Dennis Green, who gained fame as one of the NFL’s first African-American head coaches, died Thursday night due to cardiac arrest.
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Green’s Vikings made eight playoff appearances in 10 seasons from 1992 to 2001; with the team reaching the NFC Championship Game in 1998 and 2000.
After the Vikings bought out his contract in January of 2002, Green spent two seasons as an analyst for ESPN before taking over the head coaching duties with the Arizona Cardinals. That record has since been surpassed.
Green also served as the head coach of Northwestern University for four years in the early 1980’s. He had only one losing season and compiled an overall record of 97-62 in Minnesota, including a 15-1 regular season in 1998 spearheaded by a record-setting offense. His most memorable moment in that Cardinals run was a fiery rant after a loss to the Chicago Bears, but Green’s legacy goes far beyond that press conference blowup. After graduating, he went into coaching by taking assistant coaching jobs at both the college and National Football League level and became one of only four head coaches in college who was African American when he was hired in 1981 by Northwestern. Other well-known members of Green’s staff were former Baltimore Ravens’ head coach Brian Billick and ex-Stanford coach Tyrone Willingham. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Green family”.
One of Green’s assistants at Stanford was secondary coach Willie Shaw, father of current Cardinal coach David Shaw.
Unfortunately, Dennis Green most likely will be remembered for his classic post-game tirade following the 2006 Bears-Cardinals game, which his Arizona team lost after gagging up a 20-point lead.
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In a written statement, NFL executive vice president of football operations, Troy Vincent said: “We are saddened to hear the news of Dennis Green’s passing”. The speech, highlighted by Green saying, “They are what we thought they were”, was celebrated in a television commercial for Coors and countless parodies. “We express our deepest sympathy to his family and friends”.
