ball are very attractive to be associated with. I’m looking forward to utilizing their strengths to get fantastic results. The offensive weapons on this squad are impressive.
“We as a staff will look forward to utilizing each and every one of them to attack defenses. I first met Leslie about 10 years ago when he was in Philadelphia and we’ve stayed in touch over the years. I look forward to working with him here and moving forward.”
Musgrave was granted permission by Falcons coach Mike Smith to interview with the Minnesota Vikings and the Cleveland Browns. He interviewed with the Browns on Tuesday and with the Vikings on Wednesday.
Musgrave was promoted to assistant head coach last offseason when the Houston Texans attempted to hire him away.
Bill Musgrave
Musgrave joined Jim Mora’s staff in 2006. He was kept on after the Bobby Petrino disaster and has been instrumental in the development of quarterback Matt Ryan, who threw 28 touchdowns and nine interceptions while guiding the Falcons to a 13-3 regular-season record and the NFC South title.
Cleveland was thought to be Musgrave’s preference because they are set to run the West Coast offense and have a talented young quarterback in Colt McCoy. Minnesota finished the season with third-stringer Joe Webb.
Musgrave played in the West Coast offense for the San Francisco 49ers from 1991-1994.
Because of the promotion last season, the Falcons could have denied Musgrave permission to interview. But while
Smith wanted to keep his staff together, he didn’t want to stand in Musgrave’s way if he wanted to leave.
The Falcons coaching staff is set to coach in the Pro Bowl and will leave for Hawaii on Tuesday.
Possible replacements for Musgrave include Jeff Jagodzinski, who was Ryan’s head coach at Boston College. He served as the offensive line coach for the Falcons from 2004 to 2005. He was head coach of the Omaha Nighthawks in the UFL last season.
–D. Orlando Ledbetter
Get instant updates on Twitter at AJCFalcons and you can join the Facebook Fan page at AJC Falcons.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
124 comments Add your comment
JSS
January 19th, 2011
10:51 pm
The Bucs are physical; but are by no means “big.” They jump routes, they were doing it before anyone else in terms of Ryan… Having the “Human Trash Talker” doesn’t hurt them either… He works over Roddy with the best of them…
T-Bone
January 19th, 2011
10:59 pm
I think we get rid of the Mularky and hire the Fridge. Friedgen’s offensive mind could do wonders with the weapons that we have.
BC
January 19th, 2011
11:23 pm
They would not take you in Arkansas? Huh?
FACTS
January 19th, 2011
11:25 pm
@ T-Bone
Sorry whether Mularkey leaves or not, except for Roddy there are no real threats on this offense. TG is serviceable but does not get a lot of seperation. Did you see what a real receiving corp looked like in Green Bay. The Falcons need to upgrade ASAP.
Falcon 2012
January 19th, 2011
11:28 pm
Congrats to Bill and thanks for all you did for Falcons. You will be missed.
What ever you do GM and Smitty Get a Damn good one!!!!!! No to Jag……….
DR. FALCON
January 19th, 2011
11:35 pm
WE HAVE THE 27TH PICK IN THE DRAFT. IF DIMITROFF IS GOING TO BE AGGRESSIVE THIS SEASON AS HE CLAIMS, THEN WE NEED TO DRAFT PLAYMAKERS. WE SHOULD TRADE OUR 1, AND OUR 2, PLUS JENKINS, AND NEXT YRS 1, TO MOVE UP THE DRAFT BOARD TO SELECT A.J. GREEN, OR JULIO JONES. THESE 2 PLAYERS CAN STRETCH THE FIELD! WE NEED TO GO YOUNG! DON’T BRING NO OLD ASS CHAD OCHO CINCO IN HERE! pLEASE!!!
DR. FALCON
January 19th, 2011
11:41 pm
WE PLAY THE AFC SOUTH,AND THE NFC NORTH NEXT SEASON. COUPLE THAT WITH OUR OWN NFC SOUTH WHICH IS THE BEST DIVISON IN THE NFL, IT’S GOING TO BE TOUGH SLEDDIN IN 2011! IF WE DON’T MAKE DRASTIC CHANGES IN OUR APPROACH, THIS TEAM WON’T SEE ANOTHER 13-3 SEASON AGAIN FOR QUITE SOME TIME! RICHARD SEYMOUR IS A FREE AGENT, AS IS NNAMDI ASOMUGHA! JUST A THOUGHT!
DR. FALCON
January 19th, 2011
11:45 pm
BY THE WAY, I BLAME MARK RICHT FOR NOT UTILIZING AJ GREEN’S SKILLS TO THE FULLEST. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN ATHENS? WHY HASN’T UGA FIRED MARK RICHT BY NOW? PUT HIM AND MULARKEY ON THE SAME BUS OUT OF TOWN!!!
Steve
January 20th, 2011
12:30 am
Greenspan .. the reason it worked against New Orleans and a bunch of other teams this year is because of a few things.
– we got ahead or stayed very close – this offense has no big comeback potential
– we had unrealistic turnover and penalty numbers that we likely will NOT reproduce next year
– it worked if we played a defense who couldn’t stop the run (such as the Saints with their overrated defense)
Quite frankly, against most of the better defenses we faced they beat us down (Pitt, Philly). We escaped against Baltimore. We escaped against Green Bay the first time we played them.
Any decent defense that is given a couple of weeks to prepare for us for a big game can stop our offense. Bet on it. That s why ‘us’ true Falcons fans saw the truth of the matter. I could care less what awards are given out. If the Falcons have the exact same offensive stats but lose a few more game because of defense and special teams then NO ONE is mentioning Mularkey as coordinator of the year.
We had an inflated record this year that was simply not indicative of the team we really had. Most fans know we were extremely fortunate to win 13 games. Yes, the players did it, but the talent we have and the gameplans we have are lacking. I am willing to give Mularkey and BVG a couple more years if Smith and Dimitroff believe in them and think they can find the pieces neccessary. That being said, Mularkey’s offense will NOT win us a Super Bowl unless we have an absolute shut down defense, which we aren’t even close to having. You get us that defense then Mularkey’s game plan is PERFECT. Without that defense we need improvement in our offense, because those unrealistic turnover and penalty numbers will likely fluctuate back up quite a bit.
Freddie G
January 20th, 2011
12:40 am
We hear all the time that Ryan calls some of his own plays, especially in the no-huddle offense. So if Mulurkey gives him that authority why are folks always blaming Mularkey for holding him back? He seems to have more authority than the other young QB’s like Sanchez,Flacco,Rodgers, and the TB QB, yet thay all had higher completion percentage. The line has something to do with that and could be a reason why we don’t have the big plays, it could also be the receivers, or Ryan may not be as good as advertised.
Steve
January 20th, 2011
12:41 am
Dr Green .. let go of the caps. Use th sparingl for emphasis only and people might take your posts serously. Also, Green and Jones are considered more of posession type receivers than burners. We already have possibly the best possession receiver in the game. We need a burner ala DeSean Jackson to really fill out this offense. Jenkins and Finneran (if he comes back) are also possession receivers. We only have on guy that can stretch the field now, and he is a below average NFL receiver.
FACTS – Nice post. You are right on the money. The talent is lacking everywhere on this offense. We have only three players that I really think we can count on. Ryan, White and Ovie. TG is a possession guy, not a real playmaker. Turner doesn’t seem to run with authority on about 90% of his carries (which is why I prefer to see Snelling in the game). The O-Line played fairly well this year, but they are along ways from being one of the best in the league. That is one of the reasons I would like to give Mularkey another chance, but I still think we have to have a major improvement on the defensive side of the ball if we ever expect Mularkey’s offense to win us a Super Bowl.
On defense it’s even worse. I actually think BVG did a decent job with next to no talent this year. If we can get him some talent who knows what we might be capable of on defense. I still remember the defensive teams he ran out onto the field at UGA. They were very good defensively and were known as a hard hitting aggressive team. I think you could see the aggressiveness of the Falcons, especially the last few games, but the talent just isn’t there yet. The tackling is terrible (Rodgers is good, but he looked like Barry Sanders against us), the safety and linebacker play is terrible, and our D-Line gets almost no pressure other than Abraham. We need major upgrades all over the defensive side. I would much prefer to upgrade there if we can. It is easier to make a quick impact on that side of the ball with a few changes than on offense. We took one step last year, but we need a couple more big time players on D in the middle of the field before we will take that next step in the palyoffs.
JKA
January 20th, 2011
1:31 am
Good luck to Musgrave, but will also be good to have a fresh voice on the staff…..Falcons staff has often been described as ’solid’, but you rarely hear ‘innovative’…….
Johnson Smith
January 20th, 2011
2:29 am
Everyone is forgetting Musgrave as the o-coordinator in Carolina, the crying incident, and subsequent quitting. Stay tuned……..
P. Bull Terrier
January 20th, 2011
3:20 am
It doesn’t matter who we get as a replacement. In two years, most of the people on this board will be ready to run the new guy out of town, so we can get an even newer guy.
Ueeediot
January 20th, 2011
3:30 am
The QB coach will be a great place to help Matt Ryan grow. Having a new coach to build different positives, is always a good thing.
It will be very interesting to see who Coach Smith comes up with for this very important job.
As for 2011, I expect the playoffs. I expect a 4th year QB and core team with previous playoff experience to return again. Good teams must beat bad teams, period. The NFC North has 2 bad/transitional teams in DET and MIN, the AFC South has 3 questionable teams in HOU, TEN, and JAX. The NFC South has Carolina rebuilding again, and we go to Seattle next year. That is 8 winnable games on paper that a good/scratch, *championship* football team makes into W’s on the field.
Mr Zizzle
January 20th, 2011
5:04 am
Hey Falcants guy: One word for you: Marshawn Lynch! OUCH!
lou
January 20th, 2011
5:15 am
Hard to believe the best picture of Musgrave in action was with DJ Shockley. There wasn’t one picture of him with Matt Ryan?
falcon
January 20th, 2011
6:45 am
Maybe some of you Mike Mularkey fans can fill me in on why he refuses to make the simple screen pass a part of his offense? Also no 3 step drops and quick slant routes. You know the same routes that GB absolutely destroyed our soft zone coverage with.
Larry
January 20th, 2011
6:53 am
“Hey Falcants guy: One word for you: Marshawn Lynch!”
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Marshawn Lynch TWO words? Just checking my math!
HJones
January 20th, 2011
7:19 am
Greenspan you are out of touch. On Tuesday at ESPN, Gregg Easterbrook (Tuesday Morning Quarterback) awarded the “call”, not the execution, of the side line pass Sour Coaching of the Divisionals. I am quoting him here: “That can’t be the offense about to run an extra play! With no timeouts, the play must go either to the sideline or to the end zone, anything else ends the half. Green Bay knows this! Calling cadence, Matt Ryan looked up and saw two Green Bay safeties standing on the goal line — meaning no hope of throwing into the end zone. He saw both Green Bay cornerbacks on the outside shoulders of their receivers, meaning no hope of throwing to the sideline. Because the Falcons had no timeouts, he couldn’t cancel the play and wave for the kicking team. Because it was a 52-yarder from the current spot, Ryan couldn’t take a delay-of-game penalty, which would’ve made the kick a 57-yarder. If he had this play to do over, surely Ryan would have snapped and thrown the ball away, stopping the clock to allow a 52-yard try. He didn’t think of that and instead ran the play the coaches radioed in, a quick out. Undrafted corner Tramon Williams knew what was coming, cut in front of the receiver and returned the interception 70 yards for a touchdown with no time showing. Down 28-14 at the half, Atlanta was broken. Green Bay knew exactly where the pass would go! The reason corners don’t cut in front of outs all the time is that they must defend the many other patterns the receiver might run. In this case, Williams didn’t have to honor any other pattern: he was certain the play would be an out. What a botched call by Atlanta offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey! The Falcons didn’t show any formation or playcalling variation on offense, either. Mularkey was too busy, perhaps, with his résumé to compose an original game plan. Atlanta had the No. 1 NFC seed largely on the strength of protecting the football and smart coaching; the last play of the first half was among the worst coaching errors TMQ has seen”
As I have said all season, Mike Mularkey puts Matt Ryan into impossible situations especially on third and long. The side line pass call is just another reason, Mike Mularkey needs to go.
Gregory
January 20th, 2011
8:03 am
Congrats Musgrave. I say go get Todd Krueger to be QB Coach.
No hope now
January 20th, 2011
8:04 am
Falcons I am done. I am a falcon for life but after this I WON’T BE HYPE for a falcons season in awhile. ” “The players on the offensive side of the ball are very attractive to be associated with. I’m looking forward to utilizing their strengths to get fantastic results. The offensive weapons on this squad are impressive.” THAT QUOTE RIGHT THERE MAKES ME SO ANGRY!!! The thing is musgrave didn’t want to leave, HE JUST WANTED TO BE OC. Murlarkey has had his time over and over. I don’t like murlarkey because of no reason, for all I know murlarkey could be a nice guy, it isn’t about that. ITS ABOUT FACTS. Murlarkey has destroyed every offense he has touched since hes been OC and HC in his coaching career. Look it up, Steelers went from 3rd to gargabe, murlarkey then went to the bills and made an already bad offense worse with 28th, then the dolphins, and now us. 08 ryans rookie year, we finished 6th. The last two seasons…16th!!!! ITS HAPPENING TO US NOW. Watch the vikings draft cam newton and with all those weapson finished top 10 and they’re offense destroy defenses. I swore Smitty knew what he was doing last year when he named Musgrave Assistant HC, because I thought they would let murlarkey go. NO…the conservative general STAYS. This offense and Ryan will never readch its potential with murlarkey.
johndawg
January 20th, 2011
8:44 am
Billick would be awesome… Mularkey will be a head coach soon somewhere else and Billick comes with respect (a Super Bowl)!
kerryb
January 20th, 2011
8:58 am
I wish we would have let Mularkey go and kept Musgrave. I like the idea of Matt Ryan running the West Coast offense better than this 3 yards and a cloud of dust thing.
kerryb
January 20th, 2011
9:05 am
HJones, Do you also remember the the first game of the year against the Steelers. Mularkey couldn’t get creative enought to break the Steelers defense. How many times did he call that out pattern to White before Polomolu intercepted it knowing what was about to be thrown.
D man
January 20th, 2011
9:18 am
Now we may be allowed to throw a deep route more than 1 time every 3 games…
,
D man
January 20th, 2011
9:21 am
Oops, I was thinking we let Malarkey go, mt bad. Guess we are stuck with 10 yard pass plays… ;(
DC Dirty Bird
January 20th, 2011
9:38 am
Can’t lie, I prefer Musgrave over Mularkey. Mularkey is an “also ran” in this league. Our play calls are based on the “system” and not tailored to the talent we had on offense. How many bubble screens did we see with Harry Douglas? Did we effectively utilize speed out of the back field? Oh wait, our offensive coordinator doesn’t think we need speed back there. At this stage, I just hope Mike Smith recognizes that we need a philosophy change on offense and defense. We can keep the same scheme, but get players on the roster that allow our offense and defense to attack.
vafalconfan
January 20th, 2011
10:08 am
Why, why, why let Musgrave go and hang on to Mularkey?..This is very puzzling. Discourageing actually..
Rikus
January 20th, 2011
10:15 am
Jeff Jagodzinksi was a great college coach. It’s a shame he was tempted to take another stab at the NFL. He brings fire and passion, and says all the things a fan wants to hear. Not sure why his career has been so rocky in the past few years.
saintsfan44
January 20th, 2011
10:19 am
He knows he won’t get a Championship with the Failcons
80,s gradybaby lifetime falconsfanatic
January 20th, 2011
10:43 am
ok he’s gone along with all our superbowl hopes next gotta be M&M(mike malarkey) for that pee wee league game he called against green bay. I’m still sick. Then next gotta be Vangorder( yep, i’m sorry luv ya, but what type of game planning did u do) Please Mr. Blank lets take this club to another level by gettin coordinators with nutssss. Mike an Vangorder made us look real simple at the wrong time
Sid
January 20th, 2011
12:29 pm
Jeff Jagodzinski, let go as the offensive coordinator for both the Packers and Tampa after short stints at both? Only 2 years as BC head coach……………this guy is either a job hopper or not as advertised. I don’t know much about him but sounds like he would be temporary.
Earth to AintsFan44
January 20th, 2011
1:07 pm
the aints aint good anymore.
DawgDad
January 20th, 2011
1:09 pm
This team went 13-3 and earned a first-round playoff bye and home-field advantage, which is preferrable to the playoff equivalent of a first-round win. This team has a YOUNG quarterback and a VERY YOUNG defense. They matched (in playoff terms) precisely what the exalted AFC first-seed New England Patriots and Tom Brady accomplished. Perspective, people.
ctfalconsfan
January 20th, 2011
1:26 pm
DOL – When is Mularkey being fired?
This should have already happened and shows a lack of judgment on Smitty and/or TD’s part..
DAWGDAD – NE has a few more rings than us and I can tell you, living in CT, that the media and their fans are all over them for the Jets loss. The fans don’t settle on 14-2 and 3(?) Championships they want to win NOW like I do!!
13-3 is really nice but we can’t hang that banner in the rafters of the GA Dome!!
just saying
January 20th, 2011
1:38 pm
D. Orlando Ledbetter
January 19th, 2011
10:31 pm
Mike in Canton — That roll to the left stuff won the Baltimore game. They’d been pulling that off all season. But the Packers must have scouted that on tape. It’s magical when it works.
Funny how the know it all smart a$$’s go silent when bi+ch slapped with facts.
GeorgiaDuck
January 20th, 2011
2:13 pm
Bill is a class act. He stopped and introduced himself last spring after seeing all my Oregon Duck gear on my truck. Oregon’s program turned around when he was the quarterback there. Good luck in Minnesota Bill!
C from Marietta
January 20th, 2011
2:25 pm
To the fans not overracting. DOn’t try to convinence these Monday morning QBs about anything. They will not be happy until they blame someone and someone loses their job. They are just angry people and are probably happy the Falcons lost, so they can whine and complain.
Harris
January 20th, 2011
3:01 pm
Need to fire the off coord too.
realitycheck
January 20th, 2011
3:45 pm
Earth to Aints fan44…..The Saints won 27 games and a Superbowl the last two seasons and they were near the top of the league in injuries and players on IR during that two year span. If they are healthy next season, they will be the team to beat in the NFC South. Just wait till the Falcons start having their share of injuries(and it will happen eventually) and see how many games they win. The Falcons lack of talent, speed, and explosion was exposed by Green Bay. The Falcons will be fortunate to win 9-10 games next season. There will be a dropoff for sure for the 2011 Falcons. You heard it here first!
No hope now
January 20th, 2011
4:12 pm
I don’t know if this realitycheck guy is a saints fan but he is right. ATL has to take that next step QUICKLY THIS OFF-SEASON OR ELSE. The bucs are right behind us. I still think the Saints are better than us. Better QB, better Coach, Better defense, etc. This year they had injuries and Smitty got a little better with coaching. But for the most part, this decesion to let musgrave go and keep murlarkey SAYS A LOT ABOUT THE GUYS IN POWER. The irony is the offense is going to continue to get worse and the defense is gonna get better. Screw the packers game, DO FALCONS FANS KNOW THE DEFENSE FINISHED 16TH OVERALL??? We’ve been improving since 08. We finished 5th in scoring defense. The defense is SUPER YOUNG and the players are just know understanding BVG. We just have to hope injured players like HD, JErry, Meier, Weatherspoon, etc. CAN MAKE BIG IMPACTS the same way William Moore did after his IR season. THATS WHERE WE WILL GROW. But letting musgrave go and keeping murlarkey was a mistake, AND WILL SOON BE PROVEN STARTING NEXT SEASON. So much for having the “next peyton manning” as a QB. THE COACHING STAFF DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO GROW ON RYANS TALENT.
EarthtoRealityCheck
January 20th, 2011
4:35 pm
aints came in second behind the falcons. shorty threw a bunch of ints. back to reality.
EarthtoRealityCheck
January 20th, 2011
4:36 pm
aints were exposed by the browns, cardinals, falcons, ravens. forget it, i’ve lost count. they are terrible.
Jeff
January 20th, 2011
4:52 pm
We need to run off VanGorder first. You must have an elite defense to win in the playoffs.
realitycheck
January 20th, 2011
5:38 pm
EarthtoRealityCheck……If you really think that the Saints are “terrible”, then you desperately need to check your own reality. Neither the Saints,Bucs,or Falcons are “terrible”. I’m just a very objective guy and I see things from all angles. You obviously aren’t able to do that!
Doublecheck
January 20th, 2011
6:24 pm
I didn’t say Bucs or Falcons.
Doublecheck
January 20th, 2011
6:27 pm
How about the angle that shows the aints getting throttled by the Seahawks. They are nowhere in the league of the Packers as your not so objective post suggests.
Ueeediot
January 20th, 2011
6:29 pm
realitycheck:
The AINTS have almost 30 free agents. They will not be the same team they were last year. The AINTS window of opportunity is closed.
The Bucs are on the rise.
The Falcons will also get better personnel wise this offseason.
You cant objectively say the AINTS will get better. Just older.
Ueeediot
January 20th, 2011
6:31 pm
Wow Jeff, thats brilliant. Lets run off the coach instead of addressing the players on the field. Brilliant post.