Brian Murphy, who has been the Vikings' assistant special teams coach for the past three seasons, will take over for Ferraro, according to people with knowledge of the situation. Ferraro left the Vikings last month to become the linebackers coach for new St. Louis Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo.

The Vikings gave up an NFL record seven touchdowns on special teams this season, including four on punt returns. That led to speculation about Ferraro's job security but coach Brad Childress made it clear he wasn't going to make a change. However, Ferraro jumped at the chance to join a longtime friend in Spagnuolo.

The Vikings finished 20th in kickoff returns this season with an average of 22.4 yards per return; they were 24th with a punt return average of 8 yards. The Vikings gave up an average of 23.5 yards on kick returns and 14.9 yards on punt returns. The latter statistic placed them last in the NFL, while the former stat ranked 21st.

Murphy worked at the college level for 14 seasons before joining the Vikings when Childress became coach in 2006. Murphy, who was a defensive lineman in college at Lehigh, got into coaching in 1992 when he served as the defensive line coach at Benedictine (Ill.) University. He then worked as an assistant recruiting coordinator and academic liaison at Wisconsin in 1993-94. Childress was on the Badgers' coaching staff under Barry Alvarez at the time.

Murphy also had stops at Baylor (1997), the University of San Diego (1998), Lehigh (1999) and Wisconsin (2000-05). Murphy was the special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach for the Badgers in his second stint with the program.

Etc.

- The Rams made it official Monday, announcing they have hired Brendan Daly as their defensive line coach. Daly served as the Vikings assistant defensive line coach the past three seasons.