The Minnesota Vikings changed defensive coordinators Tuesday night, firing Willie Shaw and promoting assistant head coach and defensive line coach George O'Leary to take his place.

The change came after a 6-10 season in which the Vikings finished 26th in the NFL on defense, allowing 360.6 yards and 27.6 points per game.

Shaw, who turns 59 on Saturday, has been with NFL seven teams, including two stops with the Vikings. He was with the Vikings in 1992 and '93 and came back for the coordinator job last season. Shaw was in San Francisco on Tuesday to scout the East-West Shrine game.

"We made a change from the philosophical and scheme standpoint," Vikings coach Mike Tice said. "Willie did a nice job, but I wanted to go a different direction."

The official announcement came on Wednesday. O'Leary said his defense will be one based on aggression and pressure.

"I'm elated to get this news, but I also have great respect for Willie Shaw,'' O'Leary said. "The head coach has to make decisions on what he thinks is best for the team. I'm elated for him to think I'm the person to help.''

Pete Bercich will shift from defensive quality control coach to assistant defensive line coach. Chuck Knox Jr. will take over as defensive backs coach after sharing that role with Shaw, Tice said.

Tice also hired former NFL cornerback Kevin Ross to be an assistant secondary coach. Ross was a coaching intern with the team last summer.

For O'Leary, the promotion to defensive coordinator continues his comeback from losing the Notre Dame job because of discrepancies in his resume.

O'Leary, Tice's former high school coach, became Tice's most trusted assistant. O'Leary was the head coach at Georgia Tech from 1994 to 2001.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for George to take control of half of the team," Tice said. "He was surprised when I told him and asked me if I really wanted to do this. I definitely did. George has the ability to take us to the next level."

Last weekend, Tice eliminated the job of quarterbacks coach Alex Wood and added the title to offensive coordinator Scott Linehan's duties. Linehan worked closely with quarterback Daunte Culpepper this season.

O'Leary was the head coach at Georgia Tech for eight years before his hiring at Notre Dame. It lasted less than a week because he falsely stated -- when hired as an assistant at Syracuse in the early 1980s -- that he had a master's degree in education from New York University and earned three letters as a player at New Hampshire.

John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.