Former Stanford and two-time National Football League head coach Dennis Green has died. It was during his time with the Cardinals that Green had the infamous “They are who we thought they were”, rant after the Cardinals blew away a 20-0 lead against the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football in 2006. “He was very highly regarded by Bill Walsh”.
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Assistant coaches who went on to be head coaches: Tony Dungy (Tampa Bay, Indianapolis), Brian Billick (Baltimore) and Mike Tice (Minnesota). “Denny stuck his neck out and activated me, put me on the roster in Minnesota to protect me because he knew I was part of the future and that really meant a lot to me”, remembered Liwienski.
Before he joined the Vikings to become the third African-American head coach in NFL history, Green was the second African-American head coach in Division 1-A college football history when he took over the reins at Northwestern in 1981. “We express our deepest sympathy to his family and many friends”. “So I’m real saddened by it. He really did a lot for my career”. He would talk about things and I would get excited that he would talk about that on the air but he never did. “Someone I could always depend on…”
Mr. Green led the Vikings to eight playoff appearances and two NFC championship games.
Green coached the Vikings from 1992 to 2002, when he was dismissed mid-season. He will not only be remembered for his coaching, but also his contribution to the communities he lived in.
Green went 4-8 in the postseason, one of the reasons he was sacked by Minnesota late in the 2001 season.
The Arizona Cardinals confirmed Green’s passing on Twitter.
The two-time Pro Bowl cornerback signed a one-day contract and called it a career with the team that drafted him in 2003 on Friday. Other details were not immediately disclosed, though the Cardinals said Green had died of a heart attack.
Players are not the only ones who got to know Green. “My condolences are with all his loved ones”, Booker tweeted. “I lost my mother in April, I feel like I just lost father”.
Green’s tenure at Stanford had its share of excitement.
The coach ordered the bus driver to do a pre-game victory lap around Notre Dame Stadium, and he told the passengers – Stanford players – to soak it in.
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January 17, 1999: The dynamic, high-powered, heavily favored Vikings are shocked by Atlanta in the NFC Championship Game at the Metrodome, losing 30-27 in overtime. “Everything about the Midwest is football”.
