Longtime NFL coach Dennis Green, who spent time coaching with the 49ers and Stanford during his 40-year coaching career, died of cardiac arrest according to multiple reports Friday.
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He returned three years later as the head coach of the Cardinals from 2004 through 2006. Other details were not immediately disclosed, though the Cardinals said Mr.
Under Green, Minnesota made eight playoff appearances, reaching the NFC Championship in 1998 and 2000.
Featuring Randall Cunningham, Robert Smith, Cris Carter and Randy Moss, the 1998 Vikings scored and National Football League record 556 points on their way to a 15-1 regular season that stands as the single best regular season in franchise history.
In a written statement, NFL executive vice president of football operations, Troy Vincent said: “We are saddened to hear the news of Dennis Green’s passing”. “Today I’ve been reading a lot of the comments and the positive things people are saying about him … and they’re very true”.
“Coach Green gave me a chance”, Moss said Friday on ESPN’s NFL Live.
There are those that can coach players in the game of football and then there are coaches like Dennis Green that not only contribute to players on the field, but also off. In that period, he was perhaps best known for an emotional outburst following a tough loss to the Chicago Bears, telling the postgame press conference, “They are who we thought they were, and we let ’em off the hook!” He ranks second in Vikings franchise history in games coached, wins, and winning percentage.
“Athletes and coaches don’t quit”, Green told The Bee this past January, explaining his decision to finish the season.
But on this day of remembrance Green should be praised for the success he had in Minnesota, not for whatever went wrong in Arizona.
“Freer spirit for the team in its entirety, Dennis Green himself liked to have a good time, so the players exuded that same type of good time atmosphere”, said Boyer.
Green will be remembered for being one of the first head coaches in both major college football and the NFL who was African American.
Green coached the Vikings from 1992 to 2001, when he was dismissed mid-season. Rest in Peace Coach Green.
Green’s famous rant following a game while he was head coach in Arizona remains a classic 11 years later. “I lost my mother in April, I feel like I just lost father”, Smith wrote. “If you’re looking for Denny Green, you want to find out where Denny Green is. look on the high road”, he told reporters.
At Stanford, Green inherited a team that went 3-6-2 in its final season under Elway.
Dallas Cowboys rookie running back and No. 4 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft Ezekiel Elliott might be in some hot water after some domestic violence rumors involving his ex-girlfriend, first reported by TMZ Sports.
Born Feb. 17, 1949, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Green once said he was struck by watching early Big Ten football games and seeing both Minnesota and Iowa putting together successful seasons behind black quarterbacks.
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“He did so much for me”, tweeted former coach Tony Dungy, who was a defensive coordinator under Green with the Vikings.
