Former HBCU coach joins Minnesota Vikings staff

Kevin O’Connell and the Minnesota Vikings are adding a former HBCU coach to their staff. Former Florida A&M special teams coordinator Chili Davis has been added to the Vikings’ staff as assistant special teams coach. He will work directly with Matt Daniels, who serves as special teams coordinator.

Davis coached at Florida A&M in 2022 under former head coach Willie Simmons. That year, the Rattlers boasted one of the best rosters in HBCU football and remained in the conversation for a SWAC championship berth, even after losing to Jackson State in the Orange Blossom Classic. The team finished 9-2 with a 7-1 record in SWAC play in their second year in the conference.

In comments obtained by the Tallahassee Democrat in November 2022, Simmons considered Davis the best signing of the 2022 offseason for Florida A&M. The results proved themselves as the Rattlers were a consistent special teams unit, with the kickers making 17 of 21 field goals and also blocking three kicks, with special teams players securing major national honors.

Outside of his HBCU experience, Davis spent time at Kansas State as special teams quality control coach in 2023 and worked with Sean McVay and the Los Angeles Rams as a special teams assistant in 2024. He then returned to the college ranks and worked with Maryland in special teams before getting his call-up in Minnesota.

Davis’s addition to the Vikings shows the efficacy of the Bill Walsh NFL Diversity Coaching Fellowship; in a statement released by the Vikings, O’Connell spoke about Davis’s time as a fellow.

“He was their special teams coordinator at Maryland but was part of our first diversity coaching summit and then also was part of the Bill Walsh Fellowship,” O’Connell said, “and he has kind of slowly spent more and more time around us and staff — a really high-capacity young coach I’m excited about.”

He joins a Vikings team that finished 9-8; they didn’t make the playoffs but showed flashes of potential.