Ben Goessling, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Mike Priefer getting help from his father

MANKATO, Minn. -- Minnesota Vikings special teams coordinator Mike Priefer will have a little extra help at training camp this week.

His father, Chuck -- who was a NFL special teams coach for 17 seasons -- is in Mankato this week. The elder Priefer retired from the Detroit Lions after the 2006 season, but he won't just be a spectator while he's with his son.

"I like to work him. If he’s coming here, he’s not going to eat for free," Mike Priefer said. "He’s going to make sure we’re working him. He does a great job. Obviously, his experience is invaluable to me. Obviously, he’s my father -- he was the best man at my wedding. We’re very close and just his experience and his knowledge -- I tease him all the time that he’s forgotten more football than I know, and a lot of times that’s true. He helps us with the specialists, we watch tape together and different ideas we swap back and forth. He’s a great mentor for me."

The two Priefers were on opposing sidelines once in their careers, on Oct. 24, 2004, while Mike was the assistant special teams coach for the New York Giants. "It was in Giants Stadium, and I won't tell you who won," Mike Priefer said. The Lions won the game 28-13.

Now, Mike Priefer said, he talks to his father "every now and then," though it's not as often as they chatted during his first year as Kansas City's special teams coach in 2006. Back then, the two would talk for an hour every Tuesday, after reviewing tape of the other's game on Sunday.

"Even now, he’s the biggest Vikings fan out there, so he’ll watch our games and critique us a little bit and try to help me out," Mike Priefer said.

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