He led the Vikings to a 15-1 regular season in 1998 and ranks second in franchise history in games coached, wins and winning percentage.
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“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.
Under Green, the Minnesota Vikings made eight playoff appearances in 10 seasons.
Green, a tough halfback at Iowa who grew up in Harrisburg, Pa., was on Walsh’s staff at Stanford and went to the San Francisco 49ers with Walsh in 1979.
“I think he’s going to be seen as someone who accomplished a lot at a time when it was not easy for an African-American to succeed in football especially on the coaching side”. Green served as the Cardinals’ head coach before getting fired at the end of the 2006 season. “We express our deepest sympathy to his family and many friends”.
Gadsden County, where Fuller coaches is 56 percent black, according to the Florida Department of Health.
Assistant coaches who went on to be head coaches: Tony Dungy (Tampa Bay, Indianapolis), Brian Billick (Baltimore) and Mike Tice (Minnesota).
At the time Green was hired by the Vikings in 1992, he was only the second African-American head coach in the modern NFL (Art Shell being the first) and the third ever (after Shell and Fritz Pollard).
Green’s firing from the Vikings in 2002 was one factor that would lead the NFL to adopt the Rooney Rule beginning in 2003, which requires teams to interview minority candidates for head coaching and senior football operation jobs. His dad died of ruptured appendix when he was 11 and two years after his mother died of cancer leaving Green to be raised by his grandparents. “On behalf of the National Football League, our thoughts and prayers go out to the entire Green family”.
After working as an analyst for two seasons at ESPN, Green accepted the Arizona head coaching position in January of 2004.
Mr. Green did some television work and interviewed with several teams before being hired by the Cardinals in 2004. “I told him, ‘Yes.’ Just hearing about him passing today and reading a lot of the comments and a lot of the positive things that people are saying, Denny Green was just that”.
Green was all football. Fitzgerald was allowed to run route drills alongside Minnesota greats Chris Carter and Randy Moss – but, Fitzgerald said last season, he had to be last in line.
Green’s passion and focus made him a favorite of his players and assistant coaches.
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– The man who helped Dennis Green pen his biography opened up about the former Vikings coach, remembering the coaching legend in the wake of his death.
