“Dennis passed away last night from complications of cardiac arrest”, read a statement released by Green’s family.
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“All of us at the Cardinals are incredibly saddened by the news of Dennis Green’s passing”, Cardinals President Michael Bidwell said.
Green’s legacy is largely found in the National Football League – he was the head coach of some of the best Vikings teams of all time and is the author of one of the best press conference rants of all time – but Green was also an icon at Stanford. His coaching career started in 1973 as an assistant at Dayton where he was able to earn US$6,000 annually. Green, in an unhinged, nutty rant, uttered the immortal lines “The Bears are who we thought they were!” and “If you want to crown ’em, crown ’em!” before smacking the microphone and storming out of the room.
The news of Green’s passing swept through the sports community.
Dennis Green, a former 49ers assistant and the first African-American coach in the Pac-10 Conference when he was hired by Stanford in 1989, has died.
But the Vikings were upset at home by the Atlanta Falcons that season and also were embarrassed by the New York Giants 41-0 in their other trip to the NFC title game after the 2000 season.
Green also coached the Arizona Cardinals from 2004-06, leading them to a 16-32 mark.
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 “. “We express our deepest sympathy to his family and his many friends”. This was before he went up his way to coaching jobs at Stanford and Iowa.
In 2004, Mr. Green was hired as head coach by the Arizona, but he was sacked after going 16-32 in three years. During his first draft class in 2004, Green helped select Larry Fitzgerald with the third overall pick.
Denny Green.longtime Vikings coach from 1992 to 2001 led Minnesota to a 15-1 record in 1998.
“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'”.
He finished his National Football League career with a win-loss record of 113-94 (0.546 winning percentage) in the regular season and 4-8 in the postseason. In 1981, Green took on the role of head coach at Northwestern, a program that had gone 3-51 in the four seasons prior to his arrival. They’re what we thought they were.
Quarterback Kurt Warner, who joined the Cardinals in 2005 under Green, tweeted: “My heart goes out to family of my former coach Denny Green – we lost a good man way too soon!”
Minnesota was 97-62 (.610 winning percentage) with Green at the helm.
Green died at 67. He was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year in 1982.
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Former Vikings wide receiver Randy Moss, who began playing for Green during his rookie year in 1998, posted a tribute to the late coach on Instagram.
