Green, who died Friday morning at age 67, was hired by the Cardinals in January 2004. After leaving the Niners, Green moved on to Stanford, becoming the first African American head coach on The Farm and in the Pac 12.
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After spending eight years as a head coach at Northwestern and Stanford, Green coached 13 years in the National Football League and many players, including former Florida State standouts. Minnesota and Arizona produced a 113-94 record across 13 National Football League seasons under Green, and he managed an 8-11 mark in three UFL seasons. His resume also includes head coaching stints for Northwestern University and Stanford.
Unfortunately, Green’s intense style may have contributed to the corrosion of his relationship with the team’s management and he was ultimately let go, resulting in him moving on to coach the Arizona Cardinals before retiring to the broadcast booth. “I lost my mother in April, I feel like I just lost a father”. Green’s best season came in 1998 when the Vikings went 15-1.
“He was my wide receiver coach for so many years and we stayed friends over the years also”.
Dennis Green worked his way up the coaching tree from small colleges to finding himself as an assistant with the San Francisco 49ers in the early 1980’s.
“He (Green) mentored countless players as served as a father figure or the men he coached”, the Vikings said Friday in a statement. He added so much to our great teams under Bill Walsh.
“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.
A year after drafting that group, Green signed free-agent quarterback Kurt Warner, who eventually guided the Cardinals to their only Super Bowl.
“After talking to Walsh, I had just heard at that time that Mike Holmgren was going to Green Bay, and I said to Walsh, ‘What’s the difference between Holmgren and Denny Green?’ And he said, ‘I think of them the same'”.
Green coached the Cardinals for three seasons from 2004 to 2006. After losing a game to the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football, Green ripped into his team at the post-game press conference and introduced “They are who we thought they were!” into the NFL lexicon forever.
A story on gostanford.com recalled Green’s confidence in his team before that game.
Green got another head coaching job again in 1989 returning to Stanford.
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Wood, who played at Iowa while Green was the Hawkeyes’ running backs coach, said much of his coaching philosophy is framed after the lessons he learned from Green.
