Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell lavished praise on Jets general manager Darren Mougey, his former college roommate at San Diego State, crediting his planning and execution as New York tries to turn the corner. The timing adds extra bite ahead of the Vikings’ vis
Kevin O’Connell didn’t just mention Darren Mougey’s name on a conference call promoting the upcoming American Century Championship. He sounded like someone talking about a person he knows well enough to recognize the details—work habits. decision-making. and the kind of effort that shows up long before game day.
O’Connell’s connection to Mougey dates back to their time as college roommates at San Diego State. On Thursday, speaking on the call, O’Connell praised the Jets general manager as he tries to turn around a team still searching for the postseason footing that has defined the Vikings’ recent run.
Text messages from the offseason were part of the picture. O’Connell said he sent plenty to Mougey, most of it focused on the Jets’ draft and how New York handled “some of their internal situations,” with particular attention to the decision to re-sign their running back, Breece Hall.
“He’s had has been really well thought-out,” O’Connell said of Mougey’s plan. “It’s one thing — a lot of teams put the time and the energy in to have as much good planning as you can — but it’s about the execution of those plans. The way Darren has gone about it doesn’t surprise me.”
For Jets fans, that kind of endorsement lands with extra weight. O’Connell is a coach who has taken the Vikings to the playoffs twice in three seasons. The Jets, by contrast, haven’t made the postseason once since 2010.
O’Connell didn’t stop at planning and execution. He described Mougey’s day-to-day approach as something that never slips.
“I know there’s not a day Darren shows up to work that he doesn’t feel prepared — and I think that’s proving to be the case,” O’Connell said. “He’s not afraid to make difficult decisions, and I think that’s because it’s in alignment with the process that he has.”
That process, in O’Connell’s telling, is tied to a vision Mougey wants to carry out for the organization. As someone who spent time as a Jet, O’Connell added that it’s “always good to see the organization in good hands,” and said those hands belong to Mougey and head coach Aaron Glenn.
There is also an alternate timeline hovering in the background. O’Connell said that if the timeline had aligned differently. Mougey could have been the new general manager with O’Connell in Minnesota. Instead, it’s Nolan Teasley who will be the person O’Connell hopes can develop a similar kind of relationship.
Yet even praise like this has a built-in countdown. The bond O’Connell described—and the groundwork he believes Mougey has been laying—will face its toughest test when the two teams meet. The conversation will be paused on January 3, when the Vikings visit the Jets at MetLife Stadium.
And by then, the stakes could be higher than a friendly rivalry. O’Connell’s comments came with the scheduling reality hanging over them: especially if both teams are competing for a playoff berth when Week 17 rolls around.
Kevin O'Connell Darren Mougey Jets Vikings Breece Hall Aaron Glenn American Century Championship MetLife Stadium Nolan Teasley San Diego State