Gary Kubiak officially announces his retirement

A couple of weeks ago, we passed along the news that Minnesota Vikings’ offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak was contemplating stepping away from the game again. On Thursday, he made it official.

In a statement released by the team, Kubiak has officially announced his retirement. His statement reads as follows:

It’s been the honor of my lifetime to work for 36 seasons as an NFL player and coach. I’ve been on a football field for most of my life, and now I look forward to stepping away from the game and enjoying more time with my family and friends.

I offer my sincere thanks to the owners and fans of the Minnesota Vikings, Denver Broncos, Baltimore Ravens, Houston Texans, and San Francisco 49ers for giving me opportunities to be a part of this great game and for treating me and my family so well over the years.

I’ll miss the competition, the planning, game days, and being part of a team. But, more than anything, I’ll cherish the friendships I’ve made along the way with players, coaches and staff. I love the game of football and will forever be its biggest fan.

Kubiak’s departure means that, going into his eighth season on the Minnesota sideline, Mike Zimmer will be searching for his sixth offensive coordinator. If you’re scoring at home, he’s gone from Norv Turner (who actually lasted a little over two seasons) to Pat Shurmur to John DeFilippo to Kevin Stefanski to Kubiak over his time in the Twin Cities.

Obviously, with Kubiak just having announced his retirement, there haven’t been any names that have really emerged as candidates yet. The smart money might be on Kubiak’s son, Klint, who currently serves as the Vikings’ quarterbacks coach. Obviously, this is a situation that will need to be monitored, and we will do just that.

Congratulations to Gary Kubiak on his retirement from the National Football League after a long and illustrious career!