EAGAN, Minn. – Trent Kirchner is proving you can indeed go home again.

The 2000 Saint John's University graduate spent the past 16 years with the NFL's Seattle Seahawks, serving as assistant director of pro personnel, then as vice president of player personnel.

During his tenure, he helped lead the team to three Super Bowl berths and a pair of Super Bowl titles – including a 29-13 victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX this past February.

But earlier this summer, he was named to an assistant general manager position with the Minnesota Vikings – the team the Fulda, Minn. native grew up rooting for.

The move reunites him with Nolan Teasley, who was named the team's new general manager on June 1. Teasley spent the past 13 seasons with the Seahawks, including the past three as the team's assistant general manager.

"It's going well," said Kirchner, whose new team begins training camp this week. "It's been drinking through a firehose to some extent because we've been trying to do a lot of things in one month that you usually have a full offseason to do. But the support we've gotten has been great.

"It's just an amazing opportunity to have the chance to come home and work for the team I cheered for as a kid. I can remember going to school on Monday mornings and being sky high when the Vikings won and really mad when they lost. So I know the kind of passion that exists in the fanbase here."

Kirchner said family played a huge role in his decision to take his new job.

"It was really about (his wife) Jessica and the boys (Carter and Landon)," he said. "I wouldn't have made this decision without them being OK with it. Jessica was born in North Dakota, so she knows this area. And our sons have been back here visiting a lot. We're now near my parents (Ron and Diane, who still live in Fulda) and my brother Troy lives in Mendota Heights. We've never been able to live close to family like this before.

"So that's an exciting part of it all."

Kirchner came up in the NFL through the scouting ranks, spending time in Washington and Carolina. He first worked with current Seahawks general manager John Schneider in Washington, and it was Schneider who brought him to Seattle (where Kirchner had previously been an intern) when he was hired in his current job in 2010.

The two have grown close over the years and Kirchner said informing Schneider of his decision was the hardest part of the process.

"How do you tell your best friend that you want to go elsewhere," he said. "That was a really difficult conversation. But what makes John such a special human being is he's so secure with himself and so understanding. He understood I wanted to put family first and he wasn't going to stand in the way of that.

"I'll never be able to repay him for all the opportunities he's given me – getting me started in the league and letting me work with and learn from him all these years."

Kirchner's family just moved into a new home in the Twin Cities suburbs and he's spent this summer getting acclimated to his new role – one that reunites him 1998 SJU graduate Ryan Monnens, the Vikings director of player personnel.

The two first got to know each other as teammates on the Johnnie football team in the late 1990s and have remained in touch as they've climbed the NFL ladder.

"I have so much respect for everything Ryan has accomplished over the course of his career," Kirchner said. "We've had the chance to talk frequently over the years and he does a great job. It's great to now get the chance to work alongside him."

He's also been able to reconnect with other SJU graduates like Jake Essler '14, one of the team's college scouts, and Nick Maurer '03, the Vikings' vice president for corporate partnership sales.

"I first got to know Jake through the Saint John's connection and it's exciting to get to work with him as well," Kirchner said. "And I first got to know Nick when he was in high school because his brother Ben is one of my best friends from SJU."

Kirchner played football for legendary former SJU head coach John Gagliardi, but hasn't had a chance to attend a Johnnie football game since he graduated. That's something he hopes to change this fall if his duties with the Vikings allow it.

One such chance could come in the regular-season finale against St. Olaf on Nov. 14. That game, a home matchup for the Oles, will be played at TCO Stadium in Eagan, part of the Vikings' headquarters and training facility.

Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.

"I told the boys that we're going to have to go to a couple of Saint John's games now that we're back here," he said. "It's been a long time, so I look forward to getting a chance to do that when the schedule allows."