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As Associated Press sports writer Jon Krawczynski suggested, one of the few knocks on new Vikings head coach Brad Childress is that he rarely called plays as Philadelphia's offensive coordinator.

Childress expects to put those concerns to rest now that he's a head coach.

After being hired to replace the fired Mike Tice on Jan. 6, Childress said he will call his own plays with the Vikings and bring the West Coast offense he helped implement in Philadelphia to Minnesota.

"I'll have a coordinator, but I'll call the plays," the 49-year-old Childress said Friday after signing a five-year guaranteed contract.

Eagles head coach Andy Reid did the vast majority of the playcalling in Philadelphia, though he occasionally handed the duties over to Childress, who did most of the work installing the offense and working up the game plans.

With quarterback Donovan McNabb and versatile running back Brian Westbrook, the Eagles spread the field and, when receiver Terrell Owens was in uniform, became a big-play offense. Childress sees some similar tools available with the Vikings.

"I think what West Coast allows you to do is be able to use your talent," Childress said. "Whether it is two tight ends and one back, two wide receivers, or if you feel like you want to stick four wide receivers out on the field, I think we have the flexibility to do that."

Of course, it starts with the quarterback.

Daunte Culpepper missed most of last season because of a knee injury and Brad Johnson filled in for the rest of the year, leading the Vikings to a 7-2 finish.

Having advanced to the NFC title game four straight seasons, Childress coached both Johnson and Culpepper in the Pro Bowl, so there is some familiarity. But as Minneapolis Star Tribune staffer Mark Craig noted, the newcomer nipped any quarterback controversy in the bud during his first day on the job.

"Daunte Culpepper right now is the franchise quarterback," Childress said Friday in the Vikings' locker room. "That's how they signed him. He's the guy. We'll just leave it at that."

Culpepper is coming off his worst season. He threw 12 interceptions, six touchdown passes and went 2-5 as a starter before tearing three ligaments in his left knee during the seventh game of the season. Johnson stepped in and threw 12 touchdown passes and only four interceptions in 294 passes.

Johnson, who signed a four-year deal before this season, indicated strongly that he wants to remain a starter in the NFL. Culpepper has limited his comments to the media since the injury, but head athletic trainer Chuck Barta said Culpepper is on pace to return in time for training camp.

But Craig went on to state his belief that Johnson might be better suited to direct the version of the West Coast offense that Childress will bring with him.

"Brad Johnson is a talented guy who won a lot of games this year," Childress said. "I'm familiar with him, and he knows this system. He knows the lingo I'm going to bring in here."

Nonetheless, Childress doesn't believes players should lose starting positions because of injury. It also doesn't make sense financially to bench Culpepper, one of the highest-paid players in the league. Culpepper also is due a $6 million bonus in March.

Childress said he believes Culpepper can succeed in the West Coast offense, which relies on short, precise passes rather than on the deep balls that landed Culpepper in three Pro Bowls.

Culpepper and McNabb were drafted in the first round of the 1999 draft. McNabb went second overall and Culpepper 11th. Childress worked out both of them before the draft.

"We saw Daunte Culpepper work out first, and I thought I would never see another workout like that as long as I lived," Childress said. "The next workout was Donovan McNabb. And saw another one. ... That was mind-boggling.

"In my mind, we got the No. 1 player, but Daunte was a very close second. He fits right into all the things that we'll do."

Childress was McNabb's quarterbacks coach for his first three seasons and has been credited with developing McNabb into one of the league's best quarterbacks. Many believe Culpepper regressed this season because he lost offensive coordinator-quarterbacks coach Scott Linehan, who left after last season to join the Dolphins.

"I've helped develop a franchise quarterback," Childress said. "And that development started from the draft, riding down from the draft with the playbook in the back of a limousine, getting him ready for the mini-camp at the end of that week."

Of course, Culpepper won't be back in time for mini-camp this year. But as Craig summed up: "Make no mistake about it. When he's healthy again, he will be, in the words of the new boss, 'the guy. ...'"

Meanwhile, having seen how successful the Eagles have been in recent seasons, 2005 not included, the Vikings are excited to see what Childress has in store for them.

According to Krawczynski, running back Mewelde Moore said he can't help but be enthusiastic after seeing how Childress used Westbrook.

"I'm trying to be calm," Moore said. "I am excited, very excited."

Moore ran the West Coast offense in college at Tulane and said he's comfortable carrying the ball or catching it out of the backfield.

Childress will also have to help decide the fate of running back Onterrio Smith, who was suspended last season for violating the league's substance abuse policy.

"He's got a clean slate with me," Childress said. "I don't have any preconceived notions. We'll sit down and find out where he's at."

Asked specifically about personnel decisions, Childress was vague about the role he will play in that department, but Wilf made it clear his new coach will have plenty of say in the makeup of the Vikings roster and also who is hired to help put it together.

Wilf confirmed Childress will be involved in interviews for the yet-to-be filled job of personnel chief. Scott Studwell, the Vikings' director of college scouting, and Jeff Robinson, the Vikings' coordinator of pro personnel, already have interviewed.

"We will not have a structure with a general manager as might have been discussed earlier," Wilf said, alluding to comments he made Monday. "But we feel this is the strongest way to move forward."

The Vikings originally targeted Philadelphia's Tom Heckert for the personnel position but he remained with the Eagles after being given the title of general manager. That seems to have changed the Vikings' thinking on the job, which is expected to share equal footing with Rob Brzezinski, the vice president of football operations.

Childress appears to be the beneficiary.

The most important connection is the head coach, to me, to us," Wilf said. "The other two guys reporting to us, but more or less making sure they are in consultation with the head coach when it comes to personnel. So it's a hybrid but certainly all of us are involved. ... The head coach will be an integral part of selecting those individuals he would want."

Childress refused to give any details about his coaching staff, but several names have surfaced.

Darrell Bevell, who played under Childress at Wisconsin and has been the quarterbacks coach for the Green Bay Packers, appears to be a leading candidate to become the Vikings' offensive coordinator.

Others mentioned include Eagles linebackers coach Steve Spagnuolo or secondary coach Sean McDermott, either one of whom could end up as defensive coordinator; and Lions offensive line coach Pat Morris, who would be considered for the same position.

Nebraska defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove has been mentioned as a potential linebackers coach and Wisconsin special teams coach Brian Murphy as a potential special teams assistant. UCLA running backs coach Eric Bieniemy also could end up in Minnesota.

The team's current offensive coordinator-line coach Steve Loney, whose contract was set to expire on Jan. 31, resigned Friday and accepted a two-year deal to coach the Arizona Cardinals' offensive line. He starts Monday.

"There's something to be said about being wanted," said Loney, who had no contact with Childress.

Getting back to Childress. ... A lifelong assistant, he started at Illinois in 1978. He was the quarterbacks coach for Indianapolis in 1985 before holding assistant positions with Northern Arizona, Utah and Wisconsin. Childress joined the Eagles as quarterbacks coach in 1999, and became the offensive coordinator in 2002.

"Coach Childress was the elite NFL head coaching candidate," Wilf said. "He embodies class, character and discipline and is a great family man. Bottom line, Brad Childress is a winner."

Minnesota also interviewed defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell, Kansas City assistant head coach and offensive coordinator Al Saunders and Indianapolis assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach Jim Caldwell.

Krawczynski went on to remind readers that Childress inherits a team that had plenty of off-the-field distractions for most of Tice's four full seasons as coach.

In 2005 alone, the Vikings had to deal with Tice being fined $100,000 for scalping Super Bowl tickets; Smith being suspended for the season for substance abuse following the embarrassing "Original Whizzinator" episode; and the now-infamous boat party on Lake Minnetonka that brought misdemeanor charges against four players.

"The most important thing to me is that people do the right thing," Childress said. "If it's good for you and right -- do it and do it with great vigor and enthusiasm. If it's bad for you -- jump away from it like it's hot lava."

And finally. ... Asked his the whirlwind courtship by the Wilf family shortly after the hiring, Childress joked: "It only got awkward when they put the house arrest bracelet on my leg. ..."

They didn't go that far, but faced with their first major decision since purchasing the franchise last summer, Krawczynski reports that brothers Zygi and Mark Wilf moved through the process with ruthless precision, interviewing four candidates in two days and persuading Childress to stay in town rather than meet with the Green Bay Packers.

Agent Bob LaMonte has represented some of the biggest names in coaching over the past 25 years, including Reid, Carolina's John Fox, Seattle's Mike Holmgren, Tampa's Jon Gruden and now Childress. He said negotiating with the Wilfs was "almost like I was being taken through something I've never done before. Everything was first class."

"I would not want to compete with them," LaMonte said. "If the Wilfs get you to Minnesota, you are not leaving."

Childress had an interview scheduled with the Packers for Wednesday, but the Wilfs persuaded him to remain in the Twin Cities for a second interview while they flew to Indianapolis to interview Caldwell and wrapped up interviews with Saunders and Cottrell.

"They were extremely proactive," LaMonte said. "It was decisive, planned, organized, quick-hitting. ... It was almost surgical."

Zygi Wilf stressed that all four candidates were given equal consideration, and Cottrell supported that.