Former Minnesota Vikings and Arizona Cardinals coach Dennis Green died from complications aftering suffering cardiac arrest Thursday night.
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The NFL confirmed the death and offered its condolences. Other details were not immediately disclosed, though the Cardinals said Mr.
Green was head coach at Stanford from 1989 to ’91, going 16-18, before the Vikings hired him in 1992 as the third African-American head coach in National Football League history. He proclaimed himself the “new sheriff in town” when hired by the Vikings.
That is why Chaump, Green’s high school coach, said he was “stunned, shocked and saddened”, to learn of his passing Friday at the age of 67.
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. As head coach for the Vikings, he advocated for Randy Moss, who was falling during the 1998 NFL Draft.
“Dennis Green created an outstanding environment for his players and I was privileged to spend four great years under his guidance in Minnesota”, Raiders coach Jack Del Rio said in a statement.
Green posted a combined 16-32 record in his 3 years in Arizona, but the team noted that the player acquisitions he made provided the “backbone” of a Cardinals team that reached the Super Bowl in the 2008 season, falling to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“If you want to crown them, then crown their ass, but they are who we thought they were and we let them off the hook”, Green later yelled. He mentored countless players and served as a father figure for the men he coached. In the college ranks as a head coach in 1981 coached the Northwestern Wildcats where he was the second black head coach to coach in Division I college football. “He helped pave the way for minority coaches and recently served as a key advisor on the NFL’s Career Development Advisory Panel”.
“He was my wide receiver coach for so many years and we stayed friends over the years also”.
The news of Green’s passing comes on a day when the Vikings are holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony for their new stadium and are ushering a grand new era for the team.
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Outlook: There’s no reason to think the Vikings can’t repeat last years efforts, as pretty much the entire team returns and they got even better on defense. It wasn’t only important for Denny Green to be successful, but for the rest of the guys on his staff to be successful.
