Oct 19, 2005 11:34 am US/Central
Wilf Wants To Turn Humiliated Team Around
by Darcy Pohland
St. Cloud, Minn. (WCCO) ―
Minnesota Vikings owner Zygi Wilf spoke Tuesday about his plan to turn the team around after an alleged sex party on Lake Minnetonka nearly two weeks ago.
Wilf has been planning for weeks to bring his Viking stadium plan to business leaders around the state on Tuesday. Instead, he explained how he has plans to bring pride back to a team that has humiliated itself throughout the entire country.
"I can turn this around and bring back a winning tradition here," Wilf said.
After an embarrassing performance by the team on and off the field this season, Wilf is left with the lemon he bought from a used car salesman.
"We realized the car we bought didn't have as much gas as we thought," Wilf said.
Wilf told the St. Cloud Rotary Club he plans to turn his rundown wreck of a team back into the luxury model he thought he invested in.
"My motivation is to win," Wilf said. "I will not be held back by any financial constraints as might have been with the previous owner and I'll do what's necessary to have excellence on and off the field."
That means treating the team like a family with high standards, expectations and a strict code of conduct with severe punishments if disobeyed.
"They understand what the parameters are," Wilf said. "They may not have had them before, but they have them now and we will continue to build on them."
Wilf said he will wait until the NFL investigation is complete before taking any disciplinary action. Suspensions and fines could come as soon as the end of this week.
"My goal is to win championships, but now my goal is to make sure I do that with class," Wilf said.
Wilf said he hopes the new security director for the Vikings will help implement the new code of conduct.
Wilf said he still wants to win in a new stadium, saying he plans to keep finding ways to minimize taxpayer contributions to a stadium.
Also on Tuesday, Wilf stood behind coach Mike Tice, saying he believes Tice has control of the team. Wilf also talked about former head coach Bud Grant, who told Wilf he could never coach in today's environment, but Wilf said he would love to have Grant's discipline.
(© MMV, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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