He’ll be remembered more for what he didn’t accomplish as a head coach, but that doesn’t change the impact that former Minnesota Vikings and Arizona Cardinals head coach Dennis Green had on the game of football. Early Friday morning Green died surrounded by his family after suffering a cardiac arrest.
My heart goes out to family of my former coach Denny Green – we lost a good man way too soon!
— Kurt Warner (@kurt13warner) July 22, 2016
Green spent 13 years in the NFL as a head coach, 10 with the Vikings and three with the Cardinals. At Minnesota Green consistently fielded one of the best, most offensively talented squads in the league, making the playoffs in eight of his 10 seasons.
All that did was make his lack of any consistent success in the postseason shine all the brighter. Under Green Minnesota made it to the NFC Championship game twice, losing both times as heavy favorites. Ultimately it was that lack of success and the feeling that the Vikings were missing at least one Super Bowl ring in his tenure that ended Green’s time in Minnesota even though he had a 97-62 record with a postseason mark of 4-8.
Dennis Green … good guy, good coach. Did a lot for African-American coaches on both NFL and collegiate levels. Big loss.
— Gil Brandt (@Gil_Brandt) July 22, 2016
It took two years for Green to land another head coaching job, this time with the Cardinals. And while you could maybe blame bad luck for some of his fall in Minnesota, Green was the architect of his own destruction in Arizona. With the team signing Kurt Warner as a free agent, he instead decided to go with younger players at quarterback including eventual draft bust Matt Leinart.
Rest in peace Denny. I lost my mother in April, I feel like I just lost father.
— robert smith (@Robert26Smith) July 22, 2016
The next head coach, Ken Whisenhunt, would hand the keys to Warner and make it all the way to a Super Bowl. When Green was fired he was 16-32 and had to watch as another coach took the team he helped build but couldn’t coach to the playoffs and beyond.
Green will go down in history as the second African American head coach in modern NFL history after the Oakland Raiders’ Art Shell. Green flourished in the job and while he never took the Vikings to the Super Bowl, he did finish his career there with only one losing record and that was all the excuse the ownership needed to fire him and replace him the Mike Tice. Tice is more famous for being busted running a Super Bowl ticket scalping scheme while with the Vikings than his success as their head coach.
Our entire football family is grateful for Coach Green's impact! Thoughts and prayers are with his family today. pic.twitter.com/uK5gKSJtF4
— Pat Fitzgerald (@coachfitz51) July 22, 2016
Green never did return to the NFL after his dismissal from the Cardinals. Instead he tried his hand with the fledgling United Football League, coaching the Sacramento Mountain Lions (aka the Carolina Redwoods) from 2009-2012.
Green won his only Super Bowl as the wide receivers coach for the San Francisco 49ers in 1988. He spent the next to years as the head coach at Stanford before returning to the NFL. Green’s first head coaching job was with Northwestern from 1981-1985.
“He (Green) mentored countless players as served as a father figure or the men he coached,” the Vikings said Friday in a statement. “He took great pride in helping assistant coaches advance their careers. His tenure as one of the first African American head coaches in both college and the NFL was also transformative. Our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Green family.”
He was 67 years old.
Former Rams coach Chuck Knox suffering from dementia
As news of Green’s death hit the NFL family Friday another former head coach is battling for his life. Former Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks head coach Chuck Knox is suffering from dementia. The 84-year-old Knox is No. 10 all-time in NFL coaching wins and led the Rams to five consecutive NFC West titles from 1973-1977. The team Knox built would eventually make it to the Super Bowl, only with a different head coach at the helm. The 1979 Rams team that lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers was coached by Ray Malavasi.
Former Rams coach Chuck Knox has a loving advocate for his legacy in granddaughter Lee Ann Norman https://t.co/b7V0gRNKlT
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) July 17, 2016
His granddaughter, Lee Ann, is currently in a battle of her own trying to get Knox into the NFL Hall of Fame. He’s one of only three head coaches ranked in the Top 10 not in the Hall. Knox was NFL coach of the year three times, 1973, 1980 and 1984 and finished his career with a recor of 193-158 with a postseason mark of 7-11. Knox is 84 years old.
