Former Arizona Cardinals’ coach Dennis Green dead at 67
By Jim Koch
While his stint with the Arizona Cardinals was a failure, Dennis Green did have a fine tenure with the Minnesota Vikings
For the families and friends of two former Arizona Cardinals’ head coaches the summer of 2016 has been a sad time.
James “Buddy” Ryan, the Cardinals’ head coach from 1994 to ’95, died on June 28th after a long illness.
Then came the news that Dennis “Denny” Green, their head coach from 2004 to ’06, died from complications of cardiac arrest.
Green was a disciple of the late, great coaching legend Bill Walsh. He was a fiery, charismatic character, credited by many with paving the way for minority coaches.
His head coaching career began at Northwestern University in 1981. At the time he was only the second African American head coach in Division 1-A history. ( The first being Willie Jeffries who coached at Wichita State).
His next head coaching gig was also at the college level when he took over at Stanford University in 1989. His overall record at the school in three seasons was 16-18.
He was named head coach of the Minnesota Vikings in 1992, becoming just the second African American in the modern era to land the head position. ( Art Shell of the then Los Angeles Raiders being the first ). He coached an impressive 10 seasons with the team, the highlight being a 15-1 record in 1998. The Vikings advanced to the NFC Championship game but fell short, losing to the Atlanta Falcons on a field goal in overtime.
Following Green’s only losing season in Minnesota, a 5-11 campaign in 2001, he was released from his contract in January of 2002.
After working as an analyst for two seasons at ESPN, Green accepted the Arizona head coaching position in January of 2004. His three seasons with the club was one of the lowest periods in the organization’s history. He was fired with a year left on his contract following the 2006 season after posting an ugly 16-32 record.
Unfortunately, Green’s time in the desert is best remembered for an embarrassing tirade he had following a loss to Chicago on “Monday Night Football “. The Cardinals led by 20 points at halftime but ended up losing the contest 24-23, throwing the head coach into a rage at the post-game press conference. It was during that presser that he uttered the infamous line “They are who we thought they were!”
But on this day of remembrance Green should be praised for the success he had in Minnesota, not for whatever went wrong in Arizona. He was by all accounts loved by his players and assistant coaches alike, a true “player’s coach.”
One thing is for certain, the NFL has lost one of it’s finest sons.